Publishers To Compete With Online Retailers?
from the middlemen?--what-middlemen? dept
Apparently, publishing house Random House is thinking about jumping into the online retail business themselves, trying to sell books directly to the public. This isn't the first time such ideas have been discussed, but it's apparently pissed off Barnes & Noble -- a retailer who does have a public presence already, and one which could cause some problems for Random House should the publishing company decides it wants to compete. For all the talk about how the internet was supposed to get rid of middlemen, there are plenty of very good reasons for middlemen in certain areas, and sometimes trying to go direct and route around your channel can cause a lot more problems than it solves. It's likely that retailers such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon will put enough pressure on Random House to make them rethink this idea, to the point that any direct sales will be a minor part of their business.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Publishers gone direct
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pot and kettle
[ link to this | view in chronology ]