2. Comparison of supply chains of books
Traditional
Publisher Wholesaler Bookstore Reader
• Many essential functions performed by publisher
Digital
Publisher ebookseller Reader
• Is the publisher really required now?
• Why doesn’t iBookstore or Kindle directly develop digital book with author
3. Role of publishers
• No longer perform developmental editing
• Not marketing (since Apple, Amazon & Google are great
marketers themselves)
• Can’t stand against these companies for author advances and
royalties. Amazon, Apple etc. have deep pockets
• The only thing in their favor is selective favoring of one author
over other. Thus, they find favor with big authors in such
typical aspect where big giants can’t compete with them. For
e.g., “If you liked Michael Lewis’s The Big Short you might also
like Andrew Ross’ Too Big to Fail”
4. Supply chain characteristics
Traditional
• Physical copies to be printed, publisher pays for storage cost,
organize logistics to retail outlets
Digital
• No need for printing, storing and transporting (15% of
traditional costs removed)
• Availability of digital store like Amazon’s Kindle store, Apple’s
iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Safari Books etc.
5. New requirements in supply chain
• Effective book production facility catering to unique
requirements of digital content
• A fully equipped royalty, rights and permissions facility
• Complete product master data facility (for workflow processes
around collection and distribution of the metadata)
• Effective web enablement mechanisms
• Integrated e-commerce engine for online trading
• Managing the new digital distribution process
• Financial processes
6. Challenges due to digital books’
supply chain
• Using ISBN No. is difficult in ebooks as computers not
equipped to handle ambiguity and uncertainty
• Many mandatory costs of traditional remain, while
unique costs like electronic platforms, special software for
selling and security etc. come up
• Affect on sales of physical books
