First Sign of Amazon's influence on Comixology

[fudd71]

not all in app purchases work this way though - i have an ebay app on my iphone, when i sell an item, i pay ebay & paypal their cut (don't get me started on this double dipping BS) BUT that's it, the rest is mine, Apple/Google get nada...whats the difference?

Making a purchase from eBay, Amazon (non MP3 or Amazon streaming video) or any other non-digital retail site with their app is not an in-app purchase. Theses apps simply allow communication between the merchant and the buyer. Apple or Google gets nothing in this type of transaction. Example: I order a bicycle from the Amazon app, they ship me a bicycle, transaction finished. The hardware and operating system of the device is nothing more then a way for me to tell Amazon I would like to purchase a bicycle and provide my payment information it is not necessary for the use of the bicycle in the future.

nor is it with a comic, there are lots of ways to buy a digital comic, panelsyndicate, monkeybrain, thrillbent, image, dc, marvel will all sell you a comic, some even DRM free,

there are also lots of ways to read a digital comic and you don't need the comixology app, plenty of cbr readers out there. now i agree comixology does it better, like itunes does a better job with music than other players, but i can buy music anywhere and import into itunes, again no cut for them...

You are correct sort of and this is wear Apple is more consumer friendly. You can buy your comics other places and import them to your iOS device using a CBR reader and transferring the file. Amazon does not allow this on the Kindle fire, the only way to get a file on the fire is to buy it from Amazon or root the device and void warranties and break TOS. You also can't get music purchased not from the Amazon MP3 or movies purchased elsewhere on the your Kindle easily and within all the rules. The iPad is much more friendly to people buying elsewhere then Amazon is.

My guess is Comixology gets between 45-75% of the purchase price of comic and they simply don't want to share that with Apple.

no way is it that high, when i buy a book for my kindle amazon gets a piece off the top, the rest goes to publisher/author, even if i read it on my ipad with the kindle app, apple doesnt get squat and isnt that amazing it works like a charm, that's the model we should look to and it works just fine.

It does work like a charm, too bad Amazon doesn't allow you to buy from iBooks and read on an iBooks app on the Kindle without paying Amazon. You really want to know who is greedy here look at who allows you to import purchases from elsewhere to their device and who doesn't.


I don't know what the deal in place with Comixology is for how much the publishers get per sale. I do know the book deals however. Large book publishers (except Random House) set the ebook price and get 70% of the sale. The seller Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks whoever gets the remaining 30%. That is why ebook prices are universal among all sellers and when they go on sale they go on sale at all ebook sellers. You bring up the seller getting 30% and it doesn't matter where you buy it, that is correct. However only Apple allows you to read ebooks bought through Amazon or Barnes & Nobel on their device (using the Kindle app, Nook app etc.). Apple gives the consumer a choice if you wish to buy from Amazon, Barnes & Noble wherever and read on your iPad you can do that, and easily and within the rules. You just can't purchase on the device on buy from Apple. Amazon does not allow this, there is no easy within the rules way to read an ebook purchases from Barnes & Noble or iBooks on a Kindle.

If interested Random House and Kindle Direct work differently. I will explain that here, stop reading if your not interested (it is only very tangentially related to this topic).

Random House ebooks are sold much more like tradition books would be. Random House sells ebooks to the reseller at 50% of list of the print book, the reseller is then free to sell that ebook at any price they choose. Random House gets 50% of list irrespective of what the reseller sells the ebook for.

Kindle Direct (self publishing of ebooks with Amazon) has two different options for getting paid. One is a simple you get 35% of whatever the customer pays and you set the price (Amazon gets 65% this is one reason I guessed for some very small publishers comixology might not be much better). The second option is 70% of what the book sells for. However there are bunch of hoops you have to jump through to take that option and Amazon has discretion to change the price you set to whatever they want and they charge you a bunch of processing fees. From people I know that have done the 70% option you end up only getting about 40% of the price you listed the book at when all the fees are said and done so it really isn't worth all the extra work for what amounts to 5%.

[fudd71]

Mark Waid weighs in on the removal of in-app purchases through Comixology. For a move that Amazon apologists all claimed would help creators we haven't heard a single creator say that. And now two of the more well-respected and thoughtful creators have both come out strongly against this change. Mark Waid who has been one of the largest supporters of digital comics points out many of the flaws with this change.

[drew]

Mark Waid weighs in on the removal of in-app purchases through Comixology. For a move that Amazon apologists all claimed would help creators we haven't heard a single creator say that. And now two of the more well-respected and thoughtful creators have both come out strongly against this change. Mark Waid who has been one of the largest supporters of digital comics points out many of the flaws with this change.

Have their been other folks out there who have said it will benefit creators or are you being passive aggressive

[fudd71]

Have their been other folks out there who have said it will benefit creators or are you being passive aggressive

I don't know Drew do your own research and present facts and link to creators that say it is a benefit

[JohnMayo]

I'm all for differing opinions but there is no need for any sort of personal attacks.
Keep the conversation be polite and civil.

For years, this forum has been a safe and friendly place to discuss comic book related topic and it will stay that way. Treat each other with respect and with the belief that everyone is operating is positive intentions.

[the1captain]

It's still just comics. No need for any fanboy rage here. lol

Some interesting discussion here. If amazon was hoping to get people to move to a kindle and away from the ipad I feel that is very short sighted. This might come as a shock but people, even comic fans, use their ipad for more than just comics. I'm not going to even consider a kindle just because I would have to press a couple of more clicks to get a comic on my ipad.

Listening to a podcast this week where the host summed it up nicely. He felt people will complain for a few weeks and once they get used to it the drama will die down. Personally I agree. If one has been using comixology regularly for the last few years I can't see someone dropping them entirely over losing the in-app purchase. After all, switching to any other way of getting their comics is still more inconvenient then just having to click 2 more times on your tablet. Like I said at the start the real problem is how comixology dumped this change with no warning. If they did a better job of giving people time to get ready(burn off itunes money for example) and spend more time prior explaining the changes people wouldn't be losing their minds as much. There would still be some unhappy people. But that was going to happen regardless.

[the1captain]

Read Mark Waid's article. He brings up some interesting points. Although I don't know if I agree that it will be so difficult for new readers to find books to read. If a new readers could find themselves to the app the first time then I'm sure that new readers can find the website just as easy. Also he mentions customers "too young for a credit card or paypal that use an itunes account". Yes I agree itunes users got screwed because they can't use any money in those itunes accounts. But for those "too young" readers their parents can always set them up with the e-gift card on the website. Not as convenient as itunes I know. But still an option.

He does bring up a good point regarding no mention of the 30% savings being passed on to anyone but comixology(and therefore amazon) itself. But it is early days. So guess we'll have to wait and see.