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Today I learned Amazon is closing all its physical book stores


bikeman564™

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4 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

Not me.

I vaguely knew it, but never actually saw one.  I can't imagine they were going like gangbusters during COVID, so probably makes sense to cut them now?  Outside of major cities, I can't think of why the bricks&mortar route would ever makes sense for Amazon. Whole Foods stands on it own, and gives them options that whole separate lease and build out and staffing of a B&M doesn't.

Where they WOULD makes sense is in airports where those other book, magazine, electronic, and snack places are popular.  

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9 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I vaguely knew it, but never actually saw one.  I can't imagine they were going like gangbusters during COVID, so probably makes sense to cut them now?  Outside of major cities, I can't think of why the bricks&mortar route would ever makes sense for Amazon. Whole Foods stands on it own, and gives them options that whole separate lease and build out and staffing of a B&M doesn't.

Where they WOULD makes sense is in airports where those other book, magazine, electronic, and snack places are popular.  

The point was Prime. You walk into an Amazon store and see a book for $30 or $18 if you join Prime. Two tiered pricing like WF's does. A kindle is $100 or $50 for Prime members and the e-book version of the $30 book is $15.

Like you said, the pandemic and the acquisition of WFs makes these goofball stores obsolete. 

They really should be in airports. Email Bezos or whoever runs it now. I bet they'll give you a 30% off coupon for your idea.

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Guess I will just have to rough it at Barnes and Noble.

While I didn't know they had B&M stores, they make far far more with online sales. Pricing was a MAJOR shock when I wrote the book and the dismal amount the author makes. Somewhat ironic as they are dependent on the authors to provide the raw material and market to direct traffic to them for purchase, that it has me wondering if I even want to write another book.

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9 minutes ago, Tizeye said:

Guess I will just have to rough it at Barnes and Noble.

While I didn't know they had B&M stores, they make far far more with online sales.

A few months ago, we stopped at a B&N store.  (about 1 1/2 hour drive to the south) The prices for the same book is cheaper on the B&M web site.   I told WoBG... I guess we don't have to ever come back here again.  

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41 minutes ago, Bikeguy said:

A few months ago, we stopped at a B&N store.  (about 1 1/2 hour drive to the south) The prices for the same book is cheaper on the B&M web site.   I told WoBG... I guess we don't have to ever come back here again.  

B&N is one of my features stops, along with Publix, Home Depot and Lowes. They have nice clean restrooms and one of them is bound to be in the neighborhood. I like to stop before I arrive at a client's home for a photo shoot so I don't have to ask to use the client's restroom. Oh, they sell books too? Who would have thought! :whistle:

It is far better than stopping ay McDonalds! Now they are gross...particuraly if you see a bus or two parked outside.

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13 minutes ago, Bikeguy said:

A few months ago, we stopped at a B&N store.  (about 1 1/2 hour drive to the south) The prices for the same book is cheaper on the B&M web site.   I told WoBG... I guess we don't have to ever come back here again.  

I LOVE browsing a large bookstore. I miss the B&N that was just up the road and the one near my office downtown :(

We have a small LBS (local bookstore) not too far from where the B&N (and Best Buy) was, and she's real good at doing local author stuff.  But, as a "browse for an hour or more" store, it doesn't work.  We also lost those other biggies - Crown, Books-a-million, Borders, etc., so the landscape remains lacking in those big "get lost in the stacks" sort of thing.

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55 minutes ago, Tizeye said:

Guess I will just have to rough it at Barnes and Noble.

While I didn't know they had B&M stores, they make far far more with online sales. Pricing was a MAJOR shock when I wrote the book and the dismal amount the author makes. Somewhat ironic as they are dependent on the authors to provide the raw material and market to direct traffic to them for purchase, that it has me wondering if I even want to write another book.

Publishers typically set the terms, not the retailer. The retailer usually gets 40-45% of the sale. 

Who printed your books?

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36 minutes ago, denniS said:

Publishers typically set the terms, not the retailer. The retailer usually gets 40-45% of the sale. 

Who printed your books?

Multiple sources, but I make about the same $2.50 net irrespective of the format - ebook, paperback (Amazon and B&N) and hardback (B&N). Looks like Amazon has resorted to the 60/40 model so their online pricing calculator won't work as I was set up at 70/30. AT 60/40, my current price doesn't even hit break-even so hand calculated it. The big problem raising the price is all the photos required premium paper/ink as opposed to the washed out look on standard paper typically used B&W. My original "target" when writing the book was $14-$16 range. Might be able to do that with standard paper. The calculation for a 200 page premium color is Printing cost (.85 + (200 * .07) = $14.85 divided by 70% = $21.21 BREAKEVEN! Less than that I would owe Amazon. Retail pricing at $24.99 doesn't net me $3.87 because they take 30% of that additional, netting me around $2.50.

Like I said earlier - Amazon makes more online (and the same can be said for B&N and others). It is the author that they are dependent on for the raw resource that really takes the hit. Roughly netting 10%...so much for the 70/30 split.

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43 minutes ago, Tizeye said:

Multiple sources, but I make about the same $2.50 net irrespective of the format - ebook, paperback (Amazon and B&N) and hardback (B&N). Looks like Amazon has resorted to the 60/40 model so their online pricing calculator won't work as I was set up at 70/30. AT 60/40, my current price doesn't even hit break-even so hand calculated it. The big problem raising the price is all the photos required premium paper/ink as opposed to the washed out look on standard paper typically used B&W. My original "target" when writing the book was $14-$16 range. Might be able to do that with standard paper. The calculation for a 200 page premium color is Printing cost (.85 + (200 * .07) = $14.85 divided by 70% = $21.21 BREAKEVEN! Less than that I would owe Amazon. Retail pricing at $24.99 doesn't net me $3.87 because they take 30% of that additional, netting me around $2.50.

Like I said earlier - Amazon makes more online (and the same can be said for B&N and others). It is the author that they are dependent on for the raw resource that really takes the hit. Roughly netting 10%...so much for the 70/30 split.

B&N makes more money from their B&M stores. Amazon from online. Amazon only has a few B&M stores and they were intended to sell prime memberships not product. 

You control the product, so you should control the terms. That is the traditional publishing model. You might consider using IngramSpark. They handle distribution as well as printing. I would be hesitant to let Amazon print a book. 

 

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2 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

I LOVE browsing a large bookstore.

Yeah... I miss that.  

2 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

We also lost those other biggies - Crown, Books-a-million, Borders, etc.,

We can thank Amazon for that.  :(

Ironically..  Amazon started with books, and they killed just about all of the other large bookstores.  Even their own bookstores didn't make enough money for them.  

5 hours ago, denniS said:

The point was Prime. You walk into an Amazon store and see a book for $30 or $18 if you join Prime.

That would stop me.  I'd leave the store.  (then again I'd never drive the 2 hours to get to the Chicago store)

I never wanted Prime.   We gave up on Amazon almost 2 years ago.  

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1 hour ago, Bikeguy said:

Yeah... I miss that.  

We can thank Amazon for that.  :(

Ironically..  Amazon started with books, and they killed just about all of the other large bookstores.  Even their own bookstores didn't make enough money for them.  

That would stop me.  I'd leave the store.  (then again I'd never drive the 2 hours to get to the Chicago store)

I never wanted Prime.   We gave up on Amazon almost 2 years ago.  

I don't believe Amazon ever made a profit selling books. Cloud services is where they make money. Third party services has got to be profitable too. 

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