Timewaster's Guide Archive
Departments => Books => Topic started by: Bookstore Guy on October 22, 2009, 05:15:17 PM
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I'm sure you all have seen this, but it's worth noting:
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/bookselling/amazonwalmart_price_war_now_a_battle_royale_target_sears_enter_the_steel_cage_140683.asp
Apparently the new way to sell hardback books that were already going to sell tons of copies is to sell them for $9. Selling books for a slight loss has been a practice of the book industry for a while, but $9? Seriously? Regardless, I am using this to my advantage, and so should you.
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Yeah, I noticed this yesterday when I checked out how much longer it was going to be until Stephen King's new book comes out. Saw that it was selling on Amazon for $9 and swore that it had to be a mistake.
But no.
:D
Books for me!
I read something that said Wal-mart, Amazon, and Target were all caught up in this internet "sales war" and couldn't help but smile at my good fortune.
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Why would anyone read a Palin book? She got elected for being personable and pretty not to mention the metropolitian area in which i live has 5 times the population as her state! The title Govenor of Alaska impresses more people than it should.
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Kaz: why must this become a political debate? Are the religious debates not volatile enough?
Because, it could be completely turned around and say "why would anyone read a book by Obama? He only spent 2 years in his state Senate and 2 years in the US Senate, he has proven that he never finishes anything. Plus he is from Chicago... blah blah blah blah"
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When did I say i support any politician? My voting is based on the lesser evil....and i had to make my rant on stupid people who vote because they would feel comfortable drinking a beer with someone...which is just wrong.
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Stating who you support isn't necessary for a political debate. When you talk about a politician--specifically about a politician in their political office--it's political. You mentioned Palin and her stint as the Alaskan governor. That makes it political. By speaking negatively, it could theoretically start up a debate....Which I really hope it doesn't. Mtlhddoc is right. The religious debates are enough. We don't need to get political here.
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I don't think this will affect the bigger chain sellers (B&N, etc.) too much in the long run. Unless these companies don't stop selling at these prices (which smell a lot like loss leaders), of course. Bookstores can't compete with this kind of pricing because they can't make up for the loss with a high-margin sale. Good thing this isn't an across the board price war, and that WalMart doesn't carry most titles.
I'm not opposed to talking politics, but it's easy for debates of that kind to get out of hand. If you can keep it civil and focused (which is especially difficult for online discussions - hence the religious threads being so heavily moderated), please start a thread on the topic.
If you want to talk about it in depth with less chance of people getting offended, go to a (physical) political forum or something. Your school likely has one occasionally. I know that the political clubs at my school organize combined parties where everybody on campus is invited to talk politics about once a month. :)
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We have SPEAK which sometimes gets out of hand.
When did everyone with any clout what so ever think they could write a book? Also, I only saw 3 of the 10 books listed.
P.S. My comment was meant to be a rant on how T.V. and other expansions in media have killed competence in political office and idiots now vote for poor reasons. I.E. I would buy so and so a beer and have a nice chat. Palin was just my example.
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Actually, depending on the sales figures, the books being sold at $9 can have a huge impact on B&N and Borders. Four of the books on the list are huge sellers in bookstores. The new novels by Stephen King (hugenormous), James Patterson, Dean Koontz, and Michael Crichton. These authors sell in the hundreds of thousands. Now, if you can get the book for 70% off with free shipping, and no tax, of course you are going to. $9 is cheaper than the new over-sized mass market paperbacks (that suck) that are being printed now-days. Bookstores wont sell their copies for more than 50% off (which in itself is a loss). So, imagine all the people who would normally buy at B&N going to amazon and walmart instead. That is that many customers that won't be going to a bookstore anymore.
Real world example:
When Harry Potter 6 came out, my bookstore had 20% of our preorders cancel because the local Walmart was selling the book for 50% off, and we were selling it for 40% off. That small extra price off reduced our sales a TON. Now compare a bookstore selling King's new novel at 40% off vs. Amazon at 70% + off (they could still go down even further). Now factor in the economy. Yeah, this could seriously hurt bookstores sales, who typically make their sales plans taking new releases into consideration.
A part of me is glad I get the books for insane cheap, but another part see this as just another sign that physical bookstores are going the way of the dodo.
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I hope physical bookstores stay around. You cannot browse properly online.
For people like me those sales are meaningless because I would never buy a best seller, they have them at the library. I tend to buy things I want and my library doesn't have. Besides, my local bookstore has the wonderful habit of ignoring release dates, so its worth it to me to order from them to get books a little early.
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Publishers probably think that is a bad habit.... and while I do think bookstores will die out in the realativly near future i hope that date is pushed as far back as possible
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I'll be honest. I never buy anything in a bookstore unless a) I have a gift card, or b) Brandon is doing a signing there and I'm trying to get a signed copy from him.
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Here's the American Booksellers Association (independent booksellers) responding to the price wars (http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6703526.html), with an indepth explanation to the DOJ why this practice is detrimental to the whole industry. Everything they say is exactly what publishers are worried about, as well--it's an increased focus on the already unhealthy focus on blockbuster bestsellers. They're selling them at a loss--less than it costs to PRINT the books--which means that even though publishers are getting their full price, it means bad, bad things for pricing in the future. This is setting price expectations among consumers--who's going to try a new author for $20, $25, $30 if they can get a big name for $9?? And few publishers can afford to print quality hardcovers for $9, let alone mark it up a little to make any kind of money to pay their editors, their designers, their sales staff, their accounting department... AND still pay the author 10-15%.
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Then they should get a lobbyist to push for a price floor on new books.
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I think that's part of the intended discussion the letter is asking for.
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really really stupid on the part of the publishers. The free market is the free market. If they want socialism, they should move their businesses to France.
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What would happen if publishers simply stopped selling their merchandise to Wal-Mart and its ilk?
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I can answer that one Silk:
They would sell half as many books. Or worse. They complain, but in reality, they have only themselves to blame. the could find a cheaper way to print books, but they dont.
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Do that many people really buy books from Walmart and other such stores, though? (I'm not criticizing you; I genuinely don't know the numbers.)
Even if they do, if the choices are between selling less books and selling a whole bunch of books at a horrendous loss, which would be the worst proposition?
Also, this is why I will never, ever buy books from Wal-mart et all.
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They would sell half as many books. Or worse. They complain, but in reality, they have only themselves to blame. the could find a cheaper way to print books, but they dont.
I disagree. Publishers know their business, and they are out there to make money. If they could make more money on their books by changing the manufacturing process, they would. I'd guess that without a major investment (one that would likely never pay itself back) on the behalf of printers, book manufacturing is pretty much at its peak.
From what I hear, this spat was started because Amazon sells e-books at $9.99, and WalMart felt that its sales would drop if they didn't move to compete. This sounds totally mad to me, as the only people I know who own e-book readers don't shop for literature at WalMart (a few didn't even read physical books for years until the Kindle became available). Few of them shop for literature at physical stores at all.
Overall, I think that this is just the growing pains that accompany the start of a medium change. Did something similar happen when people started to get their news online, or is this new?
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Do that many people really buy books from Walmart and other such stores, though? (I'm not criticizing you; I genuinely don't know the numbers.)
Even if they do, if the choices are between selling less books and selling a whole bunch of books at a horrendous loss, which would be the worst proposition?
Also, this is why I will never, ever buy books from Wal-mart et all.
Ah, but it isn't the publisher that is taking the loss. Walmart is. Walmart is still paying the publisher what they normally do they just sell the books at a lower price that is a loss to Walmart. They figure that the other stuff you buy will make up for it. The only groups harmed by this strategery is Walmart (for taking the loss) and other book sellers (because they will lose business due to their inability to price match).
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sort: the investment WOULD pay for itself, just not immediately, which is why they dont do it. there are many printing processes which use cheaper, longer lasting alternatives to paper and ink, but the printers are not set up for it, so they are "expensive" to print on. If they all switched to it, it would become cheap, that is the nature of things. Computer sin the 1980s were thousands of dollars, for a cheap one.
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Ah, but it isn't the publisher that is taking the loss. Walmart is. Walmart is still paying the publisher what they normally do they just sell the books at a lower price that is a loss to Walmart. They figure that the other stuff you buy will make up for it. The only groups harmed by this strategery is Walmart (for taking the loss) and other book sellers (because they will lose business due to their inability to price match).
This is correct. Most stores buy books at at 40-46% discount off the cover price. Walmart's online store and the physical bookstores are the places getting hammered (remember, as far as I can tell, these $9 price-tags are online prices only). The publishers and authors get the same amount of money. As of now. Though this could lead to places asking for even bigger discounts from publishers which the publishers should respond to with a big middle-finger.
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What if their fingers are skinny?
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What if their fingers are skinny?
Prosthetic finger.
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Prosthetic finger.
Everybody wants prosthetic fingers on their real fingers.
mtlhd, like I said, I'm ignorant. What would the publishers move to? Paper and ink is all I can think of that has similar qualities to paper and ink. :P Heat-printed plastics? Leather and dye? Metal punch cards? I'm being a bit silly here, but really. I don't know a thing.
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there are dozens of alternatives to paper. Right now, since the industry for them is small, they are more expensive, but if there was a movement towards Hemp or seaweed or kenaf or any number of other cheap, strong and long lasting sources, you would see a price drop, and since the publishers would no longer be competing with house builders for wood, might actually be cheaper. They could also more towards inkless printing, which would save themselves milliosn of dollars per year, if not per print run.
"Paper" as we know it, was not always made from trees or wood. Hemp was the paper choice for the founders of this country. The Constitution is on hemp paper.
Almost any fibrous plant can be used to make paper, I have even heard about a process which combines hemp and cornstalks.