I never thought about this aspect of Amazon’s sales. Richard Curtis at E-Reads points out that Amazon continues to make money on Macmillan books, albeit less. This is because Amazon hosts the sale of new and used Macmillan titles from third-party booksellers. Curtis thinks that Amazon gets somewhere between 3-4% on such sales.
This is more complicated then we thought.
I think Curtis is playing a semantic game here. I’ve asked on his blog for a clarification but nothing yet. These third-parties selling new Macmillan books on Amazon’s platform had to obtain them legally from a wholesaler. When they did, they paid for the books and most of that payment went back to Macmillan. Macmillan is getting “paid” on all those sales in the same way it gets paid on sales from an independent book store in Harvard Square or an ordinary Joe’s web site that has affiliate links back to Barnes & Noble (or in the past, Amazon).
Used books are obviously a whole other ballgame as publishers have never gotten paid for used sales and hate them for it.
I’m not sure I understand what is complicated about this.
Obviously Amazon keeps a percentage of any sale of any item made thru its storefront.
Of course they won’t make as much as if they sell it themselves.
Of course Macmillan will make their normal percentage from the vendor that is actually selling new books.
Of course Macmillan won’t see a dime from the sale of a used title made by or thru Amazon.
A post at Munsey’s Technosnarl
http://www.munseys.com/technosnarl/?p=940
suggests that Amazon’s percentage might be 6% or more and that the orders for new books are automatically fulfilled by a wholesaler.