The University of Michigan has announced a collaboration with Booksurge, Amazon’s print on demand service. As a result Booksurge will offer reprints of some 400,000 rare, out-of-print and out-of-copyright books from its library in soft cover editions at prices from $10 to $45.
The books are in more than 200 languages from Acoli to Zulu and include a 1898 book on nursing by Florence Nightingale, "Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is not." Some of the books are one of kind, meaning they had been available only from the shelves of the University of Michigan.
The move is now possible because of the university's project to digitize its collection in partnership with Google and the as books in the Michigan-Amazon deal are in the public domain, the revenues generated will be split between Booksurge and the University.
The arrangement is a significant addition to BookSurge's inventory and it will be interesting to watch if others follow and whether the arrangements will be exclusive or open. The other question is how Google will respond as the move could be seen as cutting off what many thought was an obvious revenue stream .
Today the deal involves public domain works and as we wrote earlier this week with respect to the dispute between Wikipedia and The National Portrait Gallery in the UK making – he who owns the public domain rendition and digitalises it can now earn from it.
University of Michigan libraries Dean Paul Courant said the arrangement means "books unavailable for a century or more will be able to go back into print, one copy at a time." Albeit at a new price.
Showing posts with label amazon booksurge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amazon booksurge. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Monday, February 02, 2009
Lightning Sources Strikes 2 Million
Print on Demand (POD) is still relatively new but is now well established in the publishing world. In its inaugural year Lightning Source UK, a sister company to Lightning Source US and an Ingram company, produced some 30,000 books. Today some 8 years later it announced that it had printed over 2 million books in 2008. So what impact has POD really had and what has changed in those few years?
Traditional printing remains more a case of just in case than just in time with the calculation on the print run often being down to economics than hard sales. If you don’t print off a certain quantity you don’t get the price, if you don’t get the price you loose margin or potential sales and then there is always the special deals on offer to print that little extra you didn’t really want.
POD has had some significant success stories and no more so than Cambridge University Press whose program has now passed 11k titles and continues to question those titles that will still continue to generate small sales but would not justify a traditional print run.
But what is the right POD model is it aimed at short print runs, single copy fulfilment, self publishing? Which books suit it best? Is it only economic for textural and greyscale or can it compete on colour?
More interestingly is it aimed at perpetuating the print and distribute model or moving towards distribute and print and offering true local print facilities? If it merely reduces bulk inventory but creates or perpetuates titles stocked, is this merely shifting the cost from bulk to range? The same transport is required, handling will increase and holding more titles doesn’t guarantee more sales. The interesting Blackwell in-store experiment, like the Foyles one before it, has been scrapped and no one has stepped up to providing the community answer. Perhaps their isn’t an effective economic local model and we have to face the facts that we have replaced the big printer presses with new small POD presses, bulk with range and just lowered publisher risk.
The other side of POD is that it has moved the digital agenda forward. Some would say that POD has given Ingram a huge amount of ‘digital’ files on which to fuel Ingram Digital ventures and maybe that is what Amazon saw as the opportunity to replicate with their directives on Booksurge. Digital files can be a real asset when you are building a digital repository offer.
Lightening Source took bold steps, invested and grew to a dominant market position both in the US and UK. Although tradition printers followed, their actions weren’t as bold and their results today are far less impressive. Sounds a somewhat familiar story.
Traditional printing remains more a case of just in case than just in time with the calculation on the print run often being down to economics than hard sales. If you don’t print off a certain quantity you don’t get the price, if you don’t get the price you loose margin or potential sales and then there is always the special deals on offer to print that little extra you didn’t really want.
POD has had some significant success stories and no more so than Cambridge University Press whose program has now passed 11k titles and continues to question those titles that will still continue to generate small sales but would not justify a traditional print run.
But what is the right POD model is it aimed at short print runs, single copy fulfilment, self publishing? Which books suit it best? Is it only economic for textural and greyscale or can it compete on colour?
More interestingly is it aimed at perpetuating the print and distribute model or moving towards distribute and print and offering true local print facilities? If it merely reduces bulk inventory but creates or perpetuates titles stocked, is this merely shifting the cost from bulk to range? The same transport is required, handling will increase and holding more titles doesn’t guarantee more sales. The interesting Blackwell in-store experiment, like the Foyles one before it, has been scrapped and no one has stepped up to providing the community answer. Perhaps their isn’t an effective economic local model and we have to face the facts that we have replaced the big printer presses with new small POD presses, bulk with range and just lowered publisher risk.
The other side of POD is that it has moved the digital agenda forward. Some would say that POD has given Ingram a huge amount of ‘digital’ files on which to fuel Ingram Digital ventures and maybe that is what Amazon saw as the opportunity to replicate with their directives on Booksurge. Digital files can be a real asset when you are building a digital repository offer.
Lightening Source took bold steps, invested and grew to a dominant market position both in the US and UK. Although tradition printers followed, their actions weren’t as bold and their results today are far less impressive. Sounds a somewhat familiar story.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Amazon Buys Shelfari
We got back from a short break in Slovakia to the usual pile of email. In among them was an interesting publishing string about Amazon and their market position, digitisation and whether all this was healthy for publishers. Anyone who has read this blog over time will be able to predict our response.
Then today we open up another email to read from the Seattle Post Intelligencer that Amazon has now added its small Seattle neighbour Shelfari to its list of acquisitions.
Amazon has now bought a number of publishing related companies. These include the likes of Booksurge, Brilliance, Audible, Mobibook, ABE and now Shelfari. Couple these with its global market dominance in Internet bookselling and you have a very interesting mix which covers all but front list publishing!
Some may consider that the shrewdest move is the pincher action that they appear to have taken in covering at one end the out of print content with ABE and the self publishing end with Shelfari. When you couple this with their underpinning technology, commerce and distribution platforms you start to see a different animal and one that can certainly change publishing as we know it.
Obviously you have to add the Kindle into the mix and also appreciate their growing and significant internet marketshare and some would say you potentially have a mix to die for.
Shelfari, is the Seattle social networking start-up for book lovers whose main rival is part owned by ABE. Shelfari is a social network that allows groups of people to create virtual bookshelves and share titles with friends. So will Amazon dispose of their stake in LibraryThing or consolidate it further with their new acquisition?
As publishers dabble with social networking and self publishing, Amazon has clearly moved. When the market dithered on audio downloads to Audible and DRM free, Amazon merely swallowed up the company. As self publishing continues to grow, Amazon now gives it a shop window. As inventory and distribution costs continue to climb Amazon takes a clear POD position offering both an alternative to Ingram, but also means for them to acquire digital content and distribution channel for self publishers. As publishers focus on front and experiment with reclaiming out of print, Amazon acquires the main player and information base.
We watch Amazon with both admiration and fear and once again are reminded of that old saying ‘be careful what you wish for.’
Sunday, August 03, 2008
The Disipline of Market Leaders
Having worked for market leader organisations in various industries it is easy to distinguish them from the pack. Some believe that size counts and that this determines market leadership, the truth is that size often comes through market leadership but size alone is nothing but a statement at a given point in time.
Market leaders do what it says on the can ‘lead markets’. They are focused, proactive and although they recognise the short term are very much focused on the long term and creating a unique market position and differentiator. Do we have them in the publishing sector – yes but they are not who many would think of as market leaders. An interesting example is Taylor and Francis whose growth and digital strategies have been bold and delivered huge advantage when others have merely followed. The recent article in the Bookseller (25 July, ‘Jolly Rodger’) eludes to the vision and drive Rodger Horton and his team have given this publisher.
At times of fiscal constraint we often find that market leaders remain focused and plough forward, often bucking trends.
It is hard to find many examples of market leadership and easy to see many pretenders but one company clearly stands head and shoulders over the pack for the last decade – Amazon.
An industry ‘expert’ and colleague once told me that Bertelsmann and their Bol.com would crush Amazon and that their model was nor sustainable. Needless to say he didn’t understand their model, the power of positive cash flow, their relentless drive to capture market share and their global brand proposition. It was ’98 and obvious to many that they were going to dominate, but the manner in which they have set about it continues to demand respect.
They have:
Extended bibliographic record, making the book jacket obligatory on the net, introduced reader reviews. Remember where you first saw ‘Search Inside’?
Recognised that used , rare and front list are all books and that the publication date is not always top of the consumer’s agenda. Combining this and their marketplace offer was both logical and a breath of fresh air.
Captured the audiobook initiative through acquisition of first Brilliance and latterly Audible, they have taken the audio book market by the scruff of the neck. They already had the MP3 and DRM credentials but with Audible they now have both bases fully covered.
Established themselves as a digital player. Through their acquisition of Booksurge and their POD policy they have positioned themselves not only to supply POD but like others they can now also capture the bigger prize of the digital files themselves.
The Kindle may be an ugly duckling but it has many more titles than any of its competitors and more importantly belongs to a brand that is clearly associated with books. Adobe and Sony may all command trade attention today but this is not their market, is a trade only offer. In the case of Sony they can always leave as fast as Betamax or walk away like Microsoft Live Book Search or back the wrong horse as with their original BBeb ebook format.
The list goes on but we now read of Amazon’s payment gateway offer to rival PayPal and more importantly their full acquisition of ABE. This later move is very interesting and starts to potentially tie many strings together. Some thought it good that they would continue run ABE as a separate brand and company. Some would say that there is no need to join them at the customer, but join them at the inventory and sales data. Think about what ABE offer Amazon? There is rich bibliographic on titles that often didn’t have any. There is 15 years of sales data of the long tail, not just of books in print but those gems that have long been lost and forgotten. Only Alibris has similar data and there is little chance of a new entrant today. Combine ABE’s information assets, market position, the Amazon services such as Booksurge and Kindle offer and a clearly focused market leader and you have a potential offer that is both unique, extremely interesting and one to watch.
Market leaders do what it says on the can ‘lead markets’. They are focused, proactive and although they recognise the short term are very much focused on the long term and creating a unique market position and differentiator. Do we have them in the publishing sector – yes but they are not who many would think of as market leaders. An interesting example is Taylor and Francis whose growth and digital strategies have been bold and delivered huge advantage when others have merely followed. The recent article in the Bookseller (25 July, ‘Jolly Rodger’) eludes to the vision and drive Rodger Horton and his team have given this publisher.
At times of fiscal constraint we often find that market leaders remain focused and plough forward, often bucking trends.
It is hard to find many examples of market leadership and easy to see many pretenders but one company clearly stands head and shoulders over the pack for the last decade – Amazon.
An industry ‘expert’ and colleague once told me that Bertelsmann and their Bol.com would crush Amazon and that their model was nor sustainable. Needless to say he didn’t understand their model, the power of positive cash flow, their relentless drive to capture market share and their global brand proposition. It was ’98 and obvious to many that they were going to dominate, but the manner in which they have set about it continues to demand respect.
They have:
Extended bibliographic record, making the book jacket obligatory on the net, introduced reader reviews. Remember where you first saw ‘Search Inside’?
Recognised that used , rare and front list are all books and that the publication date is not always top of the consumer’s agenda. Combining this and their marketplace offer was both logical and a breath of fresh air.
Captured the audiobook initiative through acquisition of first Brilliance and latterly Audible, they have taken the audio book market by the scruff of the neck. They already had the MP3 and DRM credentials but with Audible they now have both bases fully covered.
Established themselves as a digital player. Through their acquisition of Booksurge and their POD policy they have positioned themselves not only to supply POD but like others they can now also capture the bigger prize of the digital files themselves.
The Kindle may be an ugly duckling but it has many more titles than any of its competitors and more importantly belongs to a brand that is clearly associated with books. Adobe and Sony may all command trade attention today but this is not their market, is a trade only offer. In the case of Sony they can always leave as fast as Betamax or walk away like Microsoft Live Book Search or back the wrong horse as with their original BBeb ebook format.
The list goes on but we now read of Amazon’s payment gateway offer to rival PayPal and more importantly their full acquisition of ABE. This later move is very interesting and starts to potentially tie many strings together. Some thought it good that they would continue run ABE as a separate brand and company. Some would say that there is no need to join them at the customer, but join them at the inventory and sales data. Think about what ABE offer Amazon? There is rich bibliographic on titles that often didn’t have any. There is 15 years of sales data of the long tail, not just of books in print but those gems that have long been lost and forgotten. Only Alibris has similar data and there is little chance of a new entrant today. Combine ABE’s information assets, market position, the Amazon services such as Booksurge and Kindle offer and a clearly focused market leader and you have a potential offer that is both unique, extremely interesting and one to watch.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Digital Demand Games
The news today that was widely covered and reported in the Wall Street Journal is that Amazon has announced that it will only sell print-on-demand books printed by its own print-on-demand service BookSurge.
Next it will only be selling ebooks on its Kindle and in its own Mobibook format. This will be followed by its decision to only sell audiobooks either published by its producer Brilliance or that are formatted and protected by its new acquisition Audible.
The Gorrilla is starting to flex its muscle.
Over the last few years the print on demand business has boomed and at its head is Lighting Source who are owned by Ingram. This short cycle print and distribute model has appealed to many where the sales are volatile, vanity or pure ‘long tail’. Services such as Lulu and otherss have catered to publishers looking to reduce overhead on inventory. So what will this aggressive and exclusive stance mean to the trade?
To many publishers who use the pod services merely to do short print runs and not true on demand prints this will not matter. But for the vanity and on demand sellers it will as their benefit is in the sales channel as much as it is in the no inventory overhead.
The real important issue is that Amazon need all their various publishing companies to fully compliment each other. Booksurge has grown but in comparison to others it’s still small so they have beefed it up. Some however may take amore Machiavellian view and recognise that he who holds the pod file also holds the metadata to create widgets and ultimately digital ebooks. Perhaps the Kindle also requires a boost and why not keep it in the family?
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Amazon to provide 'lightening' service on POD
Amazon Booksurge subsidiary has announced agreements with major publishers including; HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Springer, Gale, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Princeton University Press, SAGE Publications, Kensington, Hal Leonard, LexisNexis, and the International Step by Step Association (ISSA).
Booksurge aims to follow a true print on demand mode and not the current short print run dominated one. It aims to deliver next day and therefore the same service as it offers physical books.
It will therefore be interesting to see how this works out in a world where the rights reversal debate is all about the long tail on demand and being never out of print and the environmentalists have yet to wake up to the facts that although it cuts down on the current ‘print just in case’ over production, POD paper is far from ‘green’ and the process is very environmentally un friendly.
Booksurge aims to follow a true print on demand mode and not the current short print run dominated one. It aims to deliver next day and therefore the same service as it offers physical books.
It will therefore be interesting to see how this works out in a world where the rights reversal debate is all about the long tail on demand and being never out of print and the environmentalists have yet to wake up to the facts that although it cuts down on the current ‘print just in case’ over production, POD paper is far from ‘green’ and the process is very environmentally un friendly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)