Galt's Gulch

Amazon vs Publishers:Authors Caught in Crossfire

Posted by khalling 9 years, 11 months ago to Books
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I thought this might make an interesting debate in the Gulch. This is the short version: Amazon has a corner on the market. For the privilege of selling books via them, they want a bigger cut. Publishers are crying extortion and want legislators to step in. Amazon says we'll ship your books when we feel like it.
Will Amazon begin to lose customers over big name authors' new releases not being sold on their site? Discuss
SOURCE URL: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/23/amazon-escalates-its-battle-against-hachette/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 9 years, 11 months ago
    Robbie is right on this one. They can ask for a bigger cut. If you want that money for yourself, then you'll have to set up your own market.

    Value for value. They provide a market.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 11 months ago
    I think they absolutely will lose customers. It's easy to become complacent. Barriers to entry are lower than ever. They could be seriously diminished in a matter of a year or two. This is not a statement about Amazon, but about business in general. Things change faster than we'd intuitively think.

    Serve the customer or someone else will.
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 11 months ago
    As a free-market capitalist proponent, I think that Amazon has every right to ASK for whatever they want. They don't have a right to GET what they ask for, 'though, and the publishers and/or authors can choose to use a different distribution mechanism. Frankly, I don't see why more sales aren't going to eBay or other auction sites. An auction is the purest form of capitalism and maximizes profit/minimizes cost and distributes the most efficiently for all participants.
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 11 months ago
    There are some industries that are prohibited from selling directly to the customer - automobiles just one example. Look at the problems that Tesla is having in trying to sell without a dealership network. There are others as well.
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  • Posted by lrbeggs 9 years, 11 months ago
    A competitor is required, obviously. I agree with db that publishers would rather rest on their laurels then step up and create a competitive opportunity.
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  • Posted by dbhalling 9 years, 11 months ago
    If the publishers were wise they would setup their own competitor to Amazon. Today it would be easy to setup a competitor to Amazon. But publishers want to live in the past.

    In fact, the movies should setup their own Amazon to sell movies, books, mementos and while it might be limited to products related to Rand, it should not just be limited to the movies. SCOTT - how about it?
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  • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 11 months ago
    It seems, on it's face to offer an opportunity for some innovative competitor. As to the publishers, they're in the same conundrum as music houses. It's a new world - creative destruction - new opportunities.
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