The Bookseller.com

9th January 2009

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Publishers fear rise of the Kindle

02.06.08

Publishing executives in the US have expressed concern about the growing power of Amazon.com and its Kindle device, Reporting from BEA, the New York Times notes that excitement about the Kindle, which was introduced in November, worries some publishing executives, who fear Amazon’s still-growing power as a bookseller.

Those executives note that Amazon currently sells most of its Kindle books to customers for a price well below what it pays publishers, and they anticipate that it will not be long before Amazon begins using the Kindle’s popularity as a lever to demand that publishers cut prices.

Overall, traffic at the book fair seemed lower than in past years, a reflecting perhaps that some editors did not make the long trip west from Manhattan, as well as the fact that the growth in the book business has slowed.

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