John Walsh - The Telegraph - Tuesday 22 May 2012
In the world of journalism it's called a "reverse ferret" – a story
breathlessly announcing that Black is White, just 24 hours after confidently
asserting that Black is Black. In the genteel environs of publishing, it's a
volte-face. Whatever it is, James Daunt, owner of Daunt Books and managing
director of the Waterstones chain, executed a classic twirl at the
weekend.
On Sunday, he talked to The Observer's Robert McCrum about the current
fortunes of publishing. What, McCrum asked, should a modern British bookseller
do about the digital behemoths of Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft? The
answer, Daunt said, is to "insinuate ourselves into the [digital] process", by
persuading Waterstones customers to choose an e-reader sponsored by the company,
and buy e-books to read on it. "We'll be different from Amazon," he said darkly,
"and we'll be better."
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday morning, to general consternation, Daunt announced that Waterstones would henceforth be selling Kindles, and its various "digital services" (i.e. e-books) in all its shops. "Our customers want to read digitally," Daunt said, and the new partnership with Amazon "will provide a dramatically better digital-reading experience" – whatever that might be.
Concerned viewers noted that Daunt seemed decidedly pink and damp around the eyes, as if the news had stirred mixed emotions in him. This will not surprise Independent readers who learnt, in an interview with me last December, his passionate view of the company that has become his new partner. Amazon, he said, "never struck me as being a sort of business in the consumer's interest. They're a ruthless, money-making devil." His strategy, he said, was to beat it at its own game: "You'll walk into a Waterstones," he promised, "and there'll be a bit of the shop where you can look at e-readers, play with them. We're inventing one of our own – perhaps we'll call it the Windle." This idea was borrowed from Barnes & Noble, the upmarket US bookshop chain, which invented the "Nook" and flogged it in its bookshops, blithely taking market share away from the all-conquering Amazon.
Daunt was brought into Britain's largest bookselling company last year as a swashbuckler, a man to halt the bookshop's slide in choice and revenues. He was welcomed as a combination of Indiana Jones and Red Adair, the Texan fixer of rogue oil wells. The reaction to his bombshell has been crushing disappointment. "It's a sad day for British publishing," says Jamie Byng, boss of Canongate, the independent publishers, "because it hands over to Amazon the whole of the digital market that Waterstones might have had. It eliminates the possibility everyone was hoping for, that they could develop their own proprietorial piece of hardware, like the Nook, the Kindle, the iPad.
Rest of story at The Telegraph
And other views on this story:
New Statesman: What the hell is Waterstones doing?
Guardian: Waterstones kindle a deal for destruction with Amazon
paidcontent.org
futurebook.net: Daunt dances with the devil
Mike Shatzkin
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday morning, to general consternation, Daunt announced that Waterstones would henceforth be selling Kindles, and its various "digital services" (i.e. e-books) in all its shops. "Our customers want to read digitally," Daunt said, and the new partnership with Amazon "will provide a dramatically better digital-reading experience" – whatever that might be.
Concerned viewers noted that Daunt seemed decidedly pink and damp around the eyes, as if the news had stirred mixed emotions in him. This will not surprise Independent readers who learnt, in an interview with me last December, his passionate view of the company that has become his new partner. Amazon, he said, "never struck me as being a sort of business in the consumer's interest. They're a ruthless, money-making devil." His strategy, he said, was to beat it at its own game: "You'll walk into a Waterstones," he promised, "and there'll be a bit of the shop where you can look at e-readers, play with them. We're inventing one of our own – perhaps we'll call it the Windle." This idea was borrowed from Barnes & Noble, the upmarket US bookshop chain, which invented the "Nook" and flogged it in its bookshops, blithely taking market share away from the all-conquering Amazon.
Daunt was brought into Britain's largest bookselling company last year as a swashbuckler, a man to halt the bookshop's slide in choice and revenues. He was welcomed as a combination of Indiana Jones and Red Adair, the Texan fixer of rogue oil wells. The reaction to his bombshell has been crushing disappointment. "It's a sad day for British publishing," says Jamie Byng, boss of Canongate, the independent publishers, "because it hands over to Amazon the whole of the digital market that Waterstones might have had. It eliminates the possibility everyone was hoping for, that they could develop their own proprietorial piece of hardware, like the Nook, the Kindle, the iPad.
Rest of story at The Telegraph
And other views on this story:
New Statesman: What the hell is Waterstones doing?
Guardian: Waterstones kindle a deal for destruction with Amazon
paidcontent.org
futurebook.net: Daunt dances with the devil
Mike Shatzkin
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