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What Amazon's ebook strategy really means

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Re: What Amazon's ebook strategy really means

#21

Post by marquis »

noelwelsh wrote: post #12

I largely agree with the analysis in this essay, but I believe the book market can be more significantly disrupted than is currently being suggested. Here are the significant changes I see: - Screen technology will improve so that the distinction between e-paper and conventional displays becomes irrelevant. I really think the retina display on the iPad is good enough for most people in most situations, and that the i…

I'm looking forward to a world where some books return to their 1800s newspaper-style formats: short chapters published weekly, like we get some graphic novels on the web now. I WANT to pay the author, and look forward to this happening. It's definitely a great space to look into. It may exist already and I don't know about it? (again, leaving it open for some startup to make waves..)

Re: What Amazon's ebook strategy really means

#22

Post by pja »

noelwelsh wrote: post #12

I largely agree with the analysis in this essay, but I believe the book market can be more significantly disrupted than is currently being suggested. Here are the significant changes I see: - Screen technology will improve so that the distinction between e-paper and conventional displays becomes irrelevant. I really think the retina display on the iPad is good enough for most people in most situations, and that the i…

So, what have I missed?

Sounds something like a return to the magazine sales nodel of Dicken's time. I think there's probably room for this kind of "soap opera" type sales: you've only got to look at the way people follow long form fan-fic authors, commenting on chapters as they're released & interacting with the author as they write to see that this kind of model could be possible.

I doubt it will work for all forms of writing, some works just don't suit the episodic format, but I'm sure it will work for some.

Re: What Amazon's ebook strategy really means

#23

Post by [deleted] »

pja wrote: post #22
noelwelsh wrote: post #12

I largely agree with the analysis in this essay, but I believe the book market can be more significantly disrupted than is currently being suggested. Here are the significant changes I see: - Screen technology will improve so that the distinction between e-paper and conventional displays becomes irrelevant. I really think the retina display on the iPad is good enough for most people in most situations, and that the i…

So, what have I missed? Sounds something like a return to the magazine sales nodel of Dicken's time. I think there's probably room for this kind of "soap opera" type sales: you've only got to look at the way people follow long form fan-fic authors, commenting on chapters as they're released & interacting with the author as they write to see that this kind of model could be possible. I doubt it will work for all forms…

[deleted]

Re: What Amazon's ebook strategy really means

#24

Post by Turing_Machine »

cstross wrote: post #18
Turing_Machine wrote: post #13

I'd have more sympathy for this point of view if the Big 6 publishers hadn't been running a de facto cartel since, well... forever, and basing their relationship with authors on a business model that could be compared, unfavorably, with a payday loan operation. The DeBeers artificial scarcity model of publishing doesn't work any more. I won't miss it. Note that there will still be plenty of work for editors, cover ar…

Ahem: apropos that 2007 post of mine, I will stand right behind it. Back in March 2007, it was right on the nail. In case you've forgotten: - In March 2007, most book titles from the big six were not available as ebooks at all. - Kindle did not exist. (Launched November 2007) - Those ebooks that were available were usually priced at the same, or higher than the equivalent paper edition "in order to avoid cannibalizin…

"Cheap ebook reader devices ... are still a minority pursuit today"

Amazon sold over 4 million Kindles in December alone, and now sells more ebooks than paperback and hardcover combined.

With one or two exceptions, every serious reader I know has a Kindle, an iPad, or both.

Re: What Amazon's ebook strategy really means

#25

Post by moultano »

danmaz74 wrote: post #4

This was a interesting read and the OP makes a good point. But couldn't the publishers just make a deal with e-book reader makers (which are struggling against Amazon too) and create a DRM "open" standard? By the way, I'm almost only buying ebooks from Amazon lately and, despite the convenience, this does make me pretty uneasy.

That effectively already exists. Adobe digital editions books are supported on a range of devices including the nook.

Re: What Amazon's ebook strategy really means

#26

Post by cstross »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #24
cstross wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ahem: apropos that 2007 post of mine, I will stand right behind it. Back in March 2007, it was right on the nail. In case you've forgotten: - In March 2007, most book titles from the big six were not available as ebooks at all. - Kindle did not exist. (Launched November 2007) - Those ebooks that were available were usually priced at the same, or higher than the equivalent paper edition "in order to avoid cannibalizin…

"Cheap ebook reader devices ... are still a minority pursuit today" Amazon sold over 4 million Kindles in December alone, and now sells more ebooks than paperback and hardcover combined . With one or two exceptions, every serious reader I know has a Kindle, an iPad, or both.

I think you've forgotten just what things were like even as little as five years ago.

The rate of change in publishing today is like the web circa 1992-97.

Re: What Amazon's ebook strategy really means

#27

Post by bambax »

cstross wrote: post #8
bambax wrote: post #7

But how is Amazon "disintermediating" anything? It's simply taking the place of a previous intermediary (bookshops). The next step will be that authors will sell to readers directly; that will disintermediate both publishers and Amazon, and there's no reason it should not happen.

Au contraire: the reason it won't happen is that most folks are not tech-savvy geeks. Most writers want to write, not deal with the minutiae of self-publishing (which is not the same thing at all), and most readers who buy ebooks aren't savvy enough about downloading files and shoving them onto a peripheral device. Oh, and reading books is already a marginal activity: anything that reduces the size of the market by e…

My nephew is 14 and has already published not one, but four books on the Kindle platform (one he wrote himself, the other three his grandfather wrote).

The new generations of authors will be very tech-savvy, to a point that may sound incredible now but is very real.

And even if some, or the majority, of authors don't want to do this themselves, why can't they hire a bunch of folks to do it for them? Why would they hand over 70 to 85% of potential returns to a publisher or to Amazon when they can pay someone a fixed price for editing, proofing and page layout, and keep 100% of the returns after that?

Publishers are clearly doomed since they don't provide enough values for the fees they demand; but I doubt Amazon's position is a lot more secure.

Re: What Amazon's ebook strategy really means

#28

Post by revelation »

Some clarifications, I guess? I don't think Amazon is loss-leading the ebook market to secure a monopoly; you do that in an already established market. Instead, what I think they are doing is trying to bootstrap the ebook market. And successfully, at growth rates far exceeding 100% every quarter.

Also, Amazon is not replacing warehouses with on-demand just yet. They are rapidly expanding with many new warehouses opened every year. What they are doing is much more ingenious: they setup marketplace to allow other companies to sell products lacking in Amazons portfolio through their website. Then they offer the vendors to do shipping and storage through Amazon warehouses. Then they ultimately add products generating lots of revenue (and profit) to their own portfolio, cutting out the vendor completely.

As with "amazon basic" products, sometimes their scheme extends as far as to completely replace the producer.

Re: What Amazon's ebook strategy really means

#29

Post by aresant »

We recently purchased patio furniture and elected to buy Amazon's brand.

It's cleverly branded "Strathwood" because it was (a) Rated well (b) About 60% as expensive as other, lower rated choices.

The benefit to ME, the consumer, in this case is substantial - better quality, cheaper and - oh yah - shipped in 2 days to my home for free (Prime).

That convenience and quality factor is going to be damned hard to defend yourself against in retail, and clearly this is where the future of consumer retail is going.

The author seems to be arguing against letting this play out in the free market.

Yet in the past decade we've watched AAPL serve consumers with innovation and quality, and vertically integrate themselves into the world's largest company.

We are living through an unbelievable change in consumer purchasing and commerce.

The full impact of this change is hard to overstate, and trying to regulate it properly would be like a sandcastle against the sea at this point.

edit - Calacanis has an interesting article on this as well, further suggesting retail stores, etc -> http://www.launch.co/blog/amazon-has-a-ton-of-white-label-pr...

Re: What Amazon's ebook strategy really means

#30

Post by revelation »

noelwelsh wrote: post #12

I largely agree with the analysis in this essay, but I believe the book market can be more significantly disrupted than is currently being suggested. Here are the significant changes I see: - Screen technology will improve so that the distinction between e-paper and conventional displays becomes irrelevant. I really think the retina display on the iPad is good enough for most people in most situations, and that the i…

I don't think beefed up LCD displays are superior to eink for the purpose of reading books (or text). Thats akin to adding another horse to horse carriage while someone is rapidly iterating cars.

It might happen that the LCD prevails - if its true that people place a huge premium on integrated solutions. Thats one theory behind the explosion of the smartphone market.

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