Amazon Expands Its Publishing Business

L.J. Sellers · 05-19-2011, 10:40 AM

From Shelf Awareness today:

"Amazon.com has launched a fifth publishing imprint, Thomas & Mercer, which will focus on mysteries and thrillers. Its first four titles, which will be available on the Kindle, in print and audio formats at amazon.com as well as at 'national and independent booksellers.' (We're not at all sure how that will work!)"

If Amazon continues to expand it publishing businesses, doesn't it seem likely that it will eventually dominate the publishing industry? It's the only publisher I would even consider signing with. As much as I like Amazon, it's a little scary. Especially since my making a living depends on rather small decisions by the company.

L.J.

RainingLemur · 05-19-2011, 11:36 AM

One step closer to Amazon ruling the internets.

fjtorres · 05-19-2011, 01:10 PM

Amazon is, to a certain extent, expanding into a vacuum as most of the old-school publishers are still working off an outdated business model built around regional rights/batch printed treeware/high overhead-low royalties.
Given Amazon's broad distribution reach they can minimize overhead and maximize royalties and distribution at a time few traditional publishers are even *trying* to move to a similar model built around persistent availability of midlist/backlist titles rather than hit or miss new releases.

To put it another way: they're not really competing with the traditional publishers, but rather going after content the old school publishers deprecate. Where the traditional publishers still see print as their core competency and dream of a new release that will sell a million copies in a month, Amazon sees ebooks as the core of the business with print editions as a secondary revenue stream and dreams of titles that will sell 10-20K a month, every month, for years and years.

There *might* be room for both approaches in the market but I suspect the latter approach will garner a larger share of the market than the former in the long run. And, of course, focusing on the long run is Amazon's traditional strategy.

SensualPoet · 05-19-2011, 11:46 PM

Plus there are only a handful of titles in each imprint and some of them are pretty niche.

I would like to see Amazon create a "back catalogue" house and restore, with copyright, the works that simply have fallen out of print without an advocate. It could be genre based -- noir or pulp works -- or author based -- the complete works of Gladys Mitchell or Erle Stanley Gardner.

05-19-2011, 10:40 AM	#1
L.J. Sellers Novelist Posts: 287 Karma: 387979 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Eugene, Oregon Device: Kindle	Amazon Expands Its Publishing Business From Shelf Awareness today: "Amazon.com has launched a fifth publishing imprint, Thomas & Mercer, which will focus on mysteries and thrillers. Its first four titles, which will be available on the Kindle, in print and audio formats at amazon.com as well as at 'national and independent booksellers.' (We're not at all sure how that will work!)" If Amazon continues to expand it publishing businesses, doesn't it seem likely that it will eventually dominate the publishing industry? It's the only publisher I would even consider signing with. As much as I like Amazon, it's a little scary. Especially since my making a living depends on rather small decisions by the company. L.J.

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05-19-2011, 11:36 AM	#2
RainingLemur Spork Connoisseur Posts: 2,355 Karma: 16780603 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Color	One step closer to Amazon ruling the internets.

05-19-2011, 01:10 PM	#3
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	Amazon is, to a certain extent, expanding into a vacuum as most of the old-school publishers are still working off an outdated business model built around regional rights/batch printed treeware/high overhead-low royalties. Given Amazon's broad distribution reach they can minimize overhead and maximize royalties and distribution at a time few traditional publishers are even trying to move to a similar model built around persistent availability of midlist/backlist titles rather than hit or miss new releases. To put it another way: they're not really competing with the traditional publishers, but rather going after content the old school publishers deprecate. Where the traditional publishers still see print as their core competency and dream of a new release that will sell a million copies in a month, Amazon sees ebooks as the core of the business with print editions as a secondary revenue stream and dreams of titles that will sell 10-20K a month, every month, for years and years. There might be room for both approaches in the market but I suspect the latter approach will garner a larger share of the market than the former in the long run. And, of course, focusing on the long run is Amazon's traditional strategy.

05-19-2011, 11:46 PM	#4
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	Plus there are only a handful of titles in each imprint and some of them are pretty niche. I would like to see Amazon create a "back catalogue" house and restore, with copyright, the works that simply have fallen out of print without an advocate. It could be genre based -- noir or pulp works -- or author based -- the complete works of Gladys Mitchell or Erle Stanley Gardner.

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