For traditionally-published authors Amazon isn’t our BFF, but neither is it our foe as we welcome all sales. For indie authors, Amazon is the Holy Grail. It is where most book sales occur. But as the tentacles of Amazon keep reaching farther and farther one has to wonder if this will ultimately be good for anyone but Jeff Bezos and his stockholders. It is growing increasingly difficult for ebook distributors, other online booksellers, and brick-and-mortar bookstores to compete with the almighty Amazon.
Now the latest news is that Amazon is getting into the brick-and-mortar bookstore business. Yep. They opened their first AMAZON BOOKS this month in Seattle’s University Village. The store will stock 6,000 of Amazon’s best-selling titles, which they will sell at the same price as the website.
Authors and publishers alike are watching this with bated breath. Naturally, our minds are bursting with questions. Will it be a success? How will it be different from other bookstores? Will we get back in the habit of going into bookstores to buy books? How will this affect our royalties and publisher profits? How many bookstores will they open and how rapidly will this happen? Will they stick to their college campus strategy?
Only time will tell…
Let me know if you think Amazon opening bookstores is a good thing or not?
FYI: Amazon is officially the most expensive stock, recently closing at $673.25 a share. Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, is now the fourth richest man in the world since Amazon stock soared 113% this year. This is largely due to Amazon’s venture into the publishing and media market.
So true!