Any of you who know me, also know I’ve bleated on for some years regarding the profound changes occurring in publishing, how it is the traditional method of publishing and bringing books to market is obsolete and simply not viable in today’s global, technology-driven economy. Over the past five years we’ve structured Five Rivers Publishing so that: We do not rely on sales from bricks and mortar stores As much as a decade ago I…
Back in 2008, I offered up my own view of where publishing was going, in particular the indie bookseller sector and the Espresso Book Machine (EBM). Over the years I’ve continued to bang on that drum, illustrating a vision of an evolved bookstore that’s more Internet cafe than the hallowed stacks of print books. In some ways that vision has been realized, in others not. To date there are only 57 EBMs worldwide, (US 28,…
Once again I find myself stunned by the increasingly moralistic, repressive response we seem to be experiencing in Western society. My astonishment is centred around PayPal’s recent McCarthyistic bullying of Smashwords, among others. The crux of the issue is either Smashwords and other specifically named distributors and aggregators of literary content, revise their censorship policies to comply with PayPal’s views, or face having their accounts shut down. While I personally am not a lover of…
A colleague of mine commented on the recent announcements from both Kobo and Amazon morphing into publishers, ‘What if Amazon gives preference to its own titles over other publishers’ titles in its distribution arm.’ In my opinion, given Amazon’s enormous marketing capability, and corporate culture of obfuscating facts, the potential to monopolize the entire beast of publishing, not just the long tail, is something to monitor. Kobo, it should be noted, is the silent but…
According to an article published yesterday in Canada’s Quill & Quire, Indigo’s new business strategy may have far-reaching consequences. Not only has Indigo decreased the floor space it allots to books to 50% (which begs the question: how can you call yourself Indigo BOOKS and Music, when half your inventory is giftware destined for garage sales and landfill?), but it now will return books to publishers within 45 days, depending on sales performance. Just how…