Competition in Book Publishing
By Jerry D. Simmons | October 21st, 2009 | 6 Comments » (Click to add yours!)
There have been a couple of interesting things happen in the publishing world lately that I believe is good for the future of our business. The first is the price war between Wal-Mart and Amazon and the second is the introduction of the new eBook Reader from Barnes & Nobel.
Certainly the price war between the two giants of bookselling will not last long. Even though this is a loss leader for both and they can certainly afford to lose money on books for a short period, neither wishes to be seen as the loser in this situation. What it should do, especially during the upcoming holiday season is draw new readers to books and perhaps increase readership. Anything to help increase the net sales of books is a good thing for authors and publishers.
The introduction of a new eBook reader from Barnes & Nobel is great for the future of eBooks and the growth of that market. It is also good from a competitive standpoint but may be a problem for the adaptability of all eBooks to a single download system. Amazon is secretive about their technology as they rightly should be, however if new eBook readers are not compatible with other eBook readers, and consumers who own certain machines cannot download in a single consistent format for all eBook readers, that’s a problem.
Whatever the outcome these are positive developments for authors and publishers, lower hardcover prices will draw new readers to the mix and the introduction of new and affordable eBook readers will greatly increase the number of downloads and continue to expand that market.
The only issue for authors is creating new and exciting content to sell. If you write with the idea of sharing your writing with as many readers as possible, everything else will take care of itself.
Tags: Book Sales, Booksellers, writing
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