Amazon has announced that it will only sell print-on-demand books printed by its own print-on-demand service BookSurge according to recent news from TechCrunch
The print-on-demand book business has thrived in the last few years as players such as Lulu, Blurb and others have catered to publishers looking to reduce overhead on inventory. It will be very difficult for anyone to compete with Amazon in the print-on-demand space.
The decision may also cause book prices to rise with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Amazon BookSurge prices are higher than other print-on-demand providers.
This is confirmed by a Wall Street Journal Article as well...
Amazon.com Inc., flexing its muscles as a major book retailer, notified publishers who print books on demand that they will have to use its on-demand printing facilities if they want their books directly sold on Amazon's Web site.
The move signals that Amazon is intent on using its position as the premier online bookseller to strengthen its presence in other phases of bookselling and manufacturing. Amazon is one of the biggest booksellers in the U.S., with a market share publishing experts estimate to be about 15%. Amazon doesn't comment on sales.
I wonder how other print on demand outfits like iUniverse and Xlibris will respond this news? I personally had to try this for myself and so searched for the book "My Road To Microsoft," an Xlibris book I love, and still found it there. Although it is true that there is no longer a "Buy" button it can still be added to a cart and be bought just like any other product.
Not sure if this should be a big deal... but yet again... I'm not a self publisher
Image from tridentconfidential.com
No comments:
Post a Comment