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News & ArtsWednesday, February 1, 2012
Books The Author's Guild Releases Strongly Worded Anti-Amazon Statement
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 1:50 PM
Referencing Barry Lynn‘s piece in Harper’s this week called “Killing the Competition: How the New Monopolies Are Destroying Open Markets,” the Author’s Guild explained: “Mr. Lynn makes the case that Amazon’s dominance isn’t just a story of an industry disrupted by online commerce and digital upheaval, it’s about the abandoning of New Deal era protections of retailers in 1975 (promoted by backers as a means to fight inflation, says Mr. Lynn) and what he portrays as a shift in 1981 in the Justice Department’s interpretation of antitrust law based on ‘Chicago School’ theories of efficiency and consumer welfare.”
Framing the rise of Amazon as a failure of government is a new one on me. The Guild goes on to claim that while Amazon is great for already established authors, it does a great disservice to new authors, announcing that "Literary diversity is at risk.” This is a very interesting charge, and one that could be easily proven (or disproven) as we move into the second decade of Amazon's dominance over the publishing industry.
1
Not being a huge comics reader, I have a question about how Bizzaro World works.
Would Bizarro Paul Constant have a special Google news alert that only finds articles giving Amazon a blowjob? Or would Bizarro Constant have a Google alert that finds both good and bad articles about Amazon? Or would he not even have a love or hate for Amazon, and just, you know, be a regular books writer?
OR. Or... would Bizarro Amazon actually be the root of all evil, and therefore Bizarro Constant would have good reason to attack them every day? Or laud them for being evil, I guess, because he's Bizarro Constant.
Dang. I think I just blew my own mind.
Would Bizarro Paul Constant have a special Google news alert that only finds articles giving Amazon a blowjob? Or would Bizarro Constant have a Google alert that finds both good and bad articles about Amazon? Or would he not even have a love or hate for Amazon, and just, you know, be a regular books writer?
OR. Or... would Bizarro Amazon actually be the root of all evil, and therefore Bizarro Constant would have good reason to attack them every day? Or laud them for being evil, I guess, because he's Bizarro Constant.
Dang. I think I just blew my own mind.
3
Other weird thing:
You can't really write a Google alert that is subtle enough to know the difference between news that's good and news that's bad for Amazon. The only reliable thing is to have an alert for all articles about Amazon, and then carefully read each of them, and pick out the ones that make the company look bad. So it's actually twice as much work, at least, to make it your business to attack Amazon every day, than it would be simply follow the doings of the company with no particular bias.
Which is weird because usually unbiased journalism is considered hard work, taking skill and dedication, while being a biased hack is something any fool can do. But somehow the age of technology has turned that on its head.
Almost blew my own mind again. I need to go lie down now.
You can't really write a Google alert that is subtle enough to know the difference between news that's good and news that's bad for Amazon. The only reliable thing is to have an alert for all articles about Amazon, and then carefully read each of them, and pick out the ones that make the company look bad. So it's actually twice as much work, at least, to make it your business to attack Amazon every day, than it would be simply follow the doings of the company with no particular bias.
Which is weird because usually unbiased journalism is considered hard work, taking skill and dedication, while being a biased hack is something any fool can do. But somehow the age of technology has turned that on its head.
Almost blew my own mind again. I need to go lie down now.
4
Far more worried about the resurrection of ACTA in TFF.
But then, most of what we think is written locally is written in India, so not sure what the impact is.
But then, most of what we think is written locally is written in India, so not sure what the impact is.
5
While there are serious and legitimate concerns about Amazon's business practices, "literary diversity" is a false one (and it reeks of protecting big name authors and publishers, NOT the "little guy").
I've never bought a self published book in a bookstore, and rarely had the opportunity to. On my kindle, stripped of the shiny covers and marketing campaigns, all books are equal, judged only by their content. I've discovered far more authors in the past several years via the Kindle than I ever had access to via traditional methods. And I'm able to support these new talents directly (minus Amazon's cut, of course, but that's a different debate).
Amazon WILL mean the end or evolution of traditional publishing, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. Instead of million dollar advances for a single author, there will be thousands of self-published authors (many awful, some astounding) making smaller livings, but most importantly, making so many books...
If anything, I think Amazon has leveled the playing field for self-publishing, and I think THAT has the Authors Guild and friends freaked out.
I've never bought a self published book in a bookstore, and rarely had the opportunity to. On my kindle, stripped of the shiny covers and marketing campaigns, all books are equal, judged only by their content. I've discovered far more authors in the past several years via the Kindle than I ever had access to via traditional methods. And I'm able to support these new talents directly (minus Amazon's cut, of course, but that's a different debate).
Amazon WILL mean the end or evolution of traditional publishing, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. Instead of million dollar advances for a single author, there will be thousands of self-published authors (many awful, some astounding) making smaller livings, but most importantly, making so many books...
If anything, I think Amazon has leveled the playing field for self-publishing, and I think THAT has the Authors Guild and friends freaked out.
6
Kind hard to feel much sympathy when technological change crushes the business model of middlemen.
If they were so useful, why does lower pricing destroy them? Shouldn't their "added value" protect them from philistines like Amazon?
If they were so useful, why does lower pricing destroy them? Shouldn't their "added value" protect them from philistines like Amazon?
7
You guys read the papers right?
Amazon's profit margin just collapsed from 2% to less than 1%
You're fighting a paper (or rather e.ink) tiger.
9
Everyone -- including Constant -- cheers the collapse of the old failed brick-and-mortar models. I didn't see any tears shed for Blockbuster or the chain record stores or the like. The price of progress, you would say.
But wait, these are bookstores and publishers, and we love them, so in THIS case the government should step and protect them from the innovators.
Yeah, right.
But wait, these are bookstores and publishers, and we love them, so in THIS case the government should step and protect them from the innovators.
Yeah, right.
10
Excellent! I was waiting for this post so I could link to this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan…
What I find interesting about the Guardian piece is that after she made a shit ton of money from poorly edited books, the stress of self-publishing pushed her towards signing with a couple of publishers.
Seems to me that this sort of situation is ideal for publishers and authors alike. Say I'm a struggling author and can't find a publisher, so I say fuck it and self publish through Kindle and Smashwords. I price my books at what I think is reasonable and see how people respond. If I sell a lot of books, I've shown to publishers that I have a product that people want to buy and have a better idea of the value of my work and can weigh the pros-cons of continuing to self-publish or sign with a publisher. The publisher can also have more confidence in the investment in the author because they've shown success. Seems like a win-win to me.
@5 I'm with you. I never read self-published authors before I got a Kindle and now probably 75% of my e-book reading is self-published or small press.
What I find interesting about the Guardian piece is that after she made a shit ton of money from poorly edited books, the stress of self-publishing pushed her towards signing with a couple of publishers.
Seems to me that this sort of situation is ideal for publishers and authors alike. Say I'm a struggling author and can't find a publisher, so I say fuck it and self publish through Kindle and Smashwords. I price my books at what I think is reasonable and see how people respond. If I sell a lot of books, I've shown to publishers that I have a product that people want to buy and have a better idea of the value of my work and can weigh the pros-cons of continuing to self-publish or sign with a publisher. The publisher can also have more confidence in the investment in the author because they've shown success. Seems like a win-win to me.
@5 I'm with you. I never read self-published authors before I got a Kindle and now probably 75% of my e-book reading is self-published or small press.
11
Just want to point out that a writer can self-publish through Amazon and many new authors have made money by self-publishing and making their work available in the kindle store. Doesn't this actually help new authors who are struggling to find a publisher? It provides an opportunity for writers that didn't really exist before. So how is Amazon providing a disservice to these new authors?
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