Comments on: Barnes & Noble reportedly instructs local stores to pull Amazon titles

By: AUTHOR

AUTHOR — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 02:22:24 +0000

AUTHORS BEWARE.. OF PETTY GREED RETAILERS!!! AND THEIR PERSONAL FEUDS AFFECTING YOUR WORK AND PROFITABILITY!!!

By: jackdharma

jackdharma — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:37:19 +0000

I used to root for the independent bookstores, hoping that B. Dalton, Waldenbooks, Barnes and Noble, etc., would go out of business. Now I find myself rooting for the last of these to succeed. Times are pretty bad for book stores, publishers, and readers, and I’m afraid things are about to get worse.

By: krishna bhatt

krishna bhatt — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 02:15:44 +0000

Yes. My book ‘Delhi-return’ is no more there. But why so?
Krishna bhatt.

By: Amy Carpenter

Amy Carpenter — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 19:54:22 +0000

For a “brick & mortar” store, selling Amazon titles is giving profits to a behemoth whose entire business model is based on PUTTING US OUT OF BUSINESS. I have more Good Stuff than I can afford to stock, so boycotting Amazon’s isn’t much loss.

With luck, the AUTHORS will realize that giving Amazon “exclusive” deals on their works shuts them out of a significant market, and will look at other P.o.D. and e-publishing options. I have several friends who’ve chosen to self-publish, and most of their books are in non-proprietary e-formats (meaning they can be sold and used for non-Amazon devices, and sold by other vendors besides Amazon). I don’t think ANY of the authors I know use Amazon to publish the paper versions, in part because they know that “indy” booksellers like me don’t want to deal with Amazon.

Amazon’s just as evil as WalMart, and between these two 900-lb. gorillas, retailing in the U.S. is in a “race to the bottom” as far as living-wage jobs and benefits go… Boycott Amazon & WalMart: the jobs you save could be your own!

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:46:51 +0000

B&N might sell more books, but the majority of fiction in this country is sold through Amazon. Amazon Publishing authors are selling tens to hundreds of thousands of copies of their books through Amazon and forward thinking independent stores while B&N is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. I fail to see why this matters in the least.

By: americaneditor

americaneditor — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 09:54:32 +0000

It appears that the books will be available from BN.com, just not in the b&m stores. Considering that there are thousands of books published each year that are not available in the b&m stores except via special order, I see this as no big deal.

As for when Amazon releases a blockbuster — it will be interesting to see how much of a blockbuster (outside of ebooks which AMAZON refuses to sell to its competitors) in the print version any of Amazon’s titles will be in the absence of b&m stores. Of course, that would require Amazon to disclose real data, which isn’t likely to occur. We are more likely to simply be told by Amazon that sales are phenomenol and be expected to swallow that.

I agree with the stance B&N is taking and think that ultimately it will be a wise move. That day will come when Amazon is forced by investors to truly make a profit and provide dividend returns that bear some relationship to its stock price.

By: msinsheimer

msinsheimer — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:59:55 +0000

Wonder if this is a wise policy. If these are viewed as good titles, BN is not giving its customers a full and compelling selection. Obviously a competitive move, but if not customer centric, it is just a big risk.

By: Jack W Perry

Jack W Perry — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:09:50 +0000

B&N can afford to pull these books because in the end, they are not big sellers. But what happens when Amazon publishes a blockbuster? Will be interesting to see their reaction at that time.

By: Mondayn

Mondayn — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:55:16 +0000

“local branches have always had a fair amount of latitude in choosing the titles they want to stock.”
This is not correct. I worked at 4 different Barnes and Nobles, working for them for over 6 years and I can assure you that we had very little wiggle room for what we did and did not want to stock. Most of it is modeled, handed down by corporate. They would send us 50+ paperbacks that would sit and collect dust on our shelf, even after attempting to send them back, the computer will automatically refill you back to the amount that corporate sets for you. Shortlisting titles only grants you the liberty of ordering 5-7 copies before you get questioned by management.

By: Peter Turner

Peter Turner — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:44:16 +0000

Okay, let’s see. The benefit to B&N of not selling Amazon’s publications is X. The detriment to their reputation as a book retailer is Y.