Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Report: Amazon to Purchase Simon and Schuster

girl-reading-book

The publishing industry could be turned onto its head with a recent revelation that Amazon is in talks to purchase big 5 publisher Simon and Schuster. If the deal were to get done, this would give Amazon major distribution to physical bookstores under their own imprint and change the publishing world forever.

Amazon Publishing first launched in 2009 and is composed of a number of imprints including AmazonEncore, AmazonCrossing, Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, 47 North, New Harvest, Day One, and Powered by Amazon.

When Amazon got into the publishing industry initially major bookstores were very much against it. Barnes and Noble famously said it would not stock a single Amazon published title in their bookstores. At the time, they said "Our decision [not to stock Amazon published titles] is based on Amazon's continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent.”

There are some obvious benefits of Amazon purchasing S&S. It would legitimize their publishing efforts and give Createspace users the ability to stock their books more easily in stores. It would also give authors signed to their imprints to be stocked in stores under existing S&S contracts and also assist them in their efforts to get books in the library via Overdrive, 3M and Baker & Taylor.

CBS Corp currently made $800 million in revenue in 2013, which puts it on the small side of publishers. CEO Leslie Moonves said in a recent interview that "We are negotiating with Amazon as we speak."

In the last few years Amazon has been acquiring many companies, such as GoodReads and Comixology. Amazon is responsible for more than three out of every five e-books sold, according to research firm Codex Group.


Report: Amazon to Purchase Simon and Schuster is a post from: Good e-Reader

No comments:

Post a Comment