A week in pod publishing
More has emerged from the Amazon pod publishing spat that kicked off last week.
Many small publishers in the US have indeed lost their buy now buttons for their titles on Amazon. They are still available from third party sellers but presumably at a greater discount i.e. less income for the author/publisher.
Meanwhile, in the UK, Amazon has expressed its fury in an article in The Times about competition from Waterstones and Borders since these high street chains are under cutting Amazon's prices AND stepping up their internet marketing campaigns. Penguin and Bloomsbury are also undercutting Amazon's prices. Amazon may retaliate by regarding a publisher’s online price as the recommended retail price and applying its trading terms to that.
So it's not just with the little people that Amazon is crossing swords.
The Horsepower Whisperer is still listed on Amazon as in stock. Buy it now while you still can!
In the US, it is out of stock. It should be shown as in stock thanks to Lightning Source's virtual stock holding system for digitally printed pod books. Am I a victim of Amazon's latest policy?
I don't know. I haven't been explicitly threatened by Amazon as so many pod publishers on the Yahoo discussion group have. It could be that I still have to break The Horsepower Whisperer free in the US with an order of my own.
I am not sure how Amazon can tell whether a book is pod or not. If it's a case of inventory labelling, I'm sure the labels can be changed. There are signs on the final product if you know what to look for but these could easily be hidden. We'd just have to keep quiet about our pod status and the status quo might be resumed.
The most interesting development, though, was an - at first sight - unrelated press release from Lightning Source. This was dated the 2nd April so not an April Fool, which is what I thought Amazon's switch-to-our-pod-printer-or-else threat was, since the deadline for that was April 1st.
It seems that Lightning Source have entered into an agreement with On Demand Books, the manufacturers of the Expresso Book Machine. Yes, being able to order a book from a high street retailer, have a coffee and then have your book printed and bound and still warm in your hands fifteen minutes later has taken another step closer to reality.
It's made me feel a bit sorry for Amazon, sentimental fool that I am.
Think about it - they have only so long in which to squeeze as much as they can out of the book buying public.
Amazon may be a publishing superpower but I don't think it's as big as the rest of the publishing world.
Many small publishers in the US have indeed lost their buy now buttons for their titles on Amazon. They are still available from third party sellers but presumably at a greater discount i.e. less income for the author/publisher.
Meanwhile, in the UK, Amazon has expressed its fury in an article in The Times about competition from Waterstones and Borders since these high street chains are under cutting Amazon's prices AND stepping up their internet marketing campaigns. Penguin and Bloomsbury are also undercutting Amazon's prices. Amazon may retaliate by regarding a publisher’s online price as the recommended retail price and applying its trading terms to that.
So it's not just with the little people that Amazon is crossing swords.
The Horsepower Whisperer is still listed on Amazon as in stock. Buy it now while you still can!
In the US, it is out of stock. It should be shown as in stock thanks to Lightning Source's virtual stock holding system for digitally printed pod books. Am I a victim of Amazon's latest policy?
I don't know. I haven't been explicitly threatened by Amazon as so many pod publishers on the Yahoo discussion group have. It could be that I still have to break The Horsepower Whisperer free in the US with an order of my own.
I am not sure how Amazon can tell whether a book is pod or not. If it's a case of inventory labelling, I'm sure the labels can be changed. There are signs on the final product if you know what to look for but these could easily be hidden. We'd just have to keep quiet about our pod status and the status quo might be resumed.
The most interesting development, though, was an - at first sight - unrelated press release from Lightning Source. This was dated the 2nd April so not an April Fool, which is what I thought Amazon's switch-to-our-pod-printer-or-else threat was, since the deadline for that was April 1st.
It seems that Lightning Source have entered into an agreement with On Demand Books, the manufacturers of the Expresso Book Machine. Yes, being able to order a book from a high street retailer, have a coffee and then have your book printed and bound and still warm in your hands fifteen minutes later has taken another step closer to reality.
It's made me feel a bit sorry for Amazon, sentimental fool that I am.
Think about it - they have only so long in which to squeeze as much as they can out of the book buying public.
Amazon may be a publishing superpower but I don't think it's as big as the rest of the publishing world.
As a guy who did a 5 year apprenticeship way back in the late, mid 20th centuary I am outraged by the very idea of this "Coffee shop publishing" !!!!
ReplyDeleteBut then I can remember handing over a hastily bound student's thesis, with the glue barely dry, with the advice "best not open it for a few hours" !So in actual fact I think the coffee shop idea is brilliant, especially if its one in the eye for big business. Amazon may like to think they can fool us children of the revolution, but we've seen it before.
I recently explored the world of traditional bookbinding and discovered a thriving cottage industry just down the road from me. More on that dreckly as we say round these parts!
ReplyDeleteRe Amazon whinging about Waterstones etc undercutting them, isn't that what Amazon has been doing these past few years? Coloured pots and kettles spring to mind.
ReplyDeleteAmazon is apparently suing New York state in the US claiming publishers are not subject to NY sales taxes because they are advertisers and Amazon is a facilitator. Amazon might have had a chance had they not started to insist that these publishers print only with Amazon's BookSurge subsidiary. Time and the US justice system will tell.
ReplyDelete