[SA Chris]

Can't read the FT article without suscribing

Similar info accessible here

http://online.wsj.com/articles/amazons-spending-leads-to-another-loss-1414095239

[Johnny Brown]

No it isn't!

[SA Chris]

Isn't available or isn't similar?

I couldn't read article at all so had to google.

[Johnny Brown]

It's behind another paywall and requires you to register..

[Sloper]

Can I suggest that people buy books from their local bookshop?

[SA Chris]

It's behind another paywall and requires you to register..

Ah, OK. It didn't do that first time I read the article, but there is one up now? Sorry.

[a dense loner]

Like the 3 books I've ordered which aren't available at your local bookshop. Why don't we all eat berries picked off trees on our lanes?

[Johnny Brown]

We don't all live down lanes like you country boy. And when Tetler browsed his way to the pub he always ended up with a bad pint. Is this relevant?

[Sloper]

Like the 3 books I've ordered which aren't available at your local bookshop. Why don't we all eat berries picked off trees on our lanes?

because you can't get club card points / milk your cow at the same point.

<right off to spin some linen harvested from the flax growing by the side of the tram track>

[Falling Down]

Chris - you can register and get several free articles per month.

[tomtom]

Like the 3 books I've ordered which aren't available at your local bookshop. Why don't we all eat berries picked off trees on our lanes?

You could always order them from your local book shop?

Though having pointed that out I would just click and buy....

[Jaspersharpe]

Chris - you can register and get several free articles per month.

That link redirects me to a request to download the app (which I already have) and then I can't find the article......

Will try again.

Edit - ignore me I just needed to sign in. #retard

[lagerstarfish]

there's probably some smug satisfaction to be had by encouraging people to only buy their Cockfax guides from Amazon

[Alan James, Rockfax]

Ironically I remember Alan of Rockfax making the same point a few years ago, that people should buy his new guide through normal retailers or his website as amazon basically paid them almost nothing per copy sold.

I didn't actually say this. What I said was that you should buy books from specialist retailers to encourage them to stock the books.

In fact authors and trade retailers make only a small amount less on books sold through Amazon. This smaller amount also applies to most non-outdoor shop retailers like Waterstones, etc. and also most sales outside the UK. Basically it requires a second level of distribution to get to these places and that is where the extra cut is taken but it isn't that bad, and in many cases only occurs on sales you wouldn't have got elsewhere. The problem with Amazon though is that it is so powerful that it is now taking sales away from outdoor retailers and it would be a shame, but understandable, if the outdoor retailers stopped stocking large ranges of books.

Alan

[Duma]

http://www.hive.co.uk/about-us/

[Sloper]

Ironically I remember Alan of Rockfax making the same point a few years ago, that people should buy his new guide through normal retailers or his website as amazon basically paid them almost nothing per copy sold.

I didn't actually say this. What I said was that you should buy books from specialist retailers to encourage them to stock the books.

In fact authors and trade retailers make only a small amount less on books sold through Amazon. This smaller amount also applies to most non-outdoor shop retailers like Waterstones, etc. and also most sales outside the UK. Basically it requires a second level of distribution to get to these places and that is where the extra cut is taken but it isn't that bad, and in many cases only occurs on sales you wouldn't have got elsewhere. The problem with Amazon though is that it is so powerful that it is now taking sales away from outdoor retailers and it would be a shame, but understandable, if the outdoor retailers stopped stocking large ranges of books.

Alan

Absolutely, I agree,  indeed I remember this in a Spanish guide.

[petejh]

Can't we zap Alan's posts just once to show him what it's like to cool his opinion from the debate? Aww, please?!

He's correct though. I don't lose out by Amazon selling the NW Lime guide for a lower price. Somebody does, but it isn't me/the bolt-fund. There's obviously loss-leading going on with lots of products on Amazon and they're making a calculated risk that it will pay off for them in the mid term, once they're one of the few games left in town.

It would be a shame not to be able to go into a climbing store and browse the bookshelves. One of my favorite things about going to beris is sitting in v12 with a print guide and idly browsing the world of climbing. Wonder how long that pleasure will last...

[r-man]

You don't lose out on profit made on Amazon sales vs normal retailers, but of course you are also likely to get fewer direct sales if your book is listed on Amazon at a ridiculously reduced price.

An example of the strange way the market now works - before the lancs bouldering guidebooks were even released, a bookseller was listing 2nd hand copies on amazon. Presumably this was an automated process, with algorithms working to maximise the booksellers potential profits by using every option available.