BookExpo America, Los Angeles 2008 [Update 3]

Upfront & Unscripted Spotlight: Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com with Chris Anderson, Exec Editor, Wired and author, The Long Tail


This was Jeff Bezos' return to BEA after 8 years. First off I was disappointed that Chris took a very back seat throughout and didnt contribute to the discussion. To set the context, the biggest buzz surrounding Book Expo was

1) Borders to cut $120 million in operating costs and

2) the hype for Scott McCellan’s soldout book, What Happened.

Bezos capitalised on the second event to emphasis why e-book is the future reading format of choice. He stressed that

• E-books don’t go out of stock


• Readers love to read.


• Anything that makes reading easier is appreciated.
  

Bezos went on to share his vision for the Kindle reader, i.e., to make every book ever printed in any language available for download in 60 seconds. He revealed that Kindle customers purchase more books by a factor of 2.6 than non-Kindle owners. In June 2008, there are 125,000 Kindle titles available, Kindle sales represent 6% of sales of those same physical books. In July 2008, just one month later, Kindle sales make up over 12% of sales for 130,000 titles.


Presently Amazon is working on developing a Kindle edition for international markets. Chris Anderson asked if the Kindle will change the way people write, Bezos said he would be “startled” if some authors don’t resort to Charles Dickens–type serializations. The Kindle platform has been designed to allow writers to surprise readers. In other words, Bezos is on the impression that the Kindle will function like the extremely popular and profitable mobile phone serializations phenomenon in Japan. Beyond books, Bezos sees downloads to extend to blogs, newspapers, magazines and emails.


Bezos shared that Amazon’s new BookSurge subsidiary will focus on Print-on-demand (POD). Printing POD titles in-house, according to Bezos, makes it easier and cheaper to combine orders in one package, saving time and money for customers. He likened the POD controversy to the one that developed when the company first started selling used books. Amazon studies have shown little cannibalization of new books by selling used titles.


In conclusion, Bezos reiterated the importance of patience and being relentless.

“To achieve, it is necessary for vision to exist and pursue each step ferociously.”