Challenge to Amazon/BookSurge from Oz?
June 24, 2008 by Anne Wayman
Filed under Jobs
A press release wandered in yesterday titled: Australian Book Printer Challenges Amazon.com’s Booksurge for Market Dominance
Although I don’t see anything in the press release that leads me to believe Booktasia is really different than Amazon’s BookSurge, it’s interesting that they at least allude to some of the problems some self-publishers have had with BookSurge, most specifically, allegations of poor quality with pages falling out. In fact, it seems almost as if they are acknowledging the premier position BookSurge is now in because they were purchased by Amazon.
What they seem not to be addressing is Amazon’s power as a seller of books, a retailer, which is why the controversy over Amazon’s policies re requiring self-publishers to use BookSurge rages.
I still think the most likely candidate to really challenge Amazon in this matter would be Barnes and Nobel, and their website BN.com. They have what must be the second largest online bookstore… unless, of course, it’s Powell’s Books in Oregon.
Now that’s a thought I really like.
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