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The collective insanity of the publishing industry

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Re: The collective insanity of the publishing industry

#4
post #3

I'm surprised Amazon hasnt gone into publishing. Get some big name authors on board, pick up some classics, etc. Do Netflix.

They have dipped their toe in the water with Singles. In general I'd expect their approach might be to continue to expand their relationship with self-published authors who their data shows has promise. With big-name authors they're just on the same playing field as the other publishers.

Re: The collective insanity of the publishing industry

#5
post #3

I'm surprised Amazon hasnt gone into publishing. Get some big name authors on board, pick up some classics, etc. Do Netflix.

They have - aside from Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon has their own imprints that do traditional publishing. Many bookstores refuse to stock those books though.

Re: The collective insanity of the publishing industry

#7
The comments to this post are really interesting - one comment claims that (according to an agent) agency pricing was Amazon's idea, not the big 5, even though, the big 5 very publicly insisted on agency pricing. It's really absurd. Of course, agency pricing for ebooks was first pushed by Apple, part of what got them and the big publishers in trouble for antitrust conspiracy (when the publishers agreed to withhold books from Amazon if Amazon kept discounting)

The the comments about Amazon and publishing, Amazon has a very major publishing operation (called, suprise!, Amazon Publishing). It's grabbing market share very quickly. If you want information about this check authorearnings.com (which provides industry sales estimates that include self-publishing) Of course the big story in the publishing business is that self-publishing is rapidly eclipsing traditional publishers in the ebook space.

Amazon is not only doing Netflix for books. It's doing Netflix for film and TV. The big competitor to Netflix is not any network or studio -- it's Amazon.

Re: The collective insanity of the publishing industry

#8
post #3

I'm surprised Amazon hasnt gone into publishing. Get some big name authors on board, pick up some classics, etc. Do Netflix.

Amazon have a huge pile of different publishing imprints, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Publishing

And that's just original imprints; it doesn't list things like Audible, which Amazon owns, and which are THE major audiobook publisher, but almost always published secondary to a print publication rather than original.

And that's not including Amazon's multiple self-publishing options, including the Kindle Direct program.

Re: The collective insanity of the publishing industry

#9
If the ebooks many want to read are expensive electronically, maybe many won't buy a kindle, but still buy the printed books ? And without a kindle, they won't buy cheaper books from the competition ?

And maybe this will slow Amazon's success for a few profitable years, more profitable than current loses ? And maybe by that time the publishers will find an ebook strategy that will work(hard to believe, but maybe).

Also,let's look on the other side - what happens if ebooks fully kill print ? can publishing even make money in such state of affairs ?

Re: The collective insanity of the publishing industry

#10
> The sales that would go to that $15.99 book are going to lower-priced books from indie authors and self-published authors, like me.

> They actually proved the consumer will buy the cheaper option, but okay

I find it alarming that an indie author does not seem to be concerned with cheap product flooding the market. Amazon's attempts to lower barriers to entry means more aspiring authors competing for a piece of the pie. Look at how the race to the bottom in the App Store is destroying indie iPhone developers.

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