Yet more good news. 0 barriers to entry and below we have yet another threat of substitution (rocket books et al and this one which cuts out both publisher and middleman retailer, at least the competing shop bots just cut out the retailer!)
Jeff Bezos, I wish you much luck competing with nscp, msn, lcos, scit, yhoo, aol, seek, zap, planetretail, et al in the shop bot industry, since it's pretty clear that you will never see profits in the on line book and music (sure i'll toss in video) retailing industry.
lp
xlibris.com
"It's the powerful new publishing service from Xlibris that
makes it easy to publish for thousands less than any other option
available."
Xlibris is a publishing service in which the costs of publication are low enough for everyone to become their
own publisher.
We apply technology to make it possible for authors to easily publish their books. We handle the publishing
processes, manufacture and sell books, and pay royalties. At Xlibris, the author is the publisher. Authors retain
all their rights and are always in control of their work. Last and most important, books published at Xlibris
remain in print forever. Until the author decides otherwise, their book will be permanently available for sale.
Xlibris sells professionally-manufactured hardback books with text printed on acid-free, book-weight, literary
quality paper, with dust covers printed in full color. The books are available for sale from Xlibris' Internet
bookstore, as well as by phone, fax and mail order. Soon, Xlibris books will also be distributed nationally
through bookstore order desks.
Authors pay a one-time fee of $450 to publish their books. As we receive orders, we manufacture books and
deliver them by mail. Authors earn a royalty of 50% of the gross profit from each book sold, or about $4.00
per copy.
Xlibris uses the Internet and our proprietary digital publishing systems to make publishing more efficient than
ever before. Books published at Xlibris are stored digitally. No book is ever printed until a reader orders it.
When we receive an order for a book, we produce and deliver one copy specifically for the person who
ordered it using direct printing technology. The benefits of this one small step are extraordinary. There is no
enormous investment to make in printing at Xlibris --- ever. Since our inventory is completely electronic, and
since we can manufacture books on-demand in quantities as low as a single copy, no book ever has to go out
of print. |
