The Face Off: Amazon vs Publishers
Most of the publishing industry viewed Amazon's boastful announcement of entering the world of manuscripts and publishing last year with some trepidation. It came as a huge relief to many, who had been bested by Amazon in the past (as a book retailer, Amazon has a strong hold on the market), when its first year as a publisher resulted in only disappointment. Lead by Larry Kirshbaum, literary agent and former chief executive of the Time Warner Book Group, the online retailer hoped to "hit it big" with a number of new releases by celebrities and established best-selling authors. The hardcover book of director, Penny Marshall's, "My Mother Was Nuts", sold a mere 7,000 copies, a sharp slap of reality in the face of Rob Lowe's memoir, "Stories I Only Tell My Friends", published by Macmillan, which sold 54,000 copies in its first four weeks.
What Amazon does well, it does very well. Through its enviably high access to the market, Amazon has created 15 imprints to try and cover ever aspect of literature, from fan-fiction through to Science Fiction and Christian Literature. While high profile publishers focus on the popular market (who can blame them?) and leave niche publishing to small publishers, Amazon is trying to cover all the bases. Despite failures in its first years, Amazon Publishing continued its efforts. Replacing Kirshbaum with Daphne Durham, an Amazon veteran, the fledgling publisher finally made an impact in 2013, with four of its books on the 'Digital Book World Best-Seller List'. Amazon knows its strengths and, although it is still trying to expand into book publishing, its main focuses remain on digital.
With tens of millions of Kindle users, Amazon has an easy way to reach their customers and an even easier way to learn reader statistics, such as favourite books, popular genres and can gauge reader reactions through reviews in a way that most publishers cannot. Working in the digital publishing industry myself, I know how important live data is (how many times was the product accessed? How long was the product used? How many searches were conducted? And more importantly, what searches?). Of course publishers like Hachette and Penguin receive feedback and comments on their products, but these come more generally from booksellers and the readers who take the time to contact the publisher directly. Amazon is easily accessible and has all this much craved information at its fingertips. Data mining at its most enviable.
Despite Kirshbaum's undeniable success in the publishing industry, his leadership steered Amazon away from its strengths, explaining why the online retail giant is only now, slowly, seeing its publishing success. The high profile names, although a very strong marketing ploy, were not enough to push Amazon to the top. In fact, one of Amazon's biggest publishing success stories comes from an author who originally self-published through Amazon and the Kindle, Karen McQuestion and her novel, "A Scattered Life".
It's successes this year have put publishers on edge. Until recently, I saw Amazon as yet another way for amateur writers to express their ideas and creativity, a very strong position in its own right. What they have done now, is planted their feet firmly within digital publishing and they will continue to gradually spread their influence within the market. Book publishing as we know it is not under threat, digital publishing can only go so far in its current state, but Amazon has most definitely created a new image for itself as a rival to be wary of.
