The Bookseller reports on a meeting held by the U.K.'s Booksellers Association last week, where members heard from three
eBook vendors:
Kobo,
Hive and
Anobii. Kobo is proposing that independent booksellers
link to Kobo's site, and Kobo will give them a cut of every eBook sold
from then on, whether they purchase inside the bookseller's physical
store or directly from Kobo. However, Kobo already has a distribution
agreement with
WHSmith, and Kobo VP Michael Tamblyn said that it would
be "quite difficult" for independents to get a cut of transactions from
Kobo readers sold by WHSmith. In other words, existing Kobo owners would
have to purchase a second
Kobo eReader or install a second software
eReader on their PC or tablet (which would likely wipe out their
existing library of WHSmith eBooks.)
Anobii CEO Matteo Berlucchi proposed a "classic affiliate" model where
booksellers would get a commission on each sale made through their links
to the Anobii website. Neither Anobii nor Kobo publicly stated what
their commission rate for sales through independent booksellers would be.
Gardners' development manager Julie Howkins said that the company plans
to launch a new Hive eReader app in the next two weeks for PCs,
iOS and
Android devices. The company is also endorsing the GoTab range of eReaders and
tablets from
Yarvik. Booksellers will only get a 5% commission from Hive
on eBook sales, but Howkins told The Bookseller that the company's
commission model is "under review."
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