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Amazon/BookSurge - no, we're not done yet
One angle I was thinking more about yesterday was the POD-to-ebook angle. Last year, Ingram Digital Group acquired both VitalSource and MyiLibrary - two terrific platforms for ebooks (and in the case of MyiLibrary, a significant repository of ebook content as well). For some publishers, releasing what used to be POD as ebooks might in fact be a viable business model - so Lightning Source could easily become a feeder into Ingram Digital.

Is Amazon looking at BookSurge the same way? Does Amazon want exclusivity with POD publishers so it can negotiate ebook rights on more favorable terms? Given Amazon's "Look Inside" capability - a platform similar to Ingram Digital's - wouldn't that make sense?

It's an old, old business model in the book industry to control every aspect of the supply chain. In recent history, B&N began its own publishing efforts ten years ago (and tried to acquire Ingram ten years ago as well). Further back, there were the Scribner's and Doubleday bookshops - and book clubs. And of course where there were book printers, there were bookstores - the front of the shop was the bookstore and the back was the printing press.

Are we returning to that model? Richard Curtis has an interesting post on his ereads blog about whether Amazon will ultimately control the printing and distribution of ALL the titles it sells.
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Posted by Laura Dawson , April 2, 08, 11:39 AM , comments(0) , permalink , Email this post
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