New at Amazon and how it affects us

11/29/12                                         Return to Scribbleworks Publications


Interesting thing about the internet, it's always changing. Every time you think you have a handle on all the new stuff out there something new pops out. Take for example Amazon.com. Over the last year they have expanded their offering to other continents. The list of countries that became available, as locations where our books are now being offered, started out one block at a time. The first was Great Briton, then the whole European set of countries came online as different blocks. Now India and Japan is another set of countries that our books are being sold on.

What stands out to me is the fact that our titles are only printed in English. We have seen sales rise in Great Briton but to be honest I'm not holding my breath for a Japan or Italy, for example, to become part of our portfolio in commerce. Now I understand that these expansions are for the benefit of our diverse population so they do not have to appeal to organizations their home countries to find a publisher so they can be published. But I find the fact that the internet being sectioned off disconcerting. Why isn't the internet a one whole entity that encompasses the entire planet by now? Why are internet giants, apart from Google, not appealing to the world by inserting a translator on their pages instead of having to work in separate internet communities?

I think that Amazon is forward thinking in that they want to appeal to the world community but...
All of these separate internet communities makes me think that the only way to appeal to a world market will be to expand our titles to include all the languages offered as blocks to match the way Amazon distributes to each nation offered. And in the future, will it be a requirement to offer titles in different languages to be able to sell on Amazon? Sometimes I worry about change...