Guest post
by Per Holbo
[This is a translation of an article that originally appeared in Danish on the blog HolboHistorier. The original article can be found here. The translated article is reproduced here with the author’s permission.]
Despite Amazon fighting to keep it under wraps the Danish media caught on. The mastodon in eBooks is coming to Scandinavia.
This is good news to anyone desiring a boost of eBooks in our region. For years, we´ve seen eBooks becoming steadily more popular each day, but here in Denmark, virtually nothing has happened.
The main reason I can think of, is accessibility. eBooks must be easy to get in as few steps as possible and if there´s one provider of eBooks, who has managed to almost make this a form of art, it´s Amazon.
The only Danish actor even remotely trying to accomplish a reasonable accessibility, is Riidr. However, they don´t even come close to Amazon in any given parameter. Amazon changes everything.
May 23rd, Politiken and May 24th, Berlingske Tidende, revealed Amazon’s plans to start investing in Scandinavia. As usual everything is quite hush-hush and we can´t know for sure, what they´re up to. Amazon’s spokesperson in London, Suzi Van der Mark, stated that no official announcement had been made about what their plans are – or are not – regarding Scandinavia.
One thing is certain, though: Coming June 13th, the Kindle Fire is available for shipping to Denmark – and why would anyone want to buy a Kindle, if you can´t read eBooks on the thing in your own language?
So: Amazon IS COMING TO DENMARK probably introducing both Kindle Fire and a pretty large catalogue of Danish eBooks.
Additionally, Smashwords.com, who´s been the main provider of eBooks to the Scandinavian Apple market, has distributed a selection of eBooks to Amazon since 2012.
Can the competitors survive?
In my not so humble opinion: Yes. But they would have to get their act together – and fast.
In the article of Politiken, the CEO of the largest web based bookstore in Denmark, Saxo.com, expresses his wish that there will still be a place for “a good runner up.”
If we are to take this as a sign of Saxo.com resigning the battle before it has even begun, is not for me to say, but if there´s one actor on the market, who has the potential to compete, it´s Saxo.com.
Earlier this year, Saxo.com moved their distribution of digital goods to Luxembourg, decreasing VAT to a mere 3% improving their competitative abilities. But… It WILL take more than that.
Last September, Saxo.com announced their new self publishing platform, the Saxo Publish, probably as a recognition that Indie Authors are more flexible and can shift strategies to fit the new situation much quicker than the big publishing houses.
Unfortunately, Saxo.com decided to let Indie Authors pay for marketing and conversion. This could very well become their Achilles heel. If you get free publicity when enrolling in Kindle Select plus free conversion, why stick with Saxo.com?
The format challenge
In Denmark, EPUB is by far the most used format, but since Kindle has its own format, MOBI and since the conversion on KDP is free and easy, the bigger actors have no choice but to provide the same services to Indies and small press publishing houses, if they are to keep them in their stables.
Who benefits?
According to Forbrugerrådet, the government funded consumers protection agency, Amazon’s expansion to the Danish market first and foremost benefits consumers through a higher degree of competition and subsequent price reduction.
This is no doubt true, but as I see it, Amazon being introduced to the Scandinavian markets will benefit the entire book business. My guess is that most of the big actors on the Danish market, would shake their heads and make grumpy sounds at this statement, if they for some reason should get lost and find this blog post.
Nevertheless, I mean every word: The Danish Book Business seriously needs a wake up call. The big actors have in no way managed to shift direction to fit the development of books. They need a kick in the butt and Amazon entering the Danish market may very well end up leaving a well placed boot print on their behinds!
Lower prices = Higher revenues!
The price reduction will, in my opinion, increase the overall revenue on eBook sales – that is: IF the big publishing houses learn to view the author as a provider of goods instead of yet another consumer. From my point of view, it is going to be very interesting to observe the development from here…
Per Holbo is the father of four children, has a bachelor´s degree in Political Science and History and is the author of the Science Fiction/Norse Mythology blend, Skrymers Glove, which is going to be a series of at least three books. He is currently working with adults with development disabilities. You can learn more about Per and his writing from his blog and his Amazon author page.
Thanks for posting this. Now if only Amazon would come to Australia. -sigh-
Yes, I absolutely agree! It beats me why they haven’t gone to Australia. There’s a huge market there—I’ve had to ship my own books at huge cost, and some got lost. Amazon will ship anywhere and replace lost books, so that’s the only redeeming feature. Shipping to South Africa and Israel also costs a fortune.
There must be a lot more involved in getting into the various overseas markets. I would’ve thought Amazon would be there by now.
Thanks for the info, Per. Now you and Dorte can buy alllllll my books! (Kidding, well, not really, well…)
Goodie! But isn’t Smashwords available international? No, they don’t offer “brad name” authors, but they are still a good site in which to get low cost or free ebooks in just about any format.