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Amazon published its financial report of Q3， 2013. Though it did not reveal the data about the sales of the Kindle and related business， Morgan Stanley made a study into its ereader and e-book business.
According to the report from Morgan Stanley， Amazon’s Kindle devices（including e-readers and tablets） are to see the sales amount of US$4.5 billion in 2013， up 26% over the year of 2012. Meanwhile， Amazon is going to have the revenue of US$3.8 billion from the digital media， and in the year 2014， this sector will contribute more revenue than the devices as the figure is expected to reach US$5.7 billion.
In China， the Kindle business of Amazon was not launched and developing in a high profile， but it indeed grew very quickly. A source from Amazon once said that the performance of Kindle in China was “better than expected”. Then， how is Amazon doing its Kindle business in China？
POV of Publishing Houses
The publishing houses love Kindle– this is a wide-spread saying in the digital publishing industry of China. “Kindle’s entry into China has an indispensable and undeniable driving force for the entire digital publishing business，”says Huang Yikun， Editor-in-Chief of the Digital Book Center at CITIC Publishing House， “CITIC Publishing House saw the income of digital publishing triple in the third quarter compared with the first quarter of 2013.”
Why is Kindle so charming？ Someone says that Kindle e-readers and tab- lets cannot compare with iPad in other functions， but it can bring the reading effect beyond any other devices. There is also a saying that Kindle is more than a e-reader. It is a channel， a service and a reflection of Amazon’s concept of value in the digital publishing.
The publishing houses’ fancy over Kindle is actually based on their admiration for Amazon’s digital publishing system represented by Kindle.
Amazon respects the contents and allows the publishing houses to get substantial benefits. “Different from other e-book sellers， Amazon allowed the publishing houses to de-shelve their books or change their information listed in the website of Amazon. This enhances the management over their digital contents. In addition， Amazon will help the publishing houses design and launch the digital contents from their paper counterparts by combining the advantages of publishing houses，” says Zheng Qiang， Digital Publishing Specialist at People’s Literature Publishing House.
Take the serial books of “illustrated translations of classic works” published by People’s Literature Publishing House for example. These books have already had many versions in Amazon since they are the public-edition books.“Amazon does not revolt the multiple versions of a book in the platform. It believes that this can bring more choices to the readers and also show off the resources of the publishing houses，”Zheng Qiang says. Huang Yikun also says that Ama- zon has some assistance policies for the new contents of publishing houses in China. CITIC Publishing House launched the serial “China Stories” in the late period of August. Since this series of books had no paper counterparts， which was the first book in China to have its debut in the form of e-book. Since this series of books was exclusively supplied to Amazon. And Amazon puts the introduction to these books onto the front page of its Kindle business. “Presently， the sales volume of this series of books has been out of our expectations，” Huang Yikun says.
In addition， if the publishing houses publish the paper and digital versions of a book simultaneously， Amazon will provide certain favorable policies for them. Cen Hong， Marketing Director of Central Compilation & Translation Press says that no matter the 20 percentile of bestselling books in Amazon and the new digital contents simultaneously published with the paper edition will get very good publication on the front page of Amazon. The publication will drive the sales volume of these books by 10 or 20 times.
In addition， the regulated operation of Amazon’s e-book business paves the way for China’s publishing houses.“Amazon is quite regulated and normative in the daily operation of business. Working with them means lower risks，”says Zhang Haichuan， Senior Planning Editor at the Digital Audio/Video and Online Publishing Department of Posts and Telecom Press. It is known that most of the e-book platforms open their back stages to the publishing houses for their reconciliation and settlement， but the platforms varied the level of sub-division. Practitioners widely believe that the data presentation and the pattern of reconciliation and settlement are transparent and sustainable in Amazon’s platforms.
Though People’s Literature Publishing House did not have a long-term partnership with Amazon， the data comparison in Amazon’s platform is very clear in Zheng Qiang’s eyes. “On the back stage of Amazon’s platform， there are analysis reports and account checking option available for our digital contents，” he says.
The detailed data on the back stage covers clicks， purchasing areas and reviews， which are of great help for the publishing houses. They can know the reading habits， acceptance of price of consumers and the product positioning through analyzing and comparing these data. “The settlement system between Amazon and publishing houses is automatic. When the revenue reaches a certain level or a certain time point has arrived， Amazon will automatically send the email of accounting checking for the convenience of publishing houses’settlement，” Cen Hong says.
Huang Yikun also thinks that the transparent data sharing and settlement pattern Amazon brought to China mean good to CITIC Publishing House.“Foreign authors worry about the piracy at first， but after seeing how Amazon and Chinese publishing houses really operate， their concerns began to wane. CITIC Publishing House usually introduces foreign authors’ works through the platform of Amazon. These authors can see that the Chinese digital publishing market is trustworthy and they are willing to bring more excellent books to Chinese readers.
In Cen Hong’s opinion， Amazon has brought two new ideas about the digital publishing industry in China. Firstly， the book can be published in hardcover， paperback and digital copy. The copyrights of the digital books in the U.S. belong to the publishing houses. But in China， things are different. Who will own the copyrights of the digital contents sold by online retailers has raised concerns of many people. Secondly， the e-book is not the enemy of the paper book and the e-book never aims to take the market from the paper books； instead， it is to pull the readers away from movies， video games and web pages.
The two new concepts provide a new thought for the transformation of traditional publishing and digital publishing. But at the same time， Amazon needs to be more deeply integrated into the Chinese market since Kindle has already been in China.
In Zheng Qiang’s opinion， Amazon， as an operator and retailer， needs to know about books and publishing houses in China. This includes the information collected through the market monitoring and the understanding of the books’ contents， as well as the history and ideas of the publishing houses. Only the comprehensive information can be a good cause for the enhancement of marketing and cooperation.
Huang Yikun insists that Amazon should provide more services fitting the Chinese market for the Kindle owners in this country. “Amazon’s advantage lies with cloud computing， whose logic and editting capability can be put into good use and realize the precise delivery. But the accumulative volume of data of Amazon and its calculating methods in China are waiting to be improved. The recommendation of contents might wait for a while to become the truth. This is where Amazon needs breakthroughs.” Some practitioners say that users chose Kindle for its powerful function of delivery. The core value of Kindle is to provide excellent reading experiences and services for users and helping them form a good habit of reading. Undoubtedly， Amazon still needs to improve its ability to bring better reading and shopping experiences to readers through precise delivery.
POV of Consumers
Miss Jia is a complete book lover. Previously， she used to read e-books on mobile phones. When Kindle stepped into China， she became one of the first Chinese consumers to have bought the Kindle Paperwhite E-reader. She has bought and read 29 books from Ama- zon. Though she never left her Kindle during her business travel and journey between the home and office， she still has a lot to complain about this device.
Her Kindle Paperwhite used the original system of Amazon. In her opinion， it is too slow. Addition， the single and boring standby screen and the severe twinkles of turning the pages all harmed the reading experiences and made people “fell uncomfortable”. In the outlook， the white part of the screen is grey instead of being white， which could be totally dark when the back light was turned off， bringing trouble to the reading.
As for the quality of the e-books， Miss Jia says that the free downloaded books from Amazon have a lot of wrong words and careless typesetting.“The mistakes are more common in the books about the literature in ancient China，” she says.
Some Internet users complain that the quality of free books in Amazon varies greatly. Some others think that the price of some e-books is too high and “not much cheaper than the paper book”.
Of course， some users are rather gentle and tolerate towards Kindle. In their opinion， Kindle is just an e-reader to provide the same experiences with reading paper books. It is not fair to compare it with smartphones and tablets. Generally speaking， reading books on Kindle is quite comfortable. As for the variations in quality， it might be the dramatic increase of the e-books after Kindle’s entry into China.
In spite of the complaints， Kindle still found its way into the life of many Chinese readers. Miss Jia says that she is applying for a credit card particularly for paying for the e-books of Kindle.“Though there are a lot of shortages， my life cannot leave Kindle any more，”she says.
POV of Amazon
After getting into China in June 2013， the device of Kindle and the e-book business of Amazon both had good performances. “The business is better than expected，” says an insider of Amazon. Though it is impossible to get the detailed number of sales， Amazon gladly found that “readers are craving reading and all categories of e-book of Kindle are favored by the consumers”. What’s more scarce is that Amazon got the universal praise from its partners – many publishing houses think highly of Amazon and their cooperation thanks to the normative operation and great benefits.
Compared with other mobile entertainment facilities in China， Kindle Paperwhite might be the only one to have the function of reading only. “It seems to be a small case of doing well in improving the reading experiences. Presently， many Chinese and foreign companies are developing e-readers too. But Amazon wants to make it the best， which is not an easy job，” an insider of Amazon says.
By now， Amazon had 60 thousand categories of e-books with legal copyrights and high quality. And Amazon just considers this to be the fundamental to be the best.
In addition， Amazon’s difference from other platforms is that they provide a whole set of end-to-end solutions for the publishing houses. Apart from the most popular e-reader in the world， it also has a large online e-book store. In the cooperation with Chinese publishing houses， Amazon has brought the successful experiences of working with foreign publishing houses into China. On top of the extremely detailed rules， they only sell books with legal copyrights and require the publishing houses to get the authorization from authors first. This is to solve the dispute about copyrights from the very beginning.
Presently， Amazon has built good relations with over 300 publishing houses. In the year 2013， several other e-book sellers launched the campaigns of buying e-books with zero price， which were unfavored and objected by publishing houses. But Amazon never joined in this rank， winning the praise of the publishing houses.
Many of Amazon’s partners say that they get higher returns from Amazon than from other platforms. Amazon attributes this to the high recognition of readers. “What readers care for is whether you bring the books they want to read to them.”
“Kindle is to provide the complete reading experiences for consumers. We want to bring everything the readers want， ranging from devices to contents，”Amazon says. The 60-thousand-book collection includes all famous books in the history as well as the latest bestsellers and magazines. “Any books or contents should be available on Amazon. That’s the goal we want to achieve.”
According to the report from Morgan Stanley， Amazon’s Kindle devices（including e-readers and tablets） are to see the sales amount of US$4.5 billion in 2013， up 26% over the year of 2012. Meanwhile， Amazon is going to have the revenue of US$3.8 billion from the digital media， and in the year 2014， this sector will contribute more revenue than the devices as the figure is expected to reach US$5.7 billion.
In China， the Kindle business of Amazon was not launched and developing in a high profile， but it indeed grew very quickly. A source from Amazon once said that the performance of Kindle in China was “better than expected”. Then， how is Amazon doing its Kindle business in China？
POV of Publishing Houses
The publishing houses love Kindle– this is a wide-spread saying in the digital publishing industry of China. “Kindle’s entry into China has an indispensable and undeniable driving force for the entire digital publishing business，”says Huang Yikun， Editor-in-Chief of the Digital Book Center at CITIC Publishing House， “CITIC Publishing House saw the income of digital publishing triple in the third quarter compared with the first quarter of 2013.”
Why is Kindle so charming？ Someone says that Kindle e-readers and tab- lets cannot compare with iPad in other functions， but it can bring the reading effect beyond any other devices. There is also a saying that Kindle is more than a e-reader. It is a channel， a service and a reflection of Amazon’s concept of value in the digital publishing.
The publishing houses’ fancy over Kindle is actually based on their admiration for Amazon’s digital publishing system represented by Kindle.
Amazon respects the contents and allows the publishing houses to get substantial benefits. “Different from other e-book sellers， Amazon allowed the publishing houses to de-shelve their books or change their information listed in the website of Amazon. This enhances the management over their digital contents. In addition， Amazon will help the publishing houses design and launch the digital contents from their paper counterparts by combining the advantages of publishing houses，” says Zheng Qiang， Digital Publishing Specialist at People’s Literature Publishing House.
Take the serial books of “illustrated translations of classic works” published by People’s Literature Publishing House for example. These books have already had many versions in Amazon since they are the public-edition books.“Amazon does not revolt the multiple versions of a book in the platform. It believes that this can bring more choices to the readers and also show off the resources of the publishing houses，”Zheng Qiang says. Huang Yikun also says that Ama- zon has some assistance policies for the new contents of publishing houses in China. CITIC Publishing House launched the serial “China Stories” in the late period of August. Since this series of books had no paper counterparts， which was the first book in China to have its debut in the form of e-book. Since this series of books was exclusively supplied to Amazon. And Amazon puts the introduction to these books onto the front page of its Kindle business. “Presently， the sales volume of this series of books has been out of our expectations，” Huang Yikun says.
In addition， if the publishing houses publish the paper and digital versions of a book simultaneously， Amazon will provide certain favorable policies for them. Cen Hong， Marketing Director of Central Compilation & Translation Press says that no matter the 20 percentile of bestselling books in Amazon and the new digital contents simultaneously published with the paper edition will get very good publication on the front page of Amazon. The publication will drive the sales volume of these books by 10 or 20 times.
In addition， the regulated operation of Amazon’s e-book business paves the way for China’s publishing houses.“Amazon is quite regulated and normative in the daily operation of business. Working with them means lower risks，”says Zhang Haichuan， Senior Planning Editor at the Digital Audio/Video and Online Publishing Department of Posts and Telecom Press. It is known that most of the e-book platforms open their back stages to the publishing houses for their reconciliation and settlement， but the platforms varied the level of sub-division. Practitioners widely believe that the data presentation and the pattern of reconciliation and settlement are transparent and sustainable in Amazon’s platforms.
Though People’s Literature Publishing House did not have a long-term partnership with Amazon， the data comparison in Amazon’s platform is very clear in Zheng Qiang’s eyes. “On the back stage of Amazon’s platform， there are analysis reports and account checking option available for our digital contents，” he says.
The detailed data on the back stage covers clicks， purchasing areas and reviews， which are of great help for the publishing houses. They can know the reading habits， acceptance of price of consumers and the product positioning through analyzing and comparing these data. “The settlement system between Amazon and publishing houses is automatic. When the revenue reaches a certain level or a certain time point has arrived， Amazon will automatically send the email of accounting checking for the convenience of publishing houses’settlement，” Cen Hong says.
Huang Yikun also thinks that the transparent data sharing and settlement pattern Amazon brought to China mean good to CITIC Publishing House.“Foreign authors worry about the piracy at first， but after seeing how Amazon and Chinese publishing houses really operate， their concerns began to wane. CITIC Publishing House usually introduces foreign authors’ works through the platform of Amazon. These authors can see that the Chinese digital publishing market is trustworthy and they are willing to bring more excellent books to Chinese readers.
In Cen Hong’s opinion， Amazon has brought two new ideas about the digital publishing industry in China. Firstly， the book can be published in hardcover， paperback and digital copy. The copyrights of the digital books in the U.S. belong to the publishing houses. But in China， things are different. Who will own the copyrights of the digital contents sold by online retailers has raised concerns of many people. Secondly， the e-book is not the enemy of the paper book and the e-book never aims to take the market from the paper books； instead， it is to pull the readers away from movies， video games and web pages.
The two new concepts provide a new thought for the transformation of traditional publishing and digital publishing. But at the same time， Amazon needs to be more deeply integrated into the Chinese market since Kindle has already been in China.
In Zheng Qiang’s opinion， Amazon， as an operator and retailer， needs to know about books and publishing houses in China. This includes the information collected through the market monitoring and the understanding of the books’ contents， as well as the history and ideas of the publishing houses. Only the comprehensive information can be a good cause for the enhancement of marketing and cooperation.
Huang Yikun insists that Amazon should provide more services fitting the Chinese market for the Kindle owners in this country. “Amazon’s advantage lies with cloud computing， whose logic and editting capability can be put into good use and realize the precise delivery. But the accumulative volume of data of Amazon and its calculating methods in China are waiting to be improved. The recommendation of contents might wait for a while to become the truth. This is where Amazon needs breakthroughs.” Some practitioners say that users chose Kindle for its powerful function of delivery. The core value of Kindle is to provide excellent reading experiences and services for users and helping them form a good habit of reading. Undoubtedly， Amazon still needs to improve its ability to bring better reading and shopping experiences to readers through precise delivery.
POV of Consumers
Miss Jia is a complete book lover. Previously， she used to read e-books on mobile phones. When Kindle stepped into China， she became one of the first Chinese consumers to have bought the Kindle Paperwhite E-reader. She has bought and read 29 books from Ama- zon. Though she never left her Kindle during her business travel and journey between the home and office， she still has a lot to complain about this device.
Her Kindle Paperwhite used the original system of Amazon. In her opinion， it is too slow. Addition， the single and boring standby screen and the severe twinkles of turning the pages all harmed the reading experiences and made people “fell uncomfortable”. In the outlook， the white part of the screen is grey instead of being white， which could be totally dark when the back light was turned off， bringing trouble to the reading.
As for the quality of the e-books， Miss Jia says that the free downloaded books from Amazon have a lot of wrong words and careless typesetting.“The mistakes are more common in the books about the literature in ancient China，” she says.
Some Internet users complain that the quality of free books in Amazon varies greatly. Some others think that the price of some e-books is too high and “not much cheaper than the paper book”.
Of course， some users are rather gentle and tolerate towards Kindle. In their opinion， Kindle is just an e-reader to provide the same experiences with reading paper books. It is not fair to compare it with smartphones and tablets. Generally speaking， reading books on Kindle is quite comfortable. As for the variations in quality， it might be the dramatic increase of the e-books after Kindle’s entry into China.
In spite of the complaints， Kindle still found its way into the life of many Chinese readers. Miss Jia says that she is applying for a credit card particularly for paying for the e-books of Kindle.“Though there are a lot of shortages， my life cannot leave Kindle any more，”she says.
POV of Amazon
After getting into China in June 2013， the device of Kindle and the e-book business of Amazon both had good performances. “The business is better than expected，” says an insider of Amazon. Though it is impossible to get the detailed number of sales， Amazon gladly found that “readers are craving reading and all categories of e-book of Kindle are favored by the consumers”. What’s more scarce is that Amazon got the universal praise from its partners – many publishing houses think highly of Amazon and their cooperation thanks to the normative operation and great benefits.
Compared with other mobile entertainment facilities in China， Kindle Paperwhite might be the only one to have the function of reading only. “It seems to be a small case of doing well in improving the reading experiences. Presently， many Chinese and foreign companies are developing e-readers too. But Amazon wants to make it the best， which is not an easy job，” an insider of Amazon says.
By now， Amazon had 60 thousand categories of e-books with legal copyrights and high quality. And Amazon just considers this to be the fundamental to be the best.
In addition， Amazon’s difference from other platforms is that they provide a whole set of end-to-end solutions for the publishing houses. Apart from the most popular e-reader in the world， it also has a large online e-book store. In the cooperation with Chinese publishing houses， Amazon has brought the successful experiences of working with foreign publishing houses into China. On top of the extremely detailed rules， they only sell books with legal copyrights and require the publishing houses to get the authorization from authors first. This is to solve the dispute about copyrights from the very beginning.
Presently， Amazon has built good relations with over 300 publishing houses. In the year 2013， several other e-book sellers launched the campaigns of buying e-books with zero price， which were unfavored and objected by publishing houses. But Amazon never joined in this rank， winning the praise of the publishing houses.
Many of Amazon’s partners say that they get higher returns from Amazon than from other platforms. Amazon attributes this to the high recognition of readers. “What readers care for is whether you bring the books they want to read to them.”
“Kindle is to provide the complete reading experiences for consumers. We want to bring everything the readers want， ranging from devices to contents，”Amazon says. The 60-thousand-book collection includes all famous books in the history as well as the latest bestsellers and magazines. “Any books or contents should be available on Amazon. That’s the goal we want to achieve.”