Some of the comic publishers are coming up with schemes to lure readers into comic stores so they can qualify for online comics, and pay the retailers a small fee.
Hmmmmm.....
I think I will skip that part.
The figure I'm currently hearing is about a .20 kickback.
Thanks but no thanks.
I don't see this as working from either side: the customer can skip the entire trip if he's so inclined, and it is an extra step for little return for the retailer.
How long did Tower Records last after MP3's, anyway?
I'm still doubting that my customers are going to move wholesale -- wholesale, eh? -- into digital comics. But I leave open the possibility that I'm wrong, because I've already witnessed the collapse of manga and anime in my own store, as well as the ongoing destruction of the record and video stores.
I'm fortunate in that my career is going to last, I believe, just about long enough that I can spin out the various scenarios and adapt my product lines accordingly.
I'm extremely doubtful of book stores being able to have machines in their stores which can manufacture books on demand. That seems just silly to me -- and extremely non-cost effective. Red Box doesn't need an entire video store surrounding it, after all.
However, I do believe, after all is said and done, that there will be specialty game, toy, card, comic, and book stores. And record stores and even video stores. Just not as many, and 1.) supported by the owners or 2.) little tiny shops or 3.) located in major metro areas where they can scoop up a small percentage of customers.
I'm a firm believer that stores work by having inventory on shelves that customers want.
Everything else -- all the schemes and promotions and bullshit that manufacturers want to load onto the work load of the retailers -- is extra. It won't save a faltering shop, and not doing it won't destroy a viable shop.
But I'm an extreme minority here. Most retailers are convinced they have to do all kinds of extra services -- signings, giveaways, advertising, play space, coffee and crumpets, whatever....or they won't make it.
This whole digital online / brick and mortar retailer partnership that is being foisted upon us appears to me to be complete nonsense. It takes us away from what we do best -- the physical curation and presentation of books (or games or toys or whatever; and puts us into the realm of what we can't do as well -- online sales.
It's playing their game, not ours.
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3 comments:
online is about stealing
always been this way
legal way to steal conent for wall street
in the end nobody will be paid
in my mind all art will return to patron funding
like dark age
love buster from singapore
Of course you are assuming that the physical versions continue. How many people still buy CD's? As far as books go after I started using e-books, I continued to purchase some paper books. However, I found that I never seemed to read them. Problem was that the paper versions were just to inconvenient. My phone and the e-books were always with me. The paper book never seemed to be around when I had a few minutes to read. End result is that I have stopped purchasing any paper books.
The physical media is rapidly shifting from the prime mechanism of distribution to a nitch.
I do concur that the concept of people coming to a store to buy their e-books is a concept doomed to fail. It is far to easy to browse on line and purchase directly. Most e-book software has the purchase function integrated. On my phone I can use Kindle, Nook, and Borders and make direct pruchases from the corresponding vendor.
While I disagree with the concept of forcing people to buy from you if you buy their device (The Apple ITunes model) and would like to see a more open common book format (the current proprietary approach is one of the things hindering adoption), The ability to easily buy will help drive sales and is one of the reasons why consumption goes up when someone switches to e-books.
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