Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) | Stock Discussion Forums

To: Stock Puppy who wrote (160608)	2/1/2010 12:27:31 PM
From: Sam Citron	of 161295

Book publishers are still calling the shots these days. What has happened recently in the music business must terrify them. Lately they have been seen as losing their clout so the Amazon news is an important symbolic victory for them. It's never easy to have such a powerful customer as Bezos and today they are celebrating a rare victory. Yes, digital books are much cheaper to publish than paper ones. Now that these costs are declining, the squabble is all about who should get the surplus: the author, publisher, or book seller? It's also about price elasticity of demand and perceived value of e-books versus paper books. The landscape is shifting rapidly and both Jobs and Bezos have rewritten the rules of the road. Google meanwhile is the 400 lb. gorilla in the room. Both Bezos and Jobs would love to become e-publishers and get rid of the middlemen. But they are not in the business of commissioning works (providing upfront payment to authors) or providing editing services. Both of these are likely to remain core publishing functions for some time to come. Sam

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To: Stock Puppy who wrote (160612)	2/1/2010 1:18:03 PM
From: Sam Citron	of 161295

Self-publishing is a very different model from the normal publishing route. These authors are new or perceived as not having an established market for their works. Such authors are generally eager to establish their reputations, so eager that they have traditionally been willing to front the expenses for "vanity presses". Kindle books priced between 0 and $1 now provide a reasonable platform for much broader distribution of such works while imposing no costs upon the author. Ultimately Amazon has made an unparalleled investment in warehouses and logistics for delivery of physical goods. Google has made a similar investment in servers and logistics for the speedy delivery of relevant digital information. Apple's forte has traditionally been in developing and selling devices for downloading and displaying digital information. But, like Amazon, it has been migrating more and more into the content business. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Anybody who pretends to know is a fool. Sam

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