lovecraft68
Bad Doggie
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2009
- Posts
- 43,930
Awhile back someone started a thread about B&N possibly going under. I had not heard much about it, but the remainder of this thread is from a recent smashwords update.
Sorry for the block of text, but that's how it was posted, I actually broke it up somewhat. Also if you take anything away from this, buy your e-books from everywhere, but Amazon.
Barnes & Noble announced its quarterly earnings this morning. The news adds to the growing cloud of bad press that started in earnest when Christmas holiday sales didn't meet Wall Street analyst expectations. Some in the indie author community for the last six months have been doing a lot of hand-wringing, worry-warting and premature grave dancing over B&N. I think much of this has been overdone and unfortunate. The danger: perception can lead to reality when fear is allowed to run rampant. When someone yells "fire" in a crowded amphitheater, people get hurt. Here's what you need to know:
1. B&N is not going out of business. They've built a valuable franchise with millions of ebook buyers, and they continue to sell a lot of ebooks.
2. Our sales through B&N have been strong and steady since Christmas. Our sales through B&N are almost triple Kobo's, and Kobo has been strong and on the rise (yay for Kobo!).
3. B&N has always paid on time, and they continue to do so.
4. They announced today they're going to continue manufacturing, designing and selling their popular Simple Touch and Glowlight E-Ink e-reading devices. These are single-purpose e-reading devices.
5. They're going to stop designing and manufacturing their own tablets. Instead, they'll farm out manufacturing to another manufacturer. One rumor is they'll partner with Microsoft for this. By focusing on E-ink devices instead, they're abandoning the losing battle of trying to create a better tablet than Apple. Noone designs hardware/software ecosystems like Apple. I wonder if Amazon is feeling the same pressure.
6. They're going to continue focusing on the business of selling ebooks. Ebook sales for their recently completed fiscal year were up 16% over the same period a year ago. This means they've grown, but not as quickly as Apple and Kobo. How should indies respond to the news? Continue business as usual. B&N remains the #2 or #3 largest ebook retailer in the US. Continue to support them by promoting direct links to your B&N books through your website and blog, just as you should be providing direct links to every Smashwords retailer. It's in every author's best interest that B&N survive and thrive so that we can maintain a healthy and vibrant ecosystem of multiple competitive retailers.
To a great extent, indie authors will determine the future of B&N. If you're one of the many authors who uses or dabbles in Amazon's KDP Select program which requires exclusivity, realize that each time you do that you're weakening B&N. You're giving your fans another reason to shop elsewhere, or purchase other devices. Some authors get mad at me when I say that, but it's the truth. Indies have more power over the future of book business than they realize (well, if you've been following my writing at the Smashwords blog or attended my talks or read my free ebooks, you already know you are the FUTURE!).
Indie ebooks are accounting for an ever-greater percentage of every retailer's ebook sales, so when authors withhold their books from any retailer, they're hurting the retailer. This is not to say that B&N has their own issues or self-inflicted wounds to sort out. They've been slow to expand internationally. It's self-serving for me to say this, but although their Pubit (now called Nook Press) direct platform has been successful, I wonder if the millions of dollars and thousands of hours of attention invested in their direct platform would have been better focused on the business of selling and merchandising books.
I have the same concern for Kobo, who has also launched their own direct platform. I want B&N and Kobo to be successful because they're important partners and help our authors sell a lot of books, yet I can't help questioning resource allocation when Amazon - their primary competition - runs such a fantastic bookstore. Amid all this ebook competition, you might wonder how Smashwords is doing?
We're doing well, thank you. We're on track for another record year, both in terms of sales and profitability. Profitability is important because it enables us to invest in you. We're adding staff, and we've got a number of exciting development initiatives underway that will give authors who use our distribution services advantages in the marketplace over those who don't. With your continued support, we'll never stop working to create new opportunities for you.
We'll never stop working to improve every facet of our business. How can you support us? Publish with us. Distribute with us to all our channels. Tell a friend! Keep writing! Thank you for honoring us with the opportunity to serve you.
Sorry for the block of text, but that's how it was posted, I actually broke it up somewhat. Also if you take anything away from this, buy your e-books from everywhere, but Amazon.
Barnes & Noble announced its quarterly earnings this morning. The news adds to the growing cloud of bad press that started in earnest when Christmas holiday sales didn't meet Wall Street analyst expectations. Some in the indie author community for the last six months have been doing a lot of hand-wringing, worry-warting and premature grave dancing over B&N. I think much of this has been overdone and unfortunate. The danger: perception can lead to reality when fear is allowed to run rampant. When someone yells "fire" in a crowded amphitheater, people get hurt. Here's what you need to know:
1. B&N is not going out of business. They've built a valuable franchise with millions of ebook buyers, and they continue to sell a lot of ebooks.
2. Our sales through B&N have been strong and steady since Christmas. Our sales through B&N are almost triple Kobo's, and Kobo has been strong and on the rise (yay for Kobo!).
3. B&N has always paid on time, and they continue to do so.
4. They announced today they're going to continue manufacturing, designing and selling their popular Simple Touch and Glowlight E-Ink e-reading devices. These are single-purpose e-reading devices.
5. They're going to stop designing and manufacturing their own tablets. Instead, they'll farm out manufacturing to another manufacturer. One rumor is they'll partner with Microsoft for this. By focusing on E-ink devices instead, they're abandoning the losing battle of trying to create a better tablet than Apple. Noone designs hardware/software ecosystems like Apple. I wonder if Amazon is feeling the same pressure.
6. They're going to continue focusing on the business of selling ebooks. Ebook sales for their recently completed fiscal year were up 16% over the same period a year ago. This means they've grown, but not as quickly as Apple and Kobo. How should indies respond to the news? Continue business as usual. B&N remains the #2 or #3 largest ebook retailer in the US. Continue to support them by promoting direct links to your B&N books through your website and blog, just as you should be providing direct links to every Smashwords retailer. It's in every author's best interest that B&N survive and thrive so that we can maintain a healthy and vibrant ecosystem of multiple competitive retailers.
To a great extent, indie authors will determine the future of B&N. If you're one of the many authors who uses or dabbles in Amazon's KDP Select program which requires exclusivity, realize that each time you do that you're weakening B&N. You're giving your fans another reason to shop elsewhere, or purchase other devices. Some authors get mad at me when I say that, but it's the truth. Indies have more power over the future of book business than they realize (well, if you've been following my writing at the Smashwords blog or attended my talks or read my free ebooks, you already know you are the FUTURE!).
Indie ebooks are accounting for an ever-greater percentage of every retailer's ebook sales, so when authors withhold their books from any retailer, they're hurting the retailer. This is not to say that B&N has their own issues or self-inflicted wounds to sort out. They've been slow to expand internationally. It's self-serving for me to say this, but although their Pubit (now called Nook Press) direct platform has been successful, I wonder if the millions of dollars and thousands of hours of attention invested in their direct platform would have been better focused on the business of selling and merchandising books.
I have the same concern for Kobo, who has also launched their own direct platform. I want B&N and Kobo to be successful because they're important partners and help our authors sell a lot of books, yet I can't help questioning resource allocation when Amazon - their primary competition - runs such a fantastic bookstore. Amid all this ebook competition, you might wonder how Smashwords is doing?
We're doing well, thank you. We're on track for another record year, both in terms of sales and profitability. Profitability is important because it enables us to invest in you. We're adding staff, and we've got a number of exciting development initiatives underway that will give authors who use our distribution services advantages in the marketplace over those who don't. With your continued support, we'll never stop working to create new opportunities for you.
We'll never stop working to improve every facet of our business. How can you support us? Publish with us. Distribute with us to all our channels. Tell a friend! Keep writing! Thank you for honoring us with the opportunity to serve you.
