If you consider the most popular eBook platforms there are only two that matter – Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Looking at the data from the past two years B&N’s knight in shining armour, the Nook eBook reader is not exactly lighting up the eReader space. In 2012, eReader sales declined for the first time and the worst affected was Nook. Its market share plunged from 4.6% to 1.9%. Kindle sales, on the other hand, grew through this carnage.
It was in March 2013 that the first news of Amazon bidding for B&N came to light. Although the plan (or the rumour depending on your take on the news) hasn’t materialized yet, there are increasing signs that Amazon is really gearing up this time around. However, Microsoft and Wal-Mart have also expressed interest in the B&N brand in the past and there is no reason why they wouldn’t pose stiff competition to the global giant managed by Jeff Bezos.
But what if Amazon emerges as the winner of this bidding war? How will it impact the self-publishing space?
In 2013, 27 out of 100 top selling books on Amazon were self-published books. During the same time self-published books had a 25% share of all books sold on Nook. Now, if Amazon were to take over B&N, using simple arithmetic and approximate elimination of common books, close to 35% or 40% of the bestsellers on the platform could be self-published books. This is indeed huge news for self-publishing authors.
At the same time, Amazon could have monopoly over this huge industry and this might not be great news for self-publishing authors. As of now Amazon offers very attractive incentives to self-publishers. Apart from paying up to 70% in royalties, Amazon also lends support in various other forms for aspiring authors to make their presence felt in the global book arena. What if Amazon suddenly turned from a benevolent benefactor to a fang-baring giant?
There is a lot of conjecture here – about Amazon buying out B&N and the resultant impact on the self-publication domain. We’ll wait with bated breath to see what transpires in the possible near future.
Image credit: TevK on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Profile_Pic_Moumita.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Moumita Goswami is a full-time homemaker and a passionate writer. She stays in Pune with her husband and daughter. After giving up working, she started writing about five years ago and can now be seen using her computer keyboard almost all the time. An MA in Psychology from Calcutta University, Moumita has spent time in Kolkata, Delhi and now Pune. For Moumita, writing started as a sudden chance but she soon discovered her likeness for it. And now she has developed a passion for writing and hardly any day passes without her scribbling a few lines. She dreams of publishing her own book one day and is working towards it.
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