Why the Apple Agency Model is Good for Pirates and Self-Publishers
Published December 16th, 2011 | 
Mainstream publishers still don’t get it: book buyers do not want to pay more than $10 for an e-book. They are deluding themselves if they believe jacking-up ebook prices is a good idea. Higher ebook prices do not translate into more ebooks sales. And higher ebook prices are not exactly helping hardcover sales.
So who does benefit from the agency model? Well . . . digital pirates for one. Why pay $16 for a an ebook version of a bestselling book when you can download it for free on a torrent site? Sure, there will always be a market for pirated material, but most readers would pay for those books if the price was friendlier to consumers.
Second, self-publishers are also benefitting from the agency model. Readers looking for new books to read on their Kindle are going to be a bit more willing to try a new author selling an e-book for $1.99 than mainstream bestseller priced equal to or above the trade book price. Over the long haul, the more mainstream publisher fight for the agency model the more it will hurt them.
The Kindle is Still Going Strong
Published September 21st, 2011 | I took my father to Walmart yesterday to pickup a prescription (my dad’s blind now and can no longer drive) and strolled around the store while he handled his business. Inevitably, I wandered into the electronics department, down the aisle with the iphone 3g cases and other cell phone accessories. At the end of the aisle I notice that Walmart now stocks the Kindle
According to recent news reports, it is now making library borrowing available in 11,000 public libraries in the U.S. The Kindle seems to still be going strong after nearly four years!
Barnes and Noble’s Greatest Fear
Published September 1st, 2011 | This year is really blowing by quick. Next week it will be Labor Day, the unofficial end of Summer. Pretty soon, will be whipping out the long john and getting ready to send out holiday cards. That will be good news for bookstores, as the holiday season is when they tend to do most of their business . . . or, maybe not. According to Simba Information, a media firm that studies trends in the the book trade, found that more and more, bookstore patrons are using physical bookstores as a showroom. They do their browsing in physical bookstores then buy the book or e-book online. That does not surprise me in the least. After my friend’s book store went out of business over a decade ago, I all but stopped buying from traditional book stores. I’d go to Barnes and Noble and look around, but I’d inevitably buy my books from Amazon. Although, Simba admits that this casual browsing trend only accounts for about 10% of the book market, it is a sobering fact for many bookstores.
