Are used books sales hurting or helping?
Reading Between the Lines of Used Book Sales by Hal R. Varian
Published: July 28, 2005 New York Times
I just caught this article in the New York Times about used books sales and it's overall impact on new books sales primarily thru the Amazon venue.
The reason I'm passing this along is because I realize how many authors are aware of and concerned about the used book trade namely due to the (sometimes proliferate) resale of review copies.
One of the highlights from the article that caught my eye right off the bat was:
Now this puts a different spin on things. Think about it. Are you a consumer more apt to buy new if you can recoup almost half of your expense once you're through with the product? It seems many readers just may be and if this is true, then the used book trade could possibly benefit authors in ways not realized before because someone has to buy that new copy first for it to be sold as used.
The article continues with an in-depth run of the numbers and reflects upon the impact of new versus used with the book-buying consumer in general. It's well worth the read for any author.
For in marketing: to know your market is to better sell to them!
Click here to read article
[will need a NYT account-free]
P.S. And remember: don't be confused about the "real" used books being sold at Amazon and those being marketed as new, like new, etc. by small dot-com outfits who get their books direct from the distributors (regular channels) and where you will get paid when they sell through them.
Published: July 28, 2005 New York Times
I just caught this article in the New York Times about used books sales and it's overall impact on new books sales primarily thru the Amazon venue.
The reason I'm passing this along is because I realize how many authors are aware of and concerned about the used book trade namely due to the (sometimes proliferate) resale of review copies.
One of the highlights from the article that caught my eye right off the bat was:
"…an estimated 23 percent of (Amazon's) sales are from used goods, many of them secondhand books."Not a number any author wants to hear--especially a lower selling one who earns scant royalties--however the numbers may not have such an initial negative impact as originally thought for another study mentioned in the article alluded to the theory that "…the presence of a market for used books makes consumers more willing to buy new books, because they can easily dispose of them later."
Now this puts a different spin on things. Think about it. Are you a consumer more apt to buy new if you can recoup almost half of your expense once you're through with the product? It seems many readers just may be and if this is true, then the used book trade could possibly benefit authors in ways not realized before because someone has to buy that new copy first for it to be sold as used.
The article continues with an in-depth run of the numbers and reflects upon the impact of new versus used with the book-buying consumer in general. It's well worth the read for any author.
For in marketing: to know your market is to better sell to them!
Click here to read article
[will need a NYT account-free]
P.S. And remember: don't be confused about the "real" used books being sold at Amazon and those being marketed as new, like new, etc. by small dot-com outfits who get their books direct from the distributors (regular channels) and where you will get paid when they sell through them.
posted by dehanna at 8:24 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home