Bookstores Unhappy about Pottermore
From The Boston Globe regarding J.K. Rowling’s new website, complete with ebooks:
“Bricks and mortar stores are taking a lot of bullets and there’s a limit to how many bullets we can take,” says Roxanne Coady, owner of R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn, one of more than 200 independent sellers of e-books through Google. “If the sellers of the Rowling e-books are saying they don’t need bricks and mortar stores, then that’s the result you’ll get.”
Jon Howells, spokesman for Britain’s Waterstone’s chain, said the Harry Potter book launches, which for years drew thousands of fans in wizard garb to midnight store openings, “have become the stuff of legend at Waterstone’s and other booksellers.”
“We’re therefore disappointed that, having been a key factor in the growth of the Harry Potter phenomenon since the first book was published, the book trade is effectively banned from selling the long-awaited e-book editions,” he said.
Tom Turcan, chief operating officer of Pottermore, said Rowling wanted “to make the books available to everybody, not to make them available only to people who own a particular set of devices, or tethered to a particular set of platforms.”
. . . .
E-books have jumped from less than 1 percent of total sales four years ago to more than 20 percent. Children’s books are catching up as the Kindle, Nook and other devices become cheaper and touchscreen readers such as the Nook and the iPad enable illustrated stories to be available in digital form. Potter books remain steady sellers four years after the series ended, especially as the final movie approaches, and publishers believe the e-books will be as revolutionary for the digital market as the paper ones were for the traditional market.
“The Potter books took children’s books in general to another level and we’ve never gone back,” said Susan Katz, president and publisher of HarperCollins Children’s Books. “And I think the news today could be the tipping point for 8-to-12-year-old market.”
Link to the rest at The Boston Globe
Bestsellers, Bookstores, Disruptive Innovation, Ebooks, Self-Publishing
The ‘brick and mortar’ stores have an amazing opportunity to grab a share of the ebook and audio book market. Unfortunately instead of protecting their ‘brand’ and customer base for some reason they flock to Google and potentially give away everything for a minimum sales commissions.
Conventional stores have an opportunity to expand their business by aggressively attacking the digital book marketplace. Create their own digital book store (own it, don’t give it away)expanding their business and profits.
An Any Book. Anywhere ‘white labeled’ branded bookstore from Mobcast may be the best option.
Garry Martin
http://www.mobcast.co.uk
T: +1 619-921-4949
Garry – I’m not familiar with your Mobcast offering, but I’ll take a look at it.