Big Distrubtors Duke It Out — And the Future of Books
filed in Publishing Industry on Feb.09, 2012
Barnes and Noble as well as Books-A-Million fired warning shots across the bow of Amazon.com. It appears that since Amazon.com blocked sales of Nook titles, Barnes and Noble returned the favor by blocking sales of Amazon.com titles, with Books-A-Million jumping into the fray as well. What’s a little unclear is what all is banned by each side, and whether a white flag will be waved by all sides if the bans of rival products are dropped. I’m betting that everyone will be selling all products before too long. However if there is a battle, likely the larger galleon that is Amazon.com will prevail.
See more here: Barnes & Noble: We Will Not Carry Amazon Publishing Titles In Our Stores. And here: Books-A-Million Won’t Carry Amazon Titles, Either
A few links for those interesting in self publishing and the publishing industry:
How to write a Kindle bestseller
An Open Letter to Barnes and Nobles gives some nice insight into the current transition from large publishers and agents controlling the publishing industry to the wide open markets being created by self-publishing authors and small presses.
Half the fight in getting accepted as a self publisher is creating a product that looks professional. Without that, most readers say, “No thank you” and move on to another title. Here’s a blog post that gives a nice wrap up and how to make a professional-looking product: The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing a Book that Doesn’t Suck.
Here are a few experts with thoughts about the future of publishing print books and magazines: Looking Ahead: What Will Become of Print (By 2017)?
And finally, some thoughts on “Lean Publishing.”
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Duncan Long watches the publishing industry going ons with horror. When distracted, he illustrates book and magazine covers for self-publishing authors as well as HarperCollins, Paladin, Asimov Science Fiction Magazine, Pocket Books, ILEX, and others. See more of Long’s illustrations at: Duncan’s Book Illustration Gallery
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February 9th, 2012 on 9:15 am
Distrubtors – really Duncan? LOL :)
February 9th, 2012 on 9:15 am
You’re doing a good job pointing me in the right direction, but I bet I’m not alone. Thanks, Duncan!
February 9th, 2012 on 9:34 am
@Jack: This is much better than the names I call them in private.
February 9th, 2012 on 9:44 am
You, me and everyone else Duncan. :) I’ve just tweeted and FB’d the post. :)
February 9th, 2012 on 9:49 am
Thanks Jack — tweets and posts are ALWAYS appreciated. Well, except for that story about the bank robbery. And the other about the restraining order.
February 10th, 2012 on 7:08 am
It’s like what people in New Mexico say, “Don’t like the weather? Wait 15 minutes.” That’s the way I am looking at publishing, distributing, etc. There is something new – seems like – every day.
February 12th, 2012 on 10:04 pm
I have been browsing your site (mostly your amazing artwork in your illustration portfolio and galleries) for almost 3 hours, and now stumbled upon this interesting article. Thanks for sharing so much of yourself with the world. You’re a very talented man.