出版与作家生涯2019news.bubblin.io编辑精选
他们掌控了系统：亚马逊挺进出版业，改写整个图书行业
They Own the System: Amazon Rewrites Book Industry by Marching into Publishing
导读
这篇报道讨论亚马逊同时掌握零售与出版环节，如何改变图书业格局。对写作者值得读，因为它把预付金、营销投入、平台排位、作者品牌和实体书店渠道等现实权衡摆了出来。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
把作品交给平台前，先分清它同时是渠道方还是出版方，因为排位与分成会直接影响曝光。
- 02
对非知名作者，预付金、自助出版和传统出版不是简单的好坏之分，而是风险、版税与上升空间的不同组合。
- 03
新作者要评估出版方的编辑与营销投入，以及“被误认为自出版”的品牌代价。
- 04
写作和选材时可利用平台数据判断需求，但别把数据优势等同于编辑质量。
HN 评论精选
亚马逊的双重身份能降低试错成本，但大力营销潜力并非它独有，“弱者逆袭”的说法站不住。
他们举的例子是一本被纽约主流出版社拒绝的书，被亚马逊以“低五位数”买下；对非知名作者来说其实相当不错（如果你是知名作者，反正会更想要版税）。亚马逊也提供自助出版，虽然预付金和版税远不能比，但对其他人是条出路，且有潜在无限上升空间。是的，他们掌握零售市场；如果选择出版并把一本不知名书大力营销，完全可能大获成功。但这真的与其他出版社不同吗？你可以说进入门槛低一点，因为他们拥有链条两端，失败可更快止损；但如果企鹅、西蒙或哈珀接手，不也会一样大力营销吗？我的观点是，任何行业都有潜力赢家未被大联盟选中、后来逆袭的例子。我不觉得亚马逊是“弱者”在这里有何相关，除了它是亚马逊。
chrismeller查看英文原文
So their example is a book that got rejected by mainstream NYC publishers and was bought by Amazon for “low five figures”, which is actually damned good if you’re not a name brand (and if you are you’d rather the royalties anyway). They’ve also offered self publishing that, while obviously not offering anything near that in advances or royalties, is an out for everyone else with potentially unlimited upward mobility. So yes, they have the retail market. If they choose to publish and market the hell out of an unknown title it absolutely could be an overwhelming success. Is that really different than any other publishing house, though? You could argue that their barrier to entry is a bit lower because they own two arms of the chain and can more quickly cut their losses if it doesn’t work out, but really wouldn’t it have been the same if Penguin, Simon, or Harper had picked it up? They’d have marketed the hell out of it just like Amazon. I guess my point is that, just like any industry, there are times where a potential winner isn’t picked up by a major league team and then wins big for an underdog. I just don’t see how Amazon being the “underdog” is relevant here other than being Amazon.
亚马逊出版有数据、资金和站内排位优势，但面临代理警惕、作者品牌认知和实体书店渠道劣势。
我是非虚构作者。亚马逊可能优于传统出版社的地方：海量数据和强数据科学，可帮助决定买什么、付多少预付金；资金雄厚，能承担更多风险并竞标；排位优先，亚马逊作为零售商从每笔销售抽成，作为出版方再抽一份，所以除非非亚马逊书的销量预计高得多，优先推自家书很合理。劣势：代理人心存警惕，他们知道与亚马逊合作会威胁其他出版社的健康；短期内作者会觉得亚马逊出版缺乏声望，它主要以自助出版闻名，而自助出版质量很差，作者不愿自己的书被误认为自助出版；别指望你的书进入实体书店。
jawns查看英文原文
Nonfiction author here. Some potential advantages Amazon may have over other traditional publishers: Massive amount of data and high-powered data science. Can help inform decisions about what to buy, how much of an advance to pay, etc. Large coffers. Can take more risks in what to buy and make competitive bids. Priority of placement. Amazon the retailer gets a cut of every sale. Amazon the publisher gets another. Clearly, it makes sense to prioritize Amazon's own titles against similar titles from other publishers, unless sales of the non-Amazon title are expected to be substantially higher. A couple of disadvantages: Agents are wary. They know that cooperating with Amazon is going to threaten the health of every other publisher. At least in the short term, authors are going to perceive having Amazon as a publisher as having less cachet. It's largely known for its self-publishing arm, and authors aren't going to want their books to be misperceived as having been self-published, where quality is pretty abysmal. Don't expect your book to end up in brick-and-mortar bookstores.
若亚马逊不投入编辑和推广，新作者很难靠它建立读者信任，有成绩的作者才更承受得起。
也许是因为我只通过作者和竞争者的采访听说亚马逊进军出版，我得到的叙事似乎是亚马逊实际上是个糟糕的出版方。也就是说，读者基本不知道自己买的是什么；如果你是作者，他们不花一分钱编辑或推广你。（倒不是说出版社最近在这两件事上做得多好，但那是另一回事。）如果你已有作者履历，这大概还行；如果是新作者，恐怕不行。有没有作者能来聊聊？
ddebernardy查看英文原文
Perhaps this is because I've only ever heard about Amazon's march into publishing through interviews of authors and competitors, but the narrative I've picked up seems to revolve around Amazon actually being a terrible publisher. By which I mean you basically never know what you're buying if you're a reader, and they aren't spending a dime to edit or promote you if you're an author. (Not that publishers do those two things much either of late, but that's a different story.) I suppose that's fine when you've a track record as an author. It probably isn't if you're a new author. Any odds there are some authors around who can chime in?
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