What are the profit methods of online e-book city?

Abstract: whether it is an e-book or an e-book reader, profit is the ultimate goal. The profit model of e-books varies from country to country. This paper will analyze the profit model of online e-book city in China and America. What are the profit models of online e-book city? Analysis on the Profit Model of Chinese and American Electronic Bookstore Websites

Whether it is an e-book or an e-book reader, profit is the ultimate goal. The profit model of e-books varies from country to country.

First, the profit model of China online e-book city

At present, the profit models of domestic e-books are various and are in the period of exploration and development.

1) Profit from hardware-it is already facing a crisis.

During 2008-20 10, the electronic paper book market in China experienced a stage of rapid development and "profiteering", and the gross profit margin of Hanwang Science and Technology e-reader was as high as 50.93%. Lured by bright prospects and good profits, not only traditional IT hardware manufacturers such as Patriot, Newman and Sony have entered the e-book industry, but also publishing houses and literary websites. Shanghai Century Publishing Group, China Publishing Group, Chongqing Publishing Group and Shanda Literature all launched their own readers. However, under the impact of MP4 and tablet computer with reading function, combined with the single function of e-book reader and the lack of high-quality content resources, Hanwang's continuous loss-making electronic paper book business shows that relying solely on electronic paper book hardware for profit has faced a crisis.

2) Changing to content profitability-it's hard.

As we all know, content profit is the foundation of e-book market, but it is difficult to change to content profit model. The profit of content depends on the content, and traditional publishers often occupy the highland of content resources, but in the publication of digital resources, traditional publishers often have no digital rights. Shi, vice president of Shanghai Century Publishing Group, pointed out that "99% of imported books have not obtained digital rights. Taking China books as an example, most books publishing contracts do not strictly cover digital rights. The more bestsellers, the more important works of well-known writers and scholars. " This will hinder the publication of high-quality digital content resources, coupled with the habit of free reading of Chinese people and the high cost of e-book publishing, it is difficult for the e-book market to change to the content profit model.

3) Content resource construction-go your own way.

After the bubble of electronic paper book hardware market burst gradually, various businesses gradually began to build content resources. Hanwang and Shanda successively launched similar content platforms such as Hanwang Bookstore and Yunzhong Bookstore, but different content platforms only open reading functions for their own clients, such as Shanda ipad client Liteipad and bambook reader, which need ladder software support; Hanwang uses htxt to encrypt e-book format. Users will be limited by a single platform when purchasing e-book readers.

On the other hand, the pricing of e-books varies greatly. There is no uniform standard. Take Bai Laimei's "If you are well, it will be sunny-Lin Chuan". According to the search in August 2065438+2002, the price of electronic version of Shanda Yunzhong Bookstore is 5.6 yuan, while that of JD.COM Mall is 7.84 yuan, with a price difference of nearly 30%. According to the search in September of 20 12, the price of the above-mentioned books in JD.COM electronic books and periodicals is 5.32 yuan.

4) Comparative analysis of Hanwang profit model and Shanda profit model.

Hanwang profit model

Hanwang Technology is a technical enterprise and a leader in the research and development of software and hardware technology for electronic paper books. However, it is not "king" to make profits by technology. Hanwang Technology adopts the profit model of "terminal+pre-installation+platform". Hanwang pre-installed a large number of copyright books in its electronic paper books, and then provided genuine e-books for users to download through the Internet Hanwang Bookstore book platform. In recent years, Hanwang Technology has continuously improved its content construction, and Hanwang Bookstore has introduced Shanda Yunzhong Bookstore and Founder Apabi. In terms of profit sharing with digital publishers, Dangdang e-books and copyright owners are divided into 46%, Amazon into 37%, and Hanwang into 28%. The scheme attracted more than 50 publishing houses, 40 first-line newspapers and more than 65,438+000 periodicals including Motie Bookstore and Wenhua Tianxia Bookstore to contact and cooperate with Hanwang.

Shanda profit model

Shanda is the profit model most like Amazon kindle, adopting the profit model of "platform+terminal". Shanda Literature is the largest community-driven online literature platform in China. On February 20 1 1, the online platform of Yunzhong Bookstore was launched to provide consumers with digital goods including digital books, online literature and digital newspapers and periodicals. By the end of the first quarter of 20 12, we have cooperated with 330 domestic third-party content partners, including the content of websites such as Qidian, Tea Sweet, Fiction Reading Network, Banyan Tree, Xiaoxiang Academy, Romance Novel Bar, Tian Fang Listening Book Network and Du Yue Network, as well as many well-known domestic publishing houses, publishing companies and authors.

Shanda's online publishing adopts the mode of direct contact between writers and retailers and integration of publishing and sales. Payment methods include publication (serialization), payment by chapter and small payment. The benefit sharing between Shanda Literature and the author is a "micro-payment" mode —— the works of the contracted authors of Shanda Literature are first published in the public reading area, and once the click-through rate reaches a certain number, their works will be placed in the VIP area, and readers in the VIP area need to pay 2 to 5 cents per thousand words when reading. The fees paid by readers are divided equally between the website and the author, with the ratio of half for the author and half for the website. In addition, Shanda adopts the "shop-in-shop" model to provide publishing institutions or literary websites with a set of digital content marketing schemes, such as content entry, independent pricing, marketing promotion, payment and settlement, which has attracted many excellent content providers such as Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House, Feng Chun Literature and Art Publishing House, Mo Tie Book and Douding.com to open stores.

Store-in-Store Mode in Yunzhong Bookstore

From Hanwang's profit model and Shanda's profit model, we can see that Hanwang attracts digital publishers through higher profit sharing, while Shanda is more likely to sign contracts with writers and provide an open and free competition platform. Shi Tao, vice president of book audio-visual acquisition and marketing in JD.COM Mall, who launched e-books this year, said that in terms of e-book pricing and revenue distribution, the content provider will set the price, and the two sides will divide the accounts according to the ratio of 4: 6 or 3: 7, and the content provider will take the lead. Moreover, each content provider can log in to the background settlement platform through a password, and the sales data can be queried in real time, thus eliminating the problem that online reading and terminal reading conceal sales revenue. It can be seen that both electronic paper book hardware manufacturers and e-book platform manufacturers pay more and more attention to the construction of content resources.

5) Netease cloud reading mode

On June 20 12, Netease Cloud Reading Open Platform was officially launched. Content providers can turn Netease Cloud Reading into their own media platform for publishing digital content through an open platform. They can not only share 5 million outdoor activities of Netease Cloud Reading, but also conveniently publish and edit all kinds of electronic content, and directly manage content income through various transparent statistical methods. Ding Lei has made it clear that Netease Cloud Reading is not profitable. Whether the content is charged or not and how much it needs to be charged is decided by the content provider, and all the proceeds belong to it. From the perspective of Netease cloud reading platform, it has the most free digital periodicals, serial novels and book resources. Netease cloud reading platform adopts the mode of full income of content providers. Compared with operators such as China Mobile, content providers not only have pricing dominance, but also get full revenue, which lays a foundation for the development of the platform to find content sources.

Netease cloud reading mode

6) Dr. Yi's Salem Paper Model

At the 20 12 Shenzhen Cultural Fair, Dr. Yi Group released the world's first Dr. Yi EB2 18A electronic reader based on the high-definition screen of Salem Paper. The basic principle of "Salem paper" is that nanoparticles with dots suspended in liquid migrate under the action of electric field, which has the characteristics of low energy consumption and high definition. Its power consumption is lower than that of reflective liquid crystal or transmissive liquid crystal display, and nano-scale pigment particles are used. At the same time, its display screen is thin and firm, with good flexibility, wide field of vision, no flicker, stable and soft paper interface and so on.

The positioning of Salem paper is the substitute of paper in traditional publishing and the carrier of content. President Yi put forward the concept of carrier, using Salem paper to replace the paper in traditional publishing and retaining most of the traditional book publishing modes. Salem paper mode means that Dr. Yi's EB2 18A reader and the royalties that the obligee should get together constitute the cost of "e-book". E-books are sold according to the principle of book price, and a win-win business model is designed considering the interests of consumers. Through the tripartite cooperation of publishing institutions, software and hardware manufacturers and sales channels, it is mutually beneficial and can be effectively implemented through marketing and resource integration.

According to the plan, the publishing house should select 30 ~ 50 excellent books as the content, and Dr. Yi will start with 1000 books for deep processing and copyright encryption. After entering the market, Salem Paper will have three different sales channels. First, the publishing house sells Salem paper unilaterally, and only sells "paper" to the publishing house, charging the latter the Salem paper cost and content processing fee; Second, Salem paper merchants are responsible for sales, which are equivalent to digital book sellers, operating in strict accordance with the market model and sharing interests with rights holders and publishers; Thirdly, Salem Paper Mill repurchases 10% of books and 10% of book royalties at the cost price, and then sells them at the market price.

Yin Xiaolin, chairman and general manager of Beijing Sinology Times Culture Communication Co., Ltd. believes that Salem Paper is promoting a new reading mode, namely intensive reading and intensive reading. "For readers, there is no need to stick the stacks on the body, but the content is small and refined. Salem Paper Book presents carefully selected content to meet the needs of readers. " However, whether this non-renewable, fixed-content e-book can meet the market demand needs further verification by the market.

The Sales Model of Salem Paper Book

7) Comparative analysis of e-book profit models of domestic mobile operators.

In terms of content sharing, the reading bases of China Mobile and China Unicom have always adopted a 4: 6 sharing model, with content providers taking 40% and operators taking 60%. China Telecom is a bit "kind" and is divided into content providers according to the ratio of 4.5: 5.5. At the high-level forum of the 20 12 China Digital Publishing Annual Conference, Sun Shoushan, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Press and Publication, said, "By signing strategic cooperation agreements with the three major communication operators, China Telecom and China Unicom have a share of no less than 65% among content providers, and China Mobile has a share of no less than 60%." In terms of content sharing, operators who have mastered the market have always been in an advantage. According to the information provided by Sun Shoushan, more and more attention will be paid to content publishing to improve the enthusiasm of content publishers.

In terms of payment methods for reading, China Telecom can be divided into three ways: by book, by chapter and by monthly zone: the price of each book is generally from 3 yuan to 8 yuan, and the price of each book by chapter is from 0.05 yuan to 0. 1 yuan, providing monthly reading zone, and the monthly fee is about from 3 yuan to 5 yuan. Pay by reading points, and 1 yuan is equivalent to 100 reading points. In addition, for high-quality content, content providers can have higher pricing. China Unicom has two charging modes. One is to pay the bill, each in 2 yuan or 3 yuan; The second type is 5 yuan's "Youwei schoolbag" every month. You can choose 8 books from 500 books every month. China Mobile's reading payment method is similar to that of China Telecom. The price of each book generally ranges from 3 yuan to 5 yuan, which is 0.04 yuan/thousand words according to the number of words. The monthly price ranges from 3 yuan to 8 yuan, and you can enjoy a 20% discount on the books of the whole station if you order monthly.

Second, the profitability of online e-book city in the United States

1)kindle mode-Amazon "plays" not only kindle, but also content resources.

Amazon is the largest online retailer in the United States and even the world, and it is also the dominant e-book industry in the United States. With strong online content resources, the first kindle e-book reader product was launched in 2007, and then Kindle2, Kindle3, KindleDX and KindleTouch came out one after another, with prices ranging from 79 US dollars to 379 US dollars. Amazon quickly occupied the American e-book market through cheap e-book readers, and e-book sales in 20 1 1 year exceeded paper books for the first time. Amazon provides readers with high-quality and cheap book resources through signing contracts with famous writers and through the "wholesale model".

Amazon directly obtained the copyright of books by signing famous writers, and completely controlled the whole process of book publishing, including the pricing of e-books. Through direct contact with the author, the Kindle e-book store has accumulated a lot of exclusive content and cut off the intermediate fees, so that it can pay higher copyright fees to the author and provide readers with books with lower prices.

Amazon buys e-books from publishers through the "wholesale model", that is, buying books from publishers at a discount price and then selling them on e-book devices at their own prices. The "wholesale model" enables Amazon to master the pricing autonomy of e-books, making its pricing more flexible, and if necessary, it can sacrifice part of its revenue in exchange for a larger market share. The profit model of Amazon kindle is as follows:

Amazon kindle profit model

The low price of Amazon e-books has also caused dissatisfaction among publishers. Due to the differences between Amazon and the independent publisher group, the second largest independent book distributor in the United States, Amazon removed more than 5,000 kinds of e-books from the kindle bookstore. The Independent Publishers Group represents 500 independent publishers, and Amazon would rather take off its e-books than compromise. In addition, Apple tried to change the price of e-books by adopting the "consignment mode"; Macmillan Publishing House also broke the pricing model of Amazon's $9.99 e-books, and Macmillan monopolized the electronic versions of its books, bestsellers and most hardcover books, charging 12.99 to 14.99. It can be seen that publishers are increasingly dissatisfied with the pricing model of Amazon e-books.

Although some publishers and competitors try to raise the price of e-books, Amazon's leading position in the e-book industry is still unshakable with its existing market share.

2)iBookstore mode

The success of Amazon kindle also attracted Apple and Barnes & Noble to follow suit. In 20 10, Apple built the ibookstore application on its ipad, and other ios devices also had iBook stores. Users can not only buy books online through the ibookstore, but also import their downloaded pdf and epub files into the ibookstore for reading.

In terms of profit model, Apple allows authors to publish their own works in the iBookstore, but the works must meet certain standards, such as the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and epub format standards.

In terms of cooperation with publishers, Apple tried to break Amazon's "wholesale model" and then adopted a "consignment model": that is, Apple reached an agreement with publishers, and publishers priced their e-books and offered them to Apple for sale at the lowest price. Apple would get a 30% commission for each e-book sold, while publishers promised to provide Apple with "most favored nation treatment", that is, other e-book retailers were not allowed to be lower than Apple's iBookstore.

Amazon "Wholesale Model" and Apple "Consignment Model"

From the current market environment, consumers prefer Amazon's "wholesale sales model" because it can buy cheap e-books, while e-book publishers love Apple's "consignment model" so that publishers can "regain" the pricing power of e-books. In fact, pricing power should be market-oriented in both publishers and sellers. The most-favored-nation treatment promised by publishers to Apple quickly caught the attention of the US Department of Justice. The Manhattan District Court of new york filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers, saying that they were suspected of jointly manipulating the pricing of e-books.