Writer Sanctum

Writer's Haven => Publisher's Office [Public] => Topic started by: David VanDyke on January 07, 2019, 08:33:28 AM

Title: KKR article and more discussed by Passive Guy
Post by: David VanDyke on January 07, 2019, 08:33:28 AM
The interesting part of this one is Passive Guy, who is a lawyer, commenting on KKR's article.

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/planning-for-2019-part-2/

Title: Re: KKR article and more discussed by Passive Guy
Post by: David VanDyke on January 08, 2019, 04:33:50 AM
Hmmm---looks like the glitch has resolved.
Title: Re: KKR article and more discussed by Passive Guy
Post by: Post-Crisis D on January 08, 2019, 04:46:53 AM
Hmmm---looks like the glitch has resolved.

Weird.  Or maybe Timothy just likes toying with us.  :hehe
Title: Re: KKR article and more discussed by Passive Guy
Post by: David VanDyke on January 08, 2019, 07:59:26 AM
Naw, he's a good guy. I'm sure if he wanted to intentionally step on someone's neck he'd give them the courtesy of a notification. I initially thought it was unintentional but mod-created, for example by intending to lock one thread but causing it to lock them all. Not ascribing blame, just looking for the reason.

But he can't figure it out either. It seems to be done now.

But back to the topic at hand--I thought PG's comments were very interesting.
Title: Re: KKR article and more discussed by Passive Guy
Post by: notthatamanda on January 09, 2019, 09:35:34 AM
From the article:

Until the last ten years or so, traditional publishing dominated the marketplace. They could sell millions of copies to readers because there was no other game in town. Nothing competed with traditionally published novels.

I'm not denying that indie publishing is taking some of that business.  But I'm starting to wonder if the other, less obvious problem, is that people just aren't reading as much as they used to.  The electronic entertainment is very addictive, between the instant gratification and the might as well be infinite options.  When I see three year olds sitting on their own personal ipads, I kind of doubt the market for full length novels is going to increase down the road. 
Title: Re: KKR article and more discussed by Passive Guy
Post by: PJ Post on January 09, 2019, 10:33:13 AM
I get the whole Amazon derangement syndrome, but the Bezos-as-Christ polar-opposite is no better. Amazon is a huge company with way way way too much market influence. When they announced they were thinking about getting into the pharmacy business - 'thinking' about it - eight companies lost $17.5 billion in value.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/28/amazon-wiped-out-billions-from-drug-stocks-and-package-carriers.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/28/amazon-wiped-out-billions-from-drug-stocks-and-package-carriers.html)

And they're not 'out-competing' anyone or being more efficient; by and large they're leveraging profitable divisions to undercut market pricing in an effort to eliminate competition - which is known as predatory pricing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing) - but to be fair, they're also controlling their supply chain through onerous contracts, which, like Walmart, allows them to keep prices low.

"We are at Stage Three in the publishing disruption, though, and traditional publishers are no longer the only game in town. Not even close. And they’ve got a really serious issue: their business model was built in the previous century." - KKR

Unfortunately, our business model is mostly the same business model, and the only part that's different was also built in the last century, no wait, the one before that - Montgomery Ward launched his mail order business in 1872; although, apart from Benjamin Franklin and a few others, the internet tells me that the publisher Aldus Manutius of Venice printed a catalogue of the books he was printing in 1498.

"However, Apple didn’t want to be underpriced by Amazon, so it would insist on an agreement with the publishers that Apple could match any price at which Amazon was selling an ebook." - PG

Isn't this the same pricing policy Amazon holds Indies too? It's the loop-hole that allows for perma-frees...right?