4 ms·

The authors get the pure profit of 35% from "revenue", not "profit." That seems huge. That means the profit of those authors may be better than Amazon, which ha

by protez 17y ago

The authors get the pure profit of 35% from "revenue", not "profit." That seems huge. That means the profit of those authors may be better than Amazon, which has to cover the expenses on development, distribution, marketing, maintenance, or any other costs relevant to Kindle business.

chrisbolt 17y ago
Another thing to note, authors get 35% of list price, and when Amazon discounts books (for example, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002U4XPK6 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002U4XPK6 lists for $26.99 and is selling for $9.99) the author will still get 35% of the list price (or $9.45). In this case, Amazon is getting 54 cents.
jbellis 17y ago
Even Apple gives you 70%.
teeja 17y ago
Authors usually have houses and bodies and cars to feed, educations to pay for, possibly children, and no social life for months at a time. Their creativity and life are invested in their work. Amazon invests in a web page (form) for the author and supports that with the same software and hardware that sells diapers and plastic race cars. Anyone could do that, but Amazon's just prominent. Repeat: anyone could do that ... and giving Amazon a run for their money would make them underdog media darlings. I'm fairly sure you could open a new "DIY author" bookstore on Twitter and make pretty decent money at it, depending on what authors you could get on board. Bezos appears to be getting cocky. He's about due to become the Gates of online retailers.
- protez 17y ago
  Yes. You're right. Anyone can copy some webpages overnight and sell every kind of stuff tomorrow. That's the very nature of online retailers. However, because of that homogeneity, prominence is all that matters. People can remember only one or two places of a category as they're so similar to each other. That's why Amazon can charge that fee and authors and publishers are happy to bring their books in Kindle editions. Plus, it's distributing all the platforms necessary to read and purchase the books. In essence, it created a new market. Amazon definitely deserves its current margin and I don't think most of authors can be better off with "DIY" stuff even if that means 99% margin. If not, Kindle business is total nonsense and couldn't come into the current status at all.

by protez 17y ago

chrisbolt 17y ago

Another thing to note, authors get 35% of list price, and when Amazon discounts books (for example, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002U4XPK6 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002U4XPK6 lists for $26.99 and is selling for $9.99) the author will still get 35% of the list price (or $9.45). In this case, Amazon is getting 54 cents.

jbellis 17y ago

Even Apple gives you 70%.

teeja 17y ago

Authors usually have houses and bodies and cars to feed, educations to pay for, possibly children, and no social life for months at a time. Their creativity and life are invested in their work. Amazon invests in a web page (form) for the author and supports that with the same software and hardware that sells diapers and plastic race cars. Anyone could do that, but Amazon's just prominent. Repeat: anyone could do that ... and giving Amazon a run for their money would make them underdog media darlings. I'm fairly sure you could open a new "DIY author" bookstore on Twitter and make pretty decent money at it, depending on what authors you could get on board. Bezos appears to be getting cocky. He's about due to become the Gates of online retailers.

protez 17y ago
Yes. You're right. Anyone can copy some webpages overnight and sell every kind of stuff tomorrow. That's the very nature of online retailers. However, because of that homogeneity, prominence is all that matters. People can remember only one or two places of a category as they're so similar to each other. That's why Amazon can charge that fee and authors and publishers are happy to bring their books in Kindle editions. Plus, it's distributing all the platforms necessary to read and purchase the books. In essence, it created a new market. Amazon definitely deserves its current margin and I don't think most of authors can be better off with "DIY" stuff even if that means 99% margin. If not, Kindle business is total nonsense and couldn't come into the current status at all.