Intersting read on book publishing in Germany, no seriously

[Thailandnotes]

http://www.thenation.com/article/168...-culture-alive

Comments are worth a good look...

[Chris Coles]

Re: Intersting read on book publishing in Germany, no seriously

Thanks for that, very informative.

[goodrich4bk]

Re: Intersting read on book publishing in Germany, no seriously

Thanks for the post. I liked the parting admonition from a bookseller concerned about competition from e-books: "One should not take a technical instrument to bed." It reminds me of the Mercedes-Benz engineer who explained why there were no cup holders in his company's cars: "One should not drink while driving."

Gotta love those Germans!

[dcarrigg]

Re: Intersting read on book publishing in Germany, no seriously

Thanks for the post. I liked the parting admonition from a bookseller concerned about competition from e-books: "One should not take a technical instrument to bed." It reminds me of the Mercedes-Benz engineer who explained why there were no cup holders in his company's cars: "One should not drink while driving."

Gotta love those Germans!

I'll share one of my first personal anecdotes from Germany.

I had recently arrived and had noticed that there were no turnstiles or ticket takers for the train. I turned and asked my German colleague about this. She explained that it was not necessary and that in some relatively rare instances, police would do ticket checks on board and fine those who did not have one.

I asked her, "Why then do you pay for the train?" She looked confused by my question. She then responded as if stating the most obvious thing in the world, "Because if we did not there would be no train."

In that moment I understood the depth of this fundamental difference between our cultures.

[don]

Re: Intersting read on book publishing in Germany, no seriously

I wonder if the East Germans were as virtuous.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Intersting read on book publishing in Germany, no seriously

Interesting read....the first and only I've actually read from "the other side".

I distinctly recall Amazon's entry in Germany roughly in the middle of 1998.

We launched via a single small distribution centre in Regensberg.

I didn't run logistics for that one or the near simultaneous launch in UK via a corporate acquisition located in Slough, but some of my key people got poached to do it.

I had my hands more than full on the ring-fenced distribution launch into media(VHS/DVD/CD) beyond just books.

UK was easy(culturally) and was already running via acquisition...it was more of just a business culture transition and systems merger so they largely hit the ground running.

Germany was also relatively easy, bar the limited number of high level German speakers within the company with relevant skillsets. I heard NOTHING but good things from a business/operational standpoint. Other than minor language/culture issues internal feedback of German Ops for Amazon were glowing. Strong labor laws but a fantastic/capable/flexible work force...cooperative environment rather than confrontational...which we faced with failed unionization efforts in the US to use blue collar work force stock options as a hybrid form of union dues(that's another story).

The ONLY issue I recall with Amazon in Germany at the time was a quite serious one in the media.

In Germany, pretty much anything to do with Hitler and Naziism is verboten. Especially books as I understand it. Amazon.de didn't sell anything Hitler or Nazi related.....but Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk did.

When we integrated systems mistakes were made and the company failed to prevent certain titles from being ordered and delivered to Germany which caused a spot of bother.

France.....Frace was a frickin' nightmare in comparison. Originally set up in Orleans....it was nothing but opposition from day 1 by the retail, distribution, publishing industry for books. Same from local/national government. And the employees were reportedly an inflexible nightmare with a near strike before official launch because of a 32 hour inflexible work week at the time if I recall correctly.

----------------

Back to the point of German book industry protectionism.

While I'm biased( I left Amazon approx 12 years ago) I wonder if the way they are doing things is truly counterproductive?

With the advent of the Kindle device(and others like it) I would think the opportunity to create and produce low volume niche books in multiple languages has never been better with incredibly cheap digital distribution as well as publishing industry specific print on demand technology that has largely been developed in Germany(IIRC).

What more do you need than freelance capable translators/editors to get niche books published in different languages?

If I were a decent editor fluent in a couple lanuguages, I'd be happy to go with a new compensation model where I get paid royalty per book demand-printed or digitally downloaded.

I can see a lot of advantages for lean publishers, authors, freelance editors/translators in the current and future environment.

ESPECIALLY those in the niches they are trying to cultivate or protect.

Surely "doing it old school" via legal price fixing is simply customers paying an involuntary premium/subsidy on a large volume popular book to support low volume niche work.

Take everything I write with a grain of salt......what I know of the online industry in Germany/Europe dates to the turn of the last century.

[c1ue]

Re: Intersting read on book publishing in Germany, no seriously

If I were a decent editor fluent in a couple lanuguages, I'd be happy to go with a new compensation model where I get paid royalty per book demand-printed or digitally downloaded.

I can see a lot of advantages for lean publishers, authors, freelance editors/translators in the current and future environment.

Just a theory.

I'd point out that while the operational costs of copying and distributing an e-book is unquestionably lower, the problem with selling books isn't strictly these operational costs.

Marketing matters too. If no one has heard of your book or sees it on the shelf, it is that much more difficult to find an audience.

It is the same situation with music: the reason the music industry exists is not just because they're blood sucking vampires. It is because there is a lot of risk associated with paying big bucks to promote a new band or new album.

From this point of view, the benefit of price fixes on books is to then level the playing field on the marketing side. If only so much money can be made per book, it makes far less financial sense to spend millions to find and promote the next Harry Potter or whatever. This in turn amplifies the impact the independent and/or specialized publishers/bookstores have in reaching the overall audience.

Thus instead of everyone reading the same 1000 books which is largely what you see in the US, you might have people reading 100,000 different books.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Intersting read on book publishing in Germany, no seriously

Just a theory.

I'd point out that while the operational costs of copying and distributing an e-book is unquestionably lower, the problem with selling books isn't strictly these operational costs.

Marketing matters too. If no one has heard of your book or sees it on the shelf, it is that much more difficult to find an audience.

It is the same situation with music: the reason the music industry exists is not just because they're blood sucking vampires. It is because there is a lot of risk associated with paying big bucks to promote a new band or new album.

From this point of view, the benefit of price fixes on books is to then level the playing field on the marketing side. If only so much money can be made per book, it makes far less financial sense to spend millions to find and promote the next Harry Potter or whatever. This in turn amplifies the impact the independent and/or specialized publishers/bookstores have in reaching the overall audience.

Thus instead of everyone reading the same 1000 books which is largely what you see in the US, you might have people reading 100,000 different books.

I definitely see the similarities between the book publishing industry with the music industry as well as the VC industry.

For every day businesses/bands/authors seed funded.......6-7 are failures, 2-3 are break even or modest ring fenced profitable, and the 1 is the grand slam.

I've had to purchase a fair few niche medical books in the past year...the majority are high(relatively) volume titles suitable for any med student, PA student, or nursing student where there are fairly large communities so a larger buying pool.

The smaller, but growing, sub-niche of remote medicine has little to offer in terms of dedicated titles/content. It's just one of many examples where digital delivery could assist in the production of such titles where dramatically lower distribution costs(print on demand and digital delivery) could go some way in making it easier to bring niche content to market. Assuming of course subjects that require peer review or possess unique(higher) cost structures make it untenable.

I'm a believer that especially for niche, smallish volume content there are many small clusters of people just waiting for content.....and word of mouth marketing works exceptionally well in these cases....so I think growth in digital delivery could come from the bottom up as well as the top down....the "middle" however it's defined by subject/topic could be the later adopter to digital delivery.

Niche fiction is probably the leading indicator of the direction we are headed. Low cost producers(amateur part-time writers most likely) producing a low cost and low sales volume product(possibly low quality as well).

Fairly good volume of niche fiction kindle books selling at the moment.

I can't recall the numbers with Amazon with any high degree of accuracy, but the sales mix changed dramatically once the internet and internet sales went broad/generic. There were(and still are) sales of books on quantum mechanics, but those were soon drowned in a sea of Oprah Winfrey Book of the Month sales. Pareto's Principal Plus applied then, and I'm sure now.

[astonas]

Re: Intersting read on book publishing in Germany, no seriously

I'll share one of my first personal anecdotes from Germany.

I had recently arrived and had noticed that there were no turnstiles or ticket takers for the train. I turned and asked my German colleague about this. She explained that it was not necessary and that in some relatively rare instances, police would do ticket checks on board and fine those who did not have one.

I asked her, "Why then do you pay for the train?" She looked confused by my question. She then responded as if stating the most obvious thing in the world, "Because if we did not there would be no train."

In that moment I understood the depth of this fundamental difference between our cultures.

I had the exact same conversation myself when I was there many years ago! It helps explain why Germany is genuinely exasperated with Mediterranean countries in which tax fraud is rampant, and remains unchecked by a captive government.

They scratch their heads wondering just how bad the situation will have to get in these nations before the people there realize that which seems obvious to them: there is no such thing as a free ride.

And those who are waiting for Germany to provide the free ride may not be fully understanding that the befuddlement will only turn to indignation, not consent, if the pressure is increased.