Amazon putting the squeeze on POD publishers!!

A friend of mine got a reply from a publisher who caved which basically said to send prospective buyers to B&N by posting that you don't reccomend the poor quality of Amazon's product!

I thought that was a pretty good statement.

I think this thread was highjacked enough so I won't get into the "ex" thing. That might be a good subject for another thread.

It is interesting to see movement on the part of Amazon, however it will be hard for them to backtrack. They will most likely come with a different scenario to safe face.

Abe, I would be willing to lay odds on your different scenario speculation. They have created an uproar and will have to do something to correct the harm they have done themselves (at least, I think they have done harm to themselves!)

I think they’ve lost a lot of credibility with writers and publishers, but if they halt their strong-arm tactics, I think they can recover because no matter what, Amazon is a powerful selling tool. Customers love them, and all of this uproar won’t matter to them as long as they can continue to shop.

I love to stroll the aisles at my local Barnes & Noble, but when I’m home and shop online, I go to Amazon. They have everything.

Here is another interesting bit of info:
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If that idea spreads, it'll be wonderful for everyone.

Can't you just imagine having the fun of browsing a bookstore, then, if you don't find what you want, simply placing your order as if you were having some pages photocopied, then picking up your book before you leave.

Of course prices might be slightly higher. I buy a lot of 'used' books at Amazon so I'd miss the lower price. But again, I'm an impulse shopper and if I want a certain book, I want it now.

The future's bright, the furture's digital!

In this light, I think perhaps Amazon has done a good thing by way of making others plan outside of the Amazon box, as it were. Some things may have been there for a while, but now are getting recognition as others look for alternatives. Who knows where it may lead?

In light of the POD news, I was just speaking with my daughter, who visited her local music store yesterday...in Edmonton, AB...and they are selling POD music scores for somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10,000 sheet music files.
Get writing folks! It's coming!

Wow!! I guess I will leave the forum, and head for my ms's!

Pam, I did not understand your last message. In fact I did not understand much about the last half of this thread eversince they mentioned the

Quote :

Today Publisher's Weekly announced a simply stunning partnership between On Demand Books (owners of The Espresso Printing Press technology) and Lightning Source (the giant print-on-demand company owned by distribution giant Ingram Inc.)

Could you put the information in layman's terms?

Lin, I talked to LSI on Friday and my rep seemed to think things were okay but she didn't elaborate. Could you elaborate on what you said?

Quote :

I spoke to lightningsource this morning.

They say they have a partner agreement with amazon and as far as they know it's business as usual for their books.

Thank you!!!!

Sorry about that Sue, sometimes I get so excited I can hardly contain myself.
There are several machines world wide (Abe mentioned them earlier), using this Espresso Printing technology. This means that folks, instead of visiting a brick and mortar store, could conceivably go to the neighbourhood coffee shop, browse a catalogue of books, pay their money and instantly have the book print while they wait. This really is Print on Demand in its finest terms. Now that there is a relationship between Espresso and a division of Ingram, this puts all of books in world circulation, really.
My comment was to say that this technology is really getting underway, because we can already do it with sheets of music . Have you ever heard a TV theme song, loved it, gone to the music store and bought the sheet music so you could play it at home on your guitar or piano? Well, in the same city where one of the Espresso machines is already hard at work, there is also a music store with the same technology. My daughter went in, browsed a catalogue, chose 5 titles and wham, she had them. The store can virtually house a much larger offering than they could when having to physically stock the items because they only print what people are actually buying.
Does that make better sense now? If not Sue, please let me know - give me a shove or a jab or anything!

OK Pam, it is very clear.
I'm waiting for the time when I can have it "beamed" to me. Maybe they will call it the Scotty machine.

Abe, isn't that what the pocket readers are already doing, up to a point? I don't own one, so I'm not sure, but I bet Captain Kirk has one!!

Another example of how Star Trek and Captain Kirk changed the world!!

so much, Pam! You made it perfectly clear!!!! I understand and your excitement has passed to me now. *grin*

I life in such a small town (right now) and am definitely out of the loop except for what I learn on this forum. I am glad to have you and the others here to help keep me informed!

Thank you for taking the time to explain in detail and not get impatient with me.

Amazon's policy seems to be affecting not only POD books.
The UK's biggest publisher, Hachette Livre UK, is leading the charge against Amazon, which it claims is squeezing the market and demanding too great a share of sales:

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You can listen to a BBC interview of Tim Healy Hutchinson, group chief executive of Hodder Headline, here:

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I love the idea of punching in a title and having it delivered while I wait, but I also love to browse from books on the shelf.

There are so many different writers, and each has his or her own style.
When I select a book that may interest me, perhaps by the cover or
title, I read the first few paragraphs to see if the author's style is
one I enjoy. Sometimes we click, other times we don't, and when we
don't, I put the book back on the shelf. I'd hate to have to pay full
price only to discover I didn't connect with the writing.

I'm with you Brenda.
I had the pleasure of visiting the Barnes & Nobel book store in Charolettsville last week. My daughter had to pull me out of the store. The book covers begged me to pick them up and peruse the contents. I spent more than I should have and lugged 5 new books back with me.
Of course you do realize that as we get older we tend to resist change. We enjoy doing the things that we have become accustomed to, and buying books after having touched them will continue to be my preference.

Five books, Abe? I guess it's a lot, but not so bad when you consider how much pleasure you'll have reading them.

I love books. Like I say on my website, I love the smell and the feel of them. While some of the new technology may be wonderful, I don't think I'll ever abandon my time at the book store.

Wish I could've met you while you were in the country, Abe. Perhaps next time you'll visit the west coast. Bet there are several here who'd love to meet you.

Shelagh, that is a very interesting article. More publishers need to take a stand and maybe band together.

I am with you, Abe and Brenda. For me, there is more comfort and convenience in a book than a computer screen. I can lay down with a book, and take it places with me. I doubt that I could spend hours doing nothing but reading from a screen. It would not be as enjoyable, and would probably begin to feel like work.

Amazon holds nearly all the cards. Large publishers hold a few, but very few. Writers hold none at all.

I don't think they hold all the cards by any means.

Several smaller publishers I know of don't even bother listing there.

We assume that being on amazon is a big deal because the are so huge.

But does it really matter to the novel one is trying to sell? What, there's "walk by traffic" on amazon? All those millions of people are browzing around looking for a novel and yours will pop up?

You look at what individuals and small presses are doing, they're attracting prospects and driving them to an amazon button buy point.

They could just as easily have their own paypal button...therefore able to charge less and make more profit.

Maybe some people who have experience offering both options have some input on the amount of sales conversions from each.

By the way, I know several small POD presses (including Whiskey Creek, the largest in the US) who don't use LSI or list an amazon buy button at all. They drive their own sales.

As long as Amazon controls 90% of the book sales, they are far above the percentage most people consider to be a monopoly.

At present, with our consent, they not only hold most of the cards, their grabbing up more of them.

We can begin by going to B&N.com which, with a $25/year member's discount, sells many/most books at a lower price than Amazon. We save by not going with the monopoly company.

We can also send letters to the attorney general and/or support companies (Booklocker, Long Riders, Hachette) who are fighting amazon. And we can certainly inform our non-writing friends about the amazon monoply and how it ultimately threatens their own choices, pricing, and the even the existence of major publishing groups.

Most of us cannot pull our POD books off of amazon, because that right belongs only to iUniverse or Lulu (etc), But we can aim our links at B&N while telling readers the price is better there anyhow.

Malcolm

My book is cheaper at Barnes and Noble than at Amazon. The B&N members price is $9.85 versus $10.95 at amazon.com, but you have to be a member to get the discount, if you're not, the price is still $10.95, the publisher's list price. Here's a link to my book's B&N page:
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