rfmcdonald | [LINK] "Amazon Books: After a Month, Still Many Questions" (Reply)

Shelf Awareness' feature on Amazon Books' new store looks at some interesting issues.

In recent weeks, some publishers have been receiving cheery notes from "the Amazon Books curators"--the buyers for Amazon's bricks-and-mortar store that opened a month ago in Seattle, Wash.--saying that they're looking forward to "building a relationship." The relationship will include the bookstore buyers attending list presentations "with our Amazon.com partners," and publishers providing review copies and other materials for the buyers.

Strikingly, for a store that stocks only 5,000-6,000 titles, many of which are determined by their popularity on Amazon.com, the buyers say that because "a big part of our selection is aimed at discovery, we are enthusiastic about putting great backlist and midlist titles in front of customers. So please let us know if you have any such books you think we should consider."

The letter about joint buyer meetings brings up an issue that many have wondered about, particularly considering that book prices are the same in the bookstore and online: Is Amazon Books getting its stock from Amazon.com, which gets extra terms unavailable to most bricks-and-mortar retailers? Are books being bought non-returnable by Amazon.com but being returned by Amazon Books to Amazon.com? How, if at all, is a distinction made between the two businesses--and how will that be handled at meetings in which the bookstore buyers participate?