4 ms·

Oh wow, Amazon is such a threat! Whatever will Larousse and Hachette do... maybe remain competitive? </3

coldtea 5y ago
I'd rather not have them race to the bottom to "remain competitive". I also rather not have the book industry of a country dependent on the whims (and VC/bottomless pit of money to stay "competitive" while they crush a market) of an American company. Even more so one with no culture and no respect for the book as a work of the spirit whatsoever. So there's that.
- smabie 5y ago
  I guess I would rather have cheaper books/things, don't really care whether a book seller has respect for a book as a "work of spirit" whatever that means.
  - coldtea 5y ago
    Well, I, on the other hand, am European, so I care about more than getting my books/things cheap.
  - mdp2021 5y ago
    The poster with «work of spirit» probably meant "outcome of higher mental work and more, including intellectual". And expressed that it should be respected as a highly dignified product (as opposed to a piece of product conceived for consumerism). Nonetheless, i cannot really interpret that mention of Europe "as opposed to some rest". Edit: having seen further comments, I can. There are areas in Europe in which extremely light judgement and behaviour is socially unpunished and considered normal, or "normal as an exception". (In other areas, nobody with that trait could have reached, say, 18 years of age without getting "straightened".) It must be noted that those areas have a mixed population: some will behave """antisocially""" while many will remain absolutely lovely - it is just tolerance of juvenile thought and behaviour misunderstood by some """beneficiaries""" as acceptance or approval, instead of patience.
    - coldtea 5y ago
      >There are areas in Europe in which extremely light judgement and behaviour is socially unpunished and considered normal, or "normal as an exception" I'm not even sure what that means. Is it about juvenile deliquency ("areas in Europe in which extremely light judgement and behaviour is socially unpunished and considered normal") or some critique about how "elitists" are unbearable, making comments about things being worth more than their monetary value is beyond the pale, and the proper form of social being (that people - and peoples - should be "straigtened" to) is being a mass consumer? If it's the latter, it manages to be way more patronizing that the "elitism" it's supposedly against, and unlike it, with no redeeming qualities either. Or maybe it's about how in some cultures you're "straigtened" to behave like a public advertisement, marketing yourself, with faux politiness, well smoothed talk, and fake smiles -- and how some came to consider this the proper behavior, as opposed as a regression?
      - mdp2021 5y ago
        No coldtea, it is about the betrayal against us elitists when one first takes the podium to declare the highest importance of the highest values, and flares around the Warning to those who have not yet chosen the path of Elevation, and has us all floating in hope, then starts pissing around the room and belches that "what else could you expect from population X anyway" before leaving - us all now unsure how to proceed. :) Can we be consistent? Please also see my edit to the other comment (the "wife"), to which you kindly replied and it was delightful to read it, so please do it more often without encouragement to have the Jekill check the Hyde.
        coldtea 5y ago
        >and belches that "what else could you expect from population X anyway" before leaving - us all now unsure how to proceed. :) Can we be consistent? Well, it has a certain historical consistency. Not sure I'd call it belching - Adorno, for example, quite known for such summary judgments, had impecable high class manners in every other way :) Exceptions, of course, know who they are. But this insistence of never generalizing is the enemy of thinking - which should be about trying to see above the particularities of individuals to be of any use. But yes, I probably should give more context.
newsclues 5y ago
There certainly has been a fair bit of consolidation in the publishing industry, other than Amazon becoming the dominant retailer.
- arthurcolle 5y ago
  Consolidation is traditionally viewed as anticompetitive, believe it or not.
  - coldtea 5y ago
    And it's usually the end result of competition with behemoths like Amazon, believe it or not.
    - arthurcolle 5y ago
      They could have sold books online earlier, they chose not to.
      - coldtea 5y ago
        It's not about timing. It's not just about selling either.
hh3k0 5y ago
Yeah -- just make no profit for two decades until everyone with shallower pockets bled out, stupid. It's called competitiveness, baby, and it's easy peasy lemon squeezy!
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
downWidOutaFite 5y ago
For 2019, before the pandemic, parent company Lagardere made about $200 million on $7 billion in revenue. Amazon made $11B on $280B in revenue. So 40-50 times bigger. In the last 4 quarters Lagardere lost $376M on $4B in revenue. While Amazon exploded to $29B on $443B in revenue. So more like 100 times bigger.

I'd rather not have them race to the bottom to "remain competitive". I also rather not have the book industry of a country dependent on the whims (and VC/bottomless pit of money to stay "competitive" while they crush a market) of an American company. Even more so one with no culture and no respect for the book as a work of the spirit whatsoever. So there's that.

smabie 5y ago
I guess I would rather have cheaper books/things, don't really care whether a book seller has respect for a book as a "work of spirit" whatever that means.
- coldtea 5y ago
  Well, I, on the other hand, am European, so I care about more than getting my books/things cheap.
- mdp2021 5y ago
  The poster with «work of spirit» probably meant "outcome of higher mental work and more, including intellectual". And expressed that it should be respected as a highly dignified product (as opposed to a piece of product conceived for consumerism). Nonetheless, i cannot really interpret that mention of Europe "as opposed to some rest". Edit: having seen further comments, I can. There are areas in Europe in which extremely light judgement and behaviour is socially unpunished and considered normal, or "normal as an exception". (In other areas, nobody with that trait could have reached, say, 18 years of age without getting "straightened".) It must be noted that those areas have a mixed population: some will behave """antisocially""" while many will remain absolutely lovely - it is just tolerance of juvenile thought and behaviour misunderstood by some """beneficiaries""" as acceptance or approval, instead of patience.
  - coldtea 5y ago
    >There are areas in Europe in which extremely light judgement and behaviour is socially unpunished and considered normal, or "normal as an exception" I'm not even sure what that means. Is it about juvenile deliquency ("areas in Europe in which extremely light judgement and behaviour is socially unpunished and considered normal") or some critique about how "elitists" are unbearable, making comments about things being worth more than their monetary value is beyond the pale, and the proper form of social being (that people - and peoples - should be "straigtened" to) is being a mass consumer? If it's the latter, it manages to be way more patronizing that the "elitism" it's supposedly against, and unlike it, with no redeeming qualities either. Or maybe it's about how in some cultures you're "straigtened" to behave like a public advertisement, marketing yourself, with faux politiness, well smoothed talk, and fake smiles -- and how some came to consider this the proper behavior, as opposed as a regression?
    - mdp2021 5y ago
      No coldtea, it is about the betrayal against us elitists when one first takes the podium to declare the highest importance of the highest values, and flares around the Warning to those who have not yet chosen the path of Elevation, and has us all floating in hope, then starts pissing around the room and belches that "what else could you expect from population X anyway" before leaving - us all now unsure how to proceed. :) Can we be consistent? Please also see my edit to the other comment (the "wife"), to which you kindly replied and it was delightful to read it, so please do it more often without encouragement to have the Jekill check the Hyde.
      - coldtea 5y ago
        >and belches that "what else could you expect from population X anyway" before leaving - us all now unsure how to proceed. :) Can we be consistent? Well, it has a certain historical consistency. Not sure I'd call it belching - Adorno, for example, quite known for such summary judgments, had impecable high class manners in every other way :) Exceptions, of course, know who they are. But this insistence of never generalizing is the enemy of thinking - which should be about trying to see above the particularities of individuals to be of any use. But yes, I probably should give more context.

newsclues 5y ago

There certainly has been a fair bit of consolidation in the publishing industry, other than Amazon becoming the dominant retailer.

arthurcolle 5y ago
Consolidation is traditionally viewed as anticompetitive, believe it or not.
- coldtea 5y ago
  And it's usually the end result of competition with behemoths like Amazon, believe it or not.
  - arthurcolle 5y ago
    They could have sold books online earlier, they chose not to.
    - coldtea 5y ago
      It's not about timing. It's not just about selling either.

hh3k0 5y ago

Yeah -- just make no profit for two decades until everyone with shallower pockets bled out, stupid. It's called competitiveness, baby, and it's easy peasy lemon squeezy!

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

downWidOutaFite 5y ago

For 2019, before the pandemic, parent company Lagardere made about $200 million on $7 billion in revenue. Amazon made $11B on $280B in revenue. So 40-50 times bigger. In the last 4 quarters Lagardere lost $376M on $4B in revenue. While Amazon exploded to $29B on $443B in revenue. So more like 100 times bigger.