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Well, I suppose I should weigh in on Amazon.com's recent attempts to monopolize the Print on Demand market. As a publisher using a print on demand model to deal with my inventory, you would imagine that I would have a massive stake in all of this. After all, plenty of publishers have now begun a backlash against Amazon of epic proportions.
And that's where things would get interesting. You see, I don't have a major stake here. And I'm one of the reasons why Amazon's attempt to pull everybody over to Booksurge is a terrible idea.
To understand this, you have to understand the market a bit. Amazon.com is a wonderful place for people to buy books without leaving their own home, but not all books are bought by individuals surfing the internet. In the case of a publisher like myself, who is publishing primarily non-fiction and academic history books, the major market is going to be libraries and universities.
Guess what - they don't buy through Amazon. They buy through wholesalers like Ingram, or directly from the publisher.
Bit of a trade "secret" here - most of my money will be made through a publication named Ingram Advance, which goes out to thousands upon thousands of libraries, as well as a multitude of other bookstores and individuals around the world. My current projection is that, if all goes well, somewhere around 90% of my sales are going to come from Ingram, and around 7% will come from direct sales and consignments. That leaves 3% for online sales (the current tally is that online sales represent around 7% of the books sold so far, and the listing for my book hasn't appeared in Ingram Advance yet).
So...three percent for online sales. And Amazon isn't the only competitor there.
We're not talking about huge amount of books here - after all, I'm a small publisher, and I'm publishing reference books at that. But, those three percent will cover Amazon, and all of the other online resellers. If Amazon decides to remove the "Buy" button from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Agora, I'll lose perhaps two percent of my sales. Not exactly awe-inspiring.
But, that's not quite right, is it?
You see, it's not that simple. Amazon has made a major blunder. Take a look at the page, right now. Right below the "In Stock" message is a small listing for new and used copies of the book. And, if we take a look at them, we find some nice, competitive prices, advertised right on the front of the Amazon.com page for my book.
Remember how I said I'd probably lose around two percent of my sales? Guess what - I just got most of them back. Amazon gave me free advertising, and set up my customers with some nice, friendly people who will sell them a copy of my book if Amazon won't.
There are some publishers who have a major stake in this game, and they're going to fight this move by Amazon tooth and nail. I hope they win - frankly, Amazon's move here is unconscionable. In my case, though, the Amazon sales, if I've even gotten any so far (I don't actually know how many were sold via Amazon), are already a negligible percentage of my revenue for this book. So, if they threaten me with removing the "Buy" button, I'll just tell them that it's their choice to do so, and move on.
Now, do the math. Amazon is going after the PoD market, but how many small publishers are in my boots? So, besides losing the goodwill of authors and PoD publishers everywhere, a lot of small publishers are going to do what I'll do if the situation arises in my case - they'll just write off the Amazon sales. So, Amazon.com may end up losing the ability to sell hundreds, thousands, and possibly even tens of thousands of books - quite likely more, in fact. And online storefronts like Barnes & Noble and Indigo/Chapters will clean house on the PoD market.
I believe this truly counts as cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Guess what - they don't buy through Amazon. They buy through wholesalers like Ingram, or directly from the publisher.
Bit of a trade "secret" here - most of my money will be made through a publication named Ingram Advance, which goes out to thousands upon thousands of libraries, as well as a multitude of other bookstores and individuals around the world. My current projection is that, if all goes well, somewhere around 90% of my sales are going to come from Ingram, and around 7% will come from direct sales and consignments. That leaves 3% for online sales (the current tally is that online sales represent around 7% of the books sold so far, and the listing for my book hasn't appeared in Ingram Advance yet).
So...three percent for online sales. And Amazon isn't the only competitor there.
We're not talking about huge amount of books here - after all, I'm a small publisher, and I'm publishing reference books at that. But, those three percent will cover Amazon, and all of the other online resellers. If Amazon decides to remove the "Buy" button from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Agora, I'll lose perhaps two percent of my sales. Not exactly awe-inspiring.
But, that's not quite right, is it?
You see, it's not that simple. Amazon has made a major blunder. Take a look at the page, right now. Right below the "In Stock" message is a small listing for new and used copies of the book. And, if we take a look at them, we find some nice, competitive prices, advertised right on the front of the Amazon.com page for my book.
Remember how I said I'd probably lose around two percent of my sales? Guess what - I just got most of them back. Amazon gave me free advertising, and set up my customers with some nice, friendly people who will sell them a copy of my book if Amazon won't.
There are some publishers who have a major stake in this game, and they're going to fight this move by Amazon tooth and nail. I hope they win - frankly, Amazon's move here is unconscionable. In my case, though, the Amazon sales, if I've even gotten any so far (I don't actually know how many were sold via Amazon), are already a negligible percentage of my revenue for this book. So, if they threaten me with removing the "Buy" button, I'll just tell them that it's their choice to do so, and move on.
Now, do the math. Amazon is going after the PoD market, but how many small publishers are in my boots? So, besides losing the goodwill of authors and PoD publishers everywhere, a lot of small publishers are going to do what I'll do if the situation arises in my case - they'll just write off the Amazon sales. So, Amazon.com may end up losing the ability to sell hundreds, thousands, and possibly even tens of thousands of books - quite likely more, in fact. And online storefronts like Barnes & Noble and Indigo/Chapters will clean house on the PoD market.
I believe this truly counts as cutting off your nose to spite your face.