We mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Barnes & Noble had pulled all of DC Comics’s graphic novels from its bookstores in protest over DC’s exclusive e-comic sales through the Kindle Fire when it had refused to sell them electronically through the Nook Color.
This action has started getting more media coverage lately, with a report in the New York Times yesterday on the incident, and an update—bookselling chain Books a Million (which sells a version of the Nook as its own e-reader) has also pulled DC’s graphic novels, for the same reason.
As the Times article notes, the stores don’t want to become “showrooms for Amazon’s digital warehouse”—places where people can come and leaf through books, then buy them more cheaply or digitally via Amazon. And if they can’t carry the digital version of popular print titles, that means print-browsing buyers who prefer digital will have no choice but to do exactly that.
A lot of people are unhappy about the situation:
In online comics forums and other places where the issue is being debated, everyone is unhappy with someone. Amazon is being accused by some of throwing its considerable weight around to the detriment of readers and the larger culture. DC Comics is being criticized by others of placing greed over its fans. Barnes & Noble is alternatively being accused of throwing its own weight around and of cutting off its nose to spite its face. Even the comics’ writers are getting some heat.
The article quotes Neil Gaiman the writer of a letter received by Neil Gaiman, whose Sandman graphic novels are affected, as being “heartbroken” that Gaiman’s works won’t be available for his and his kids’ readers, but annoyed with Barnes & Noble for giving Amazon and other stores a physical exclusive as well as the electronic one.
DC Comics seems to be surprised by the backlash, and claims it is being “misunderstood”. Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Entertainment, says other platforms that can run the Kindle app will have access to the comics, and Amazon is “not the be-all and end-all of our digital strategy and distribution.” He counsels fans to “have a little patience.” Of course, in a world where people in the know can immediately download any comic they want to for free, without the publishers or creators seeing a dime, “patience” can be hard to come by.
On Gizmodo, Kyle Wagner worries that the disappearance of comics from bookstores in a notably small-margin industry could lead to books being cancelled, and also points out that this means fans without Kindles are out of luck for both electronic and physical versions…unless they order the physical versions from Amazon.
Are printed books disappearing because of e-books? Well, printed DC comic books are disappearing from the big chain bookstores because of e-books. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on the industry’s sales—or on its digital exclusive decisions.
Update: Corrected attribution of Gaiman’s letter.
“also points out that this means fans without Kindles are out of luck for both electronic and physical versions…unless they order the physical versions from Amazon.”
No really. There are these stores that sell print comic books. They’re called comic book stores.
Heartbroken? That’s a quote from a letter on my blog. Not me.
Is it just me or is B&N intentionally trying to drive themselves into irrelevance? They take the attitude of “if we can’t sell the electronic version, we won’t sell any versions of comic books. If you want them, you have to go to our competition…” Yeah, and while you’re there, you might find some other books and magazines to buy as well instead of spending money in B&N.
And this notion they’re afraid they’re going to be “showrooms for Amazon’s digital warehouses…”, isn’t that what book stores are becoming anyway for people who tend to prefer e-publications? I’ll stop by the local B&N for a Starbucks coffee and while there browse through the shelves and displays to see what’s new. But if its available for the Kindle, that’s where I’ll buy it, only because I’d rather have the electronic version. If B&N made the e-book where I could read it on my Kindle (i.e. no DRM), I’d buy it on the spot from them. But that won’t happen for a variety of reasons. I wonder if B&N will stop carrying physical books or maybe put them behind glass display cases so they won’t be such a “showroom for Amazon..”.
I do find it incredibly difficult to get any kind of handle on the strategies being followed by B&N.
It is as if their behaviour is being dictated by nothing less than a deep fear of the future. A fear so strong that they are unable to develop any kind of ‘vision’ and are reacting to everyone else instead of creating a future for themselves.