Amazon E-Books Vs. Nook Books

[Ankari]

I would like to ask everyone who has either published, or just knows a whole lot, why everyone publishes their books on Amazon but rarely on B&N? Is it more lucrative to publish on Amazon? Is it because B&N takes too much of the money?

Please share


PS: I own a Nook. I do have a smartphone with the Kindle App just a few clicks away, but I rather have all my books in one catalog.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

It's simply because Amazon is the single largest online retailer of books (E-books included).

That, and most authors don't market themselves effectively or aggressively.

 

[Steerpike]

I initially had my book available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the other markets Smashwords makes available. I left it that way for a few months, but invariably almost all my sales were through Amazon. I had one or two here and there through the other sellers, but that's about it. So I signed up for Amazon's Select Service.

 

[Ankari]

I read somewhere, and I think Steerpike made the post, that the percentage of ebooks sold vs the amount of Nooks on the market is higher compared to the Kindle. Would this not motivate people to try at Nook?

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I don't know the sales figures but it seems to me the amount of devices & e-book sales would be ordered:

Kindle/Amazon ----> iPad/iBooks ----> Nook/B&N

That's the order of priority I'd shoot for...

 

[Ankari]

Wait, you're saying that Ipad/iBooks sell more than Nook Books? Even though you can download the Nook app on any Android or Apple device? You can't do that with iBooks.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

Wait, you're saying that Ipad/iBooks sell more than Nook Books? Even though you can download the Nook app on any Android or Apple device? You can't do that with iBooks.

Like I said, I don't have any sales data. But I would think, considering the popularity of the iPad & iPhone, iBooks would outsell Nook. Yes you can download the Kindle app & the Nook app onto an iPad/iPhone but for the same reason you stated above they may not be used as much as iBooks.... Keeping the library in one place.

Now, if one of those two other apps (not iBooks) was going to be used over iBooks, it would probably be the Kindle app.

Don't take this as gospel tho Ankari... This is just my opinion. Nothing more.

 

[Taro]

i honestly haven't really thought of publishing something as an e-book, but seeing this thread makes me want to try. saying that most books/e-books are sold through amazon might because of a larger base of customers, where i remember hearing B&N were closing....

 

[Ankari]

Doing a little research. I found a link that details market share by platform. It includes the iPad and Android Tablets. As of February 2012, the Kindle has an amazing 43% (graphical estimate) of the market share. The nook as 17%. The iPad has 10% and the Android Tablets have 16%. You can find the data here.

From these numbers, its best to go with Amazon first, Nook then iBooks. Now, if the platform market shares don't translate into ebook market shares, that's a different story. I'm looking it up now.

Edit: For some reason, it's really hard to find market share numbers for ebook sales. I did get three numbers. B&N at 25%, Apple at 22% and Amazon at 60%. As you can see, the numbers don't add up. I'll try again tomorrow.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

When you look for Apple data, look at iTunes. That's the platform the book sales actually go through.

I'm interested to see what you find.

 

[robertbevan]

I initially had my book available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the other markets Smashwords makes available. I left it that way for a few months, but invariably almost all my sales were through Amazon. I had one or two here and there through the other sellers, but that's about it. So I signed up for Amazon's Select Service.

how's that been working out for you? are there any advantages with the select service beyond being able to set your price to 'free' once in a while? i mean, do you get any more visibility from it? i don't know much about it. have you found it's improved your amazon sales?

the logic i'm going with for now is to get my ass visible on every possible platform i can. so it's amazon, smashwords, and everywhere that smashwords sends me out to for me.

 

[JCFarnham]

The way I see it, if you aren't on all platforms that are free for you to use, why? Even if it doesn't translate to more sales, 1) You aren't losing anything, it's free and 2) You must be more visible, right? (This is of course ignoring the paid for services. I don't understand the advantage yet.)

I know if I came across a ebook I really wanted, but wasn't able to because it wasn't offered for the reader I had... well I'd be pretty pissed. I'd wonder why for a start. Then I'd probably ignore that author's work for the eformat.

So from this I deduce that being on Smashwords is probably a pretty decent method. Though conversely signing up for each service therein individually would work just as well.

Purely because I'm interested in other points of view Steerpike; Was your decision to quit smashwords solely because of insignificant sales, or was it prompted by something else? I've heard some don't like the stats system, or x number of other things about it. Just curious is all.

 

[Telcontar]

I also use Amazon and Smashwords. I have contemplated going directly through Kobo or B&N's self-pub service a couple times, but in the end that would probably take up a lot more time. I've been generally satisfied with Smashwords and they aggressively seek out new markets to distribute to, so I'm happy to stick with them.

If there comes a day when they finally cut a deal to distribute to Amazon, I might even entertain the possibility of pubbing through Smashwords alone - though I'd have to see what the market looks like at that point before I decide.

 

[TWErvin2]

For myself and the other authors with my publisher, Kindle is the venue where the majority of ebook sales are made. Nook, iTunes, Kobo, and Smashwords all added together don't = the Kindle sales.

 

[Ankari]

I must be in the minority. I won't buy an ebook from Amazon. All of my purchases are through Nook solely.

 

[Steerpike]

how's that been working out for you? are there any advantages with the select service beyond being able to set your price to 'free' once in a while? i mean, do you get any more visibility from it? i don't know much about it. have you found it's improved your amazon sales?

Your logic is the same as mine was. In practice, I'm not sure how effective it was. After switching to Amazon Select my sales did go up, as did my royalties. That's a correlation, and I can't say for sure the switch caused it. There has been a slow climb in sales since then. Just last night I received my largest royalty disbursement yet - a whopping $71

 

[danr62]

Remember that the Ipad isn't built specifically for reading e-books, where the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo are. So even though there may be tons of Ipads out there it doesn't mean that people are buying a bunch of e-books on there.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I must be in the minority. I won't buy an ebook from Amazon. All of my purchases are through Nook solely.

Likewise I buy almost everything thru iBooks. However, for titles that iBooks doesn't have I will use kindle. In that regard, we are both in the minority.

 

[Steerpike]

JC : my decision was based on lack of sales. I thought about exposure, but while it sounded good in theory, sales seemed to indicate that I wasn't getting much of it through b&n, smashwords, &c.

 

[Ankari]

Since I didn't know this, I'm sharing it with you guys. Microsoft has thrown their weight with the Nook. They've invested over $1.7 billion in the Nook division, also offering patents and such. You can find the story here