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Amazon Offers Cut of Ebook Sales To Book Stores Selling Kindle
nk497 writes with this excerpt from PC Pro "Amazon plans to give independent booksellers 10% of the takings from ebooks bought on Kindles they sell, the online giant has revealed. The new Amazon Source program aims to encourage independent bookstores and small retailers to sell Kindle readers by offering commission for the first two years of the device's life. As an alternative to the 10% kickback from book sales, retailers opting into the Amazon Source program can choose instead to receive a larger discount up front when buying the devices for resale."
What's the typical lifespan of a kindle?
That sounds like a good deal if people do change HW every couple years, not sure what the fineprint says (I can't RTFA).
Yeah, 10% seems low, especially when once customers discover the ease of buying books online, they might stop being customers. On the other hand, I might actually -go- to a book store again if I knew the book purchases through my Kindle would help 'em out a bit...
I agree that 10% sounds low, but its better than nothing. Why would a store want to sell a product that affects their business model? Now if said store got a kickback from it....
It also keeps bookstores from having to stock as many physical books. I am not sure what the percentage rate a store gets from selling a physical book, but I can certainly see this being an attractive offer for many B&M stores.
The marketing maxim "give away the razor, sell the blades" now seems to be "slit your throat by selling the razor."
especially when once customers discover the ease of buying books online, they might stop being customers.
People will buy and use a Kindle anyway. Why not get a cut?
Of course, the cynical response to this proposal would be "what independent bookstores?". Not many of them are left, so the few survivors might as well get what they can out of this.
Have you read my blog lately?
Sell this device now and get a cut for immediate gain. Watch as devices sold slowly render your main business dead, and only have residual income after that.
Silence is a state of mime.
In other news, the local turkey farm has now opened for Christmas.
Turkeys have been offered extra feed if they are prepared to wear bright red hats and suits, and wander around singing christmas carols.
"We'll pay you to stop being a bookstore and start being a Licensed Kindle Kiosk".
Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
"We'll pay you to stop being a bookstore and start being a Licensed Kindle Kiosk".
As opposed to simply watching that business go away anyway, and closing up shop entirely? So, sell nothing and go out of business, or recognize that your customers' expectations and habits have changed, and be a part of it. The problem isn't the e-reader, the problem is printed books.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Because if they don't somebody else will.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
not like their profit margins are close to 100% as it is now
Yeah, 10% seems low, especially when once customers discover the ease of buying books online, they might stop being customers.
On the other hand, I might actually -go- to a book store again if I knew the book purchases through my Kindle would help 'em out a bit...
I haven't completely broken the habit of bookstores. But if there was an app that would allow me to easily scan a UPC code and wish/purchase an eBook, it would be a convenience. I mostly don't buy physical books anymore because I flat ran out of storage space - the exceptions being "art" books, cookbooks, technical tomes and (the few remaining) magazines. But having "display models" of the electronically-available works would help make sales. For one thing, I rarely use the ebook preview feature, since it leaves lint behind on the reader device if I decide not to buy the book.
It's still a stopgap though. At least with books, however unpopular they get, you always have those hipsters and anachronists who will always seek them out. For some formats/types of book, I actually prefer dead tree myself. Roleplaying source books and textbooks will always be superior in print. Fiction can go straight to the Kindle.
If all you (as a store) do is Kindles, then you're the replaceable AA batteries of the literature distribution system. I guess in theory, you'd do this and still keep stock of real books for anyone who might want them, but I can't imagine that you'd reap enough profit from this program to keep up with how much you've undercut your original business. It's also only for the first two years from the devices purchase date that stores get the cut of the books sold. Bookstores may be going out of business but all this does is offer a solid execution date. It's an unsustainable business model for any area that doesn't have huge growth.
Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
I've got a Kindle and it is great for magazines, but I still buy hardcopy books. There is something about the smell and feel of a book, not to mention the hand me down effect. My brother, the next door neighbor and the local school library all seem to appreciate getting the books to read for free, and I really like frequenting half-price books, granted the .25 to 1.00 I get back in trade is not much but considering I read 2-3 books a week it DOES add up.
If the cost of an online book was substantially cheaper than a hard copy I might feel different but it really isn't...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
I don't understand why the new model for local book stores is not clear to everyone. It is this; local bookstores are essentially places to browse books to see what you want, then thy can earn money either of direct sales from the location (which is very much going to happen in the cases of gifts) or from affiliate revenue.
Gifts alone are not enough revenue to cut it; buying a Kindle from your local affiliate is a whole new stream of revenue that is likely enough to keep a store afloat. All the store has to do is figure out a way to entice people to buy Kindle's from the store and they get two-three years of recurring revenue as the owner buys books even if they never return to the store!
Book stores would also be smart to place QR stickers on each book that provided an affiliate link to purchase the book on Amazon.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It may seem harmless at first glance. But this is analogous to the problem we're having with cable TV - where the company which owns the delivery hardware is also the company which is selling you the content.
For this to work properly, the delivery infrastructure has to remain separate from the product being delivered. That's what we do with electricity and gas. For efficiency purposes, one company owns the power lines or the gas pipes. But they're not allowed to discriminate against electricity and gas suppliers, and anyone is allowed to sell those products through their lines/pipes.
Without this separation, there's a huge conflict of interest. A company with an inferior product can force its acceptance through its dominance of the delivery system (e.g. cable companies and their "packages" where you're forced to pay for lots of channels you haven't the slightest interest in watching). Or a company with an inferior delivery system can force its acceptance through dominance in a popular product (e.g. game consoles which sign an exclusive deal for a certain game).
In a nutshell, you shouldn't be allowed to use dominance in one market as leverage to gain dominance in a different, orthogonal market.
I haven't completely broken the habit of bookstores. But if there was an app that would allow me to easily scan a UPC code and wish/purchase an eBook, it would be a convenience
This is one of the main features of the Amazon app for Android (and I assume iOS as well). You can scan the barcode on anything to look it up on Amazon.
For the books I usually buy, the price of a Kindle edition is half that of a hardcover. When the book goes to paperback the price usually drops to a buck or two less than the paperback. Seems about equivalent (or better) to buying a paperback and then reselling it to the used book store. Plus I get to keep my Kindle editions forever (even if the book has DRM unless something unusual happens -- and if I really wanted to, I could break the DRM and keep it anyway).
Kindle books always go on sale, and lots of sites to track it
the entire kindle version of the song of ice and fire is on sale for $22.59 now
We can read and still enjoy the vanilla'esqe smell of a nice old used book store.
Good move Amazon. Go once step further, and let them sell kindle books and keep 10%.
Yes put a QR sticker on the book so you can get 10% of the profit rather than 100%
Your math is wrong; 10% is greater than 0%. People are ALREADY looking at a book in a bookstore, scanning the barcode on Amazons shopping app, and ordering it online.
10% A MONTH for three years is also better than 0% over three years, which is what you may get if a bookstore sells a kindle reader and the purchasers keeps buying books. Wh wouldn't they? I know I buy a book or two every month. That's all money that an affiliate could have a percentage of and I'd be happy to help make that happen.
Your math is even "wronger", in that a book store selling only physical books must purchase a huge stock of books, many of which will not sell. A book store oriented to making money from affiliate revenue need stock only a copy or two of each book, possibly keeping more of some really popular books for those that actually want to purchase. But in any case it mens much less money tied up in inventory and books that don't sell no longer hurt you.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What would be ideal would be a more extended partnership with local book sellers. It would be nice if the local book seller could sell a hardcopy with the ability to grab the Amazon ebook edition as well for a couple dollars more than just the hardcopy itself. This way, both Amazon and the local store benefit from each other.
This might even be doable (assuming Amazon could get the permission from publishers) with used books as well.
10% isn't enough to pay the electric bill let alone employee wages, rent, taxes etc.
How do you know? You can't possibly know the rent for every small to medium sized bookstore to proclaim that. Also, why do you assume affiliate revenue is 10% compared to a baseline profit the bookstore would have earned from the book, after factoring in stock that didn't sell or was damaged and stolen? All of those factors are greatly reduced by a bookstore that is operating off the model of making money from recurring revenue.
Fundamentally though, you are being really, really stupid on a key aspect that earns the bookstore money - you are totally ignoring the point I made clearly that the store gets a cut of EVERY book bought over years. A person might have bought one book at the store, with a profit of $0.50 for example. But instead the store get lets say $0.25 (or more) a MONTH over three years! Furthermore that doesn't even requiring having stock or help to serve them. Which would you rather have as a business owner???
You also I think are drastically over-estimating how much they make per book sold - and forgetting they also are getting all of the profit from selling a Kindle, how many books do you have to sell to equal that?
You are missing the potentially greatest path to resurgence for the physical book store there ever will be, and ignoring it because you can't seem to understand the profit flow possible or indeed what is really going on.
You represent the worst aspect of Slashdot, the technocrat who knows fuck-all about running a real business with physical goods. What a shame you cannot see this opportunity clearly, but that doesn't mean it is not there.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I haven't completely broken the habit of bookstores. But if there was an app that would allow me to easily scan a UPC code and wish/purchase an eBook, it would be a convenience
This is one of the main features of the Amazon app for Android (and I assume iOS as well). You can scan the barcode on anything to look it up on Amazon.
Well, A) I don't shop Amazon anymore, between "Animal Farm", their acting as a front for the US Government and various other misdemeanors. B) I don't want to "look it up", I want to put it someplace where my ebookstore of choice (not Amazon) can stuff it into an online purchase if I want or put it on my wish list.
You're obviously a troll and someone thats never run a business. How about we take 90% of your income away and see how well you survive? I'm done with you. Can't argue with fucking retards.
If the cost of an online book was substantially cheaper than a hard copy I might feel different but it really isn't...
What about writers who sell physical books but give away the electronic versions? That's what Doctorow does and what I'm doing with "Nobots". If it works I'll make future books the same way.
Asimov:
Free Martian Whores!
If I could find a way to hand the e-book around the my circle of reading buddies it might become inviting but as many books as I offer them, they return so the price is split several ways making the physical book even more attractive. I will stipulate that part of the attraction of a book is a visceral smell and feel of paper.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Love the quote, thank-you. Asimov and your signature author Heinlein are two of my favorites. On a side note I also collect authors' signatures, and that is hard to do on an electronic version. I've spent countless hours in pursuit of authors and had great luck getting them to sign my books. Like I posted to previous reply, I share around a circle of friends and they also buy books so the costs are shared, with the added benefit of getting to chat at our bi-monthly pen and paper RPG sessions. We've been playing D&D, and Gurps together for more than 20 years now.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
The whole story's at that link (Yay, Google!). I have at least one printed book with that story in it, I have a lot of Asimov although I've read a LOT more of his books than I've bought.
I'm not surprised that there's no problem getting a book signed, fans are an author's greatest asset. If I sign this book you're a lot more likely to buy my next one. I wrote Asimov a fan letter, and he answered it with a post card. I wish I still had it.
I hadn't even thought of signed editions, that is an advantage to printed books. E editions are good for convenience; if I have a boring wait somewhere I can just pull out my phone and there are tons of books. I'm reading some Dickens now. But I still like having shelves of books, and prefer reading paper to reading a screen.
Free Martian Whores!