"retail" entries
Amazon: Kindle Owners Buy More Books
In press releases and in Book Expo sessions, Amazon is touting an interesting figure: consumers who purchase a Kindle increase their overall book purchases through Amazon by an average of 2.6 times. That "2.6 times" figure doesn't mean Kindle customers are boosting their print purchases, but it does go a short ways toward quelling ebook cannibalization concerns. At a…
Path to Web Retail Getting Easier for Independent Music Labels
This is an interesting story from the music world. The implication is that the barrier to retail is dropping in music, which has different hurdles than publishing. The Independent Online Distribution Alliance, better known as IODA, launched itself in 2003 to help independent labels, artists and others in the music industry make the leap from physical to digital. One…
Studio Notes DVD Sales Increase Amidst Digital Distribution
Warner Brothers found that DVD sales actually increased during a simultaneous DVD/VOD release program. These results apply to other industries, including publishing.
News Roundup: Google's Book Scanning, Kindle's Future Path, Authorship Increases Exponentially, Amazon Takes on "Amazon Tax," 5 DRM Messes
A Glimpse into Google's Book Scanning Google doesn't divulge specifics about its proprietary book scanning set-up, but the Associated Press offers a brief look into the manual scanning process used for old/fragile titles. (Continue reading) Kindle's All-Encompassing Future Path Jeff Nolan writes about the path of the Kindle: It's clear that [Jeff] Bezos sees a day when any and all…
Amazon Challenges New York's "Amazon Tax"
As expected, Amazon is challenging New York's recently passed sales tax statute. From Amazon's filed complaint (pdf): Because some independently operated, New York-based websites post advertisements with links to Amazon and are compensated for these advertisements, Amazon is now presumed to have engaged in "solicitation" under this statue … despite the fact that Amazon lacks any physical presence in…
Bookstores Confront Fake Author Scam
Scammers claiming to be authors are trying to pluck money from California booksellers. From the L.A. Times: … slowly but surely, stores are being contacted by people claiming to be someone they're not and trying to persuade the bookstore staff to send them money. It's bewildering to a community that operates largely on trust and personal relationships. The "authors"…
Tim O'Reilly: Amazon Has Publishers in its Sights
Over on the the O’Reilly Radar blog, Tim O’Reilly offers a warning for publishers, and cautions Amazon against "irreparably" harming the publishing ecosystem: It is a free-market economy, and competition is the name of the game. But as Amazon’s market power increases, it needs to be mindful of whether its moves, even those that may be good for the…
Amazon Growth Fuels Online's Book Market Share
Online retailers claim 21-30 percent of the consumer trade book market, according to two recent surveys. Publishers Weekly says much of this growth comes from Amazon: In discussing their 2007 results, both Penguin's David Shanks and Simon & Schuster's Carolyn Reidy said the e-tailer was their fastest-growing account last year, while Quarto Group chairman Laurence Orbach noted that sales…
New York Eyes Amazon Affiliates in Tax Move
The Amazon affiliates program could yield millions in revenue for New York state, and it won't come from customer referrals. From the New York Times: … people owe taxes on what they buy regardless of whom they buy it from. But the seller only has an obligation to collect those taxes (and thus the only time taxes are ever…
Small Publishers See Similarities in New HarperCollins Unit
Speaking with the The New York Observer, small publishers say they've for years employed the author/retail strategies recently embraced by HarperCollins' new imprint. "This is exactly what we've been talking about and attempting to do to varying degrees all along,’" said Richard Nash, publisher of Soft Skull Press. “But I don’t think they [HarperCollins] were like, 'oh, let’s look…