6 ms·

Just a shower thought: Why doesn't the bookstore syndicate simply offer an option for self-publishing, too, instead of complaining around? I am not a particula

Just a shower thought: Why doesn't the bookstore syndicate simply offer an option for self-publishing, too, instead of complaining around? I am not a particular fan of Amazon, but I believe that the best way to set bounds to Amazon is to offer an alternative or even something better.

pkaye 8y ago
Thats a lot of work. What everyone wants is a cut of the winnings.
- WalterSear 8y ago
  And a return of the gate that they've made their living keeping.
lozenge 8y ago
Amazon has probably completely automated the process. Without knowing whether the book will sell 1 or 100,000 copies they can automatically switch between print-on-demand and printing runs. They can do this because they can ship from any warehouse to your door. They can send the initial short printing run to a single warehouse and then scale up if necessary. A bookstore relies on having enough copies available at every store, so they would need to at a minimum ship and shelve some copies to all their large branches.
- killjoywashere 8y ago
  > A bookstore relies on having enough copies available at every store The bookstore syndicate could collaborate with a third-party, like alibris.
  - wolfgke 8y ago
    > > A bookstore relies on having enough copies available at every store > The bookstore syndicate could collaborate with a third-party, like alibris. This is exactly my line of argument and the reason why I wrote "Why doesn't the bookstore syndicate [...]". A single bookstore clearly cannot manage this on its own. The bookstore syndicate, on the other hand, has much more options available.
    - lozenge 8y ago
      Either they are selling online only like Amazon, or they need to print and ship books to hundreds of retail stores. Whether they are a bookstore or a bookstore syndicate makes no difference.
      - killjoywashere 8y ago
        The stores can cast themselves as warehouses, print one copy and see if it sells either in-store, or online through Alibris. If yes, print 2, warehouse at 2 other stores (which can incidentally be "warehoused" on display shelves). If sold, print 4. If sold, print 8. O(n^2) up to some point then switch to linear or O(log(n)) growth. Eventually, your last run will print.
- clintonb 8y ago
  On-demand printing is one way to get around the inventory problem. Harvard Book Store[0] has offered this service for at least seven years. [0] http://www.harvard.com/clubs_services/books_on_demand/ http://www.harvard.com/clubs_services/books_on_demand/
Rjevski 8y ago
That would require actually doing work and delivering value and competing, while complaining is easier. Same story with the Uber/Lyft vs taxis. I don't like Amazon that much but I fully support them on this front.
- kuschku 8y ago
  Except, the value Uber provides is entirely in being cheaper than the competition. There have been apps to book taxi rides in Germany for years, some of them even existed as early as 2007 and allowed booking the ride online and paying online ahrad of time. Yet, the only reason Uber had an advantage while it was operating in Germany was the massivr ad budget they had due to taking higher fees from drivers, and their cheaper prices due to not paying for insurances or ensuring that the drivers actually had the correct drivers licenses.
  - bryanrasmussen 8y ago
    surely uber also had the advantage of being able to have more drivers available at peak times.
  - Rjevski 8y ago
    The value Uber provides to me is a ride within minutes of the request. Taxis in London (which have their own apps like Gett and MyTaxi) can't match that from my experience. Uber also provides me with a way to claim money back should any problems arise directly from the app, where as the process for a taxi is much more time-consuming.
tanilama 8y ago
They probably don't havv sufficient tech, workforce for it.
hef19898 8y ago
That is the one big question, isn't it? Just image that book stores collaborate and find a third party to do the printing-on-demand? It is not always Amazon who's doing this, so these printers will work for everyone else. All you need is a webshop and an interface to said printing company. Logistics would than be handled by say FedEx or DHL, same as for Amazon. But that would mean to change the way they run their business, so it is easier to fight change for them and hope for the best. PoD also makes life for publishers a lot harder. Traditionally they had to filter books they thought would sell well to justify the costs for marketing, printing, distribution etc. Now, PoD allows to publish basically everything with close to zero marginal cost, even for paper books. And THAT goes against the very core of publishers culture as gate keepers. There are even, at least in Germany, companies specialized already in media distribution and logistics. So they would be the first candidates oneight expect to jump into the PoD market. For some reason they didn't.

pkaye 8y ago

Thats a lot of work. What everyone wants is a cut of the winnings.

WalterSear 8y ago
And a return of the gate that they've made their living keeping.

lozenge 8y ago

Amazon has probably completely automated the process. Without knowing whether the book will sell 1 or 100,000 copies they can automatically switch between print-on-demand and printing runs. They can do this because they can ship from any warehouse to your door. They can send the initial short printing run to a single warehouse and then scale up if necessary. A bookstore relies on having enough copies available at every store, so they would need to at a minimum ship and shelve some copies to all their large branches.

killjoywashere 8y ago
> A bookstore relies on having enough copies available at every store The bookstore syndicate could collaborate with a third-party, like alibris.
- wolfgke 8y ago
  > > A bookstore relies on having enough copies available at every store > The bookstore syndicate could collaborate with a third-party, like alibris. This is exactly my line of argument and the reason why I wrote "Why doesn't the bookstore syndicate [...]". A single bookstore clearly cannot manage this on its own. The bookstore syndicate, on the other hand, has much more options available.
  - lozenge 8y ago
    Either they are selling online only like Amazon, or they need to print and ship books to hundreds of retail stores. Whether they are a bookstore or a bookstore syndicate makes no difference.
    - killjoywashere 8y ago
      The stores can cast themselves as warehouses, print one copy and see if it sells either in-store, or online through Alibris. If yes, print 2, warehouse at 2 other stores (which can incidentally be "warehoused" on display shelves). If sold, print 4. If sold, print 8. O(n^2) up to some point then switch to linear or O(log(n)) growth. Eventually, your last run will print.
clintonb 8y ago
On-demand printing is one way to get around the inventory problem. Harvard Book Store[0] has offered this service for at least seven years. [0] http://www.harvard.com/clubs_services/books_on_demand/ http://www.harvard.com/clubs_services/books_on_demand/

Rjevski 8y ago

That would require actually doing work and delivering value and competing, while complaining is easier. Same story with the Uber/Lyft vs taxis. I don't like Amazon that much but I fully support them on this front.

kuschku 8y ago
Except, the value Uber provides is entirely in being cheaper than the competition. There have been apps to book taxi rides in Germany for years, some of them even existed as early as 2007 and allowed booking the ride online and paying online ahrad of time. Yet, the only reason Uber had an advantage while it was operating in Germany was the massivr ad budget they had due to taking higher fees from drivers, and their cheaper prices due to not paying for insurances or ensuring that the drivers actually had the correct drivers licenses.
- bryanrasmussen 8y ago
  surely uber also had the advantage of being able to have more drivers available at peak times.
- Rjevski 8y ago
  The value Uber provides to me is a ride within minutes of the request. Taxis in London (which have their own apps like Gett and MyTaxi) can't match that from my experience. Uber also provides me with a way to claim money back should any problems arise directly from the app, where as the process for a taxi is much more time-consuming.

tanilama 8y ago

They probably don't havv sufficient tech, workforce for it.

hef19898 8y ago

That is the one big question, isn't it? Just image that book stores collaborate and find a third party to do the printing-on-demand? It is not always Amazon who's doing this, so these printers will work for everyone else. All you need is a webshop and an interface to said printing company. Logistics would than be handled by say FedEx or DHL, same as for Amazon. But that would mean to change the way they run their business, so it is easier to fight change for them and hope for the best. PoD also makes life for publishers a lot harder. Traditionally they had to filter books they thought would sell well to justify the costs for marketing, printing, distribution etc. Now, PoD allows to publish basically everything with close to zero marginal cost, even for paper books. And THAT goes against the very core of publishers culture as gate keepers. There are even, at least in Germany, companies specialized already in media distribution and logistics. So they would be the first candidates oneight expect to jump into the PoD market. For some reason they didn't.