Barnes and Noble Signs Its Own Death Warrant
I was just handed this article:
http://www.derekhaines.ch/vandal/2012/02/self-publishing-now-its-war/
I don't really understand what Barnes and Noble is doing here. You're making independent authors choose which platform to go with, and I think it is pretty clear that unless they are rabid anti-Amazon fantatics, they are going to go with the bookseller with the biggest piece of the market - Amazon. The fact that they will not sell books distributed from venues like Smashwords (because SW distributes you to Amazon et al) shows that this isn't necessarily an Anti-Amazon tactic, but an attempt to draw a line in the sand.
Well, here's a bit of advice. Don't draw a line in the sand unless you're fully prepared to deal with someone stepping over that line. As we just saw with Borders, even "big" booksellers can be toppled with just a little leverage, and Barnes and Noble isn't as big as it once was. If indie authors (whose books are selling more and more volume every year) shift en masse to Amazon, or really just boycott B&N, I wonder how long B&N can hope to hold out? Not very long at all, is my guess.
http://www.derekhaines.ch/vandal/2012/02/self-publishing-now-its-war/
I don't really understand what Barnes and Noble is doing here. You're making independent authors choose which platform to go with, and I think it is pretty clear that unless they are rabid anti-Amazon fantatics, they are going to go with the bookseller with the biggest piece of the market - Amazon. The fact that they will not sell books distributed from venues like Smashwords (because SW distributes you to Amazon et al) shows that this isn't necessarily an Anti-Amazon tactic, but an attempt to draw a line in the sand.
Well, here's a bit of advice. Don't draw a line in the sand unless you're fully prepared to deal with someone stepping over that line. As we just saw with Borders, even "big" booksellers can be toppled with just a little leverage, and Barnes and Noble isn't as big as it once was. If indie authors (whose books are selling more and more volume every year) shift en masse to Amazon, or really just boycott B&N, I wonder how long B&N can hope to hold out? Not very long at all, is my guess.
