
Shunning Amazon, Booksellers Resist a Transformation - arvinds
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/05/technology/shunning-amazon-booksellers-resist-a-transformation.html?ref=technology
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ilaksh
Why do we tolerate the middle men at all? There are actually a number of easy
ways to sell digital books online without an Amazon or anyone else.

For example, <http://pulleyapp.com/> is $6 a month. That's it. You can price
your ebook whatever you want. You don't have to give another company a cut of
each purchase.

There's also <http://www.shopify.com/>

There are open source solutions like
<http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/easy-digital-downloads/>

The architecture of the internet is actually outdated. I mean, it may take a
few years for people to realize this, but the fact that we have to go to a
specific web domain, which is tied to specific hardware or private network, in
order to search for things like Kindle books (or Google for practically
everything else), is creating monopolies that aren't beneficial to consumers
or retailers.

What we want is a content-centric internet that works more like peer-to-peer
networking. Wikipedia has one variation of the idea
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content-centric_networking>

Usually people dismiss that idea out of hand in the context of e-commerce
because they don't understand how peer-to-peer networking can be secure or
private. But in fact it can be, it has to be, and it will be. Its going to
take everyone a little while to figure that out though.

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ChrisNorstrom
We tolerate middle men because it's easier for a single human with a singular
vision to create an easily searchable marketplace of creators' content than it
is for the creators themselves to come together in a cooperative and form it
themselves.

TLDR; Humans are good at following leaders and complaining about results
rather than working together and leading themselves.

 _(Presidential elections are a perfect example of this)_

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manicdee
With Amazon playing the game of undercutting the entire market until everyone
else is dead, the only way to win is not to play.

Every single purchase from Amazon — book or otherwise — is a vote for Bezos'
monopoly over your culture.

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revelation
In what world is pricing a digital version of a book slightly below its dead-
tree variant "undercutting"?

This is not publishers shutting out Amazon, this is publishers shutting out
digital books, and they have been doing so all along, consistently pricing
ebooks at the same or higher price of print copies and colluding with Apple in
a price fixing scheme.

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flyinRyan
Why would an ebook be cheaper? Is it not more convenient? Price comes from
value, not what it costs to make so being easier to produce has nothing to do
with the price (well, except the price floor).

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vampirechicken
Are you seriously suggesting that the cost of the physical book, and it's
construction has nothing to do with the price of the book at the bookstore?

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flyinRyan
It has one thing to do with it: it sets the price floor. If the market value
of that book is not past the price floor then there's no point in making it.

But some people who don't get how markets work think prices are:
how_much_work_I_did+how_much_materials_cost+profit_amount_I_want. It's not.
The item is priced based on the value it is perceived to provide.

~~~
vampirechicken
The equation you just posted is the seller's value equasion. That's how the
seller measures value in order to price the goods.

Things are priced by the buyer according to perceived value also, but using a
different equation. a sale occur when the two points close enough that either
or both parties are willing to adjust their price point to make the sale.

The seller "prices" the goods at marginal cost + profit. The buyer decides if
there is enough values at that price for her to make the purchase.

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jimmybook
Amazon is definitely changing the game. It's forcing the likes of Tim Ferriss
to reach out aggressively non-traditional online outlets to promote the book,
leading up to the release date on the 20th. Like he says, if this little
experiment works, it can be disruptive - that is, publishers and booksellers
alike will have to rethink their current distribution channels.

Thing can only lead to one thing from a macro perspective - a "land grab" of
online distribution channels in the upcoming years.

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snambi
Why everyone seems to hate amazon?

