Forbes Column 08: How Amazon Could Change Publishing

Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla in book retail. What if they also became the publisher, and cut out all the middle-men? Read my new Forbes column, How Amazon Could Change Publishing.

Catching Up on Readings: Bootstrap Yourself!

Amidst the ocean of content that is coming at you, readers, I am sure you find yourselves overwhelmed. Here’s a recap of some articles from this site which you may have missed, but may be worth your time:

Amazon Toying with Vertical Integration

Amazon.com (AMZN) has been pursuing growth at all costs. Their recently announced Q1 2008 results are witness to that drive. They reported the quarter’s revenue at $4.13 billion, meeting analyst expectations and reporting a 37% increase over the previous year. Their earnings for the quarter at $0.34 were marginally higher than the market’s expectation of

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Not Bullish on eBay

I said earlier upon Meg Whitman’s departure that eBay has a bounce back opportunity ahead. As their new CEO, John Donahoe, announced Q1 results today, they exceeded market expectations on all counts. Q1 revenues of $2.19 billion and EPS of $0.42 were higher than analysts’ views of $2.08 billion revenue with $0.39 EPS.

Shutterfly’s Strategy: A Conversation with CEO Jeff Housenbold (Part 9)

SM: What do you think of SmugMug? It is very popular. JH: It is popular for us because we are in the valley. When you look at the grand scheme of things, they are still a relatively small company with about $10M in revenue. I think what they have done well is they said in

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Shutterfly’s Strategy: A Conversation with CEO Jeff Housenbold (Part 6)

SM: What are your margins on the photo book business? JH: We do not disclose margins specifically. What we report to Wall Street are prints which are all prints from wallet size to the 20×30 pictures, and personalized products and services, and that’s how cards, calendars and photo books are counted. What we have said

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What’s WRONG With Publishing (Really)?

Why am I down on the publishing world? It’s starting to make little sense why I would write something that while widely read could be given out in a “cleverer” format. Doing a book with a major corporation just starts to seem…odd, given the proclivities in which I do everything else now. With that far-reaching statement, and by means of explaining my thought process, here is why publishing, as the kids say, needs to man up and change itself.

This Week’s Highlights

In case you have missed them, here are the must-read pieces from this week: * Is Google Scared? * Facebook Woes Coming? * Qualcomm and Nokia Both Show Headroom * The Microsoft-Yahoo! Battle Plan (Forbes) * Vertical Travel Ad Network CEO Cree Lawson (Interview) * Microsoft, Masterful Maneuverings * Cadence Crashes. Now What? * Interdigital:

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