Dymocks exits ebook publishing after 15 months

Dymocks New Zealand closed in 2012, now the company is retreating from ebooks

Australia’s BRW magazine reports Dymocks exits ebook publishing after 15 months. The company told BRW the program was a ‘innovative experiment’ but the challenges were too great.

Dymocks managing director Steve Cox told BRW:

“We learned a lot about that market and those customers but unfortunately the constraints of the platform and business model meant we couldn’t fulfil the vision”.

Is it electronic publishing or is it a local issue?

This story doesn’t make it clear if there’s something systematically wrong with ebook publishing or if the closure is part of Dymocks' winding-down. The company closed its New Zealand business in late 2012 and appears to be in retreat.

This seems to be part of a pattern where companies struggle to make money from selling ebooks. It's curious that physical paper books, which need to be manufactured and distributed can sell for less than electronic versions where the marginal cost of printing and distribution are close to zero.

I’m interested to know if there’s a viable space in the ebook business for a quality operation sitting between the giant, global powerhouses and the niche publishers. What do you think?