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News & ArtsThursday, February 9, 2012
Books Amazon's Books Have Been Blockaded
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 4:48 PM
Although numerous independent booksellers, over the last few weeks, have individually announced they would ban books published by Amazon from their stores, late yesterday the trade organization representing most of the indies in the U.S. as well as many in Canada made it official: The American Booksellers Association (ABA) announced it would be joining competitors Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Chapters Indigo in boycotting Amazon’s books.
This means it's virtually impossible to buy any of Amazon's print books in any brick-and-mortar bookstore in the United States. That's an impressive blockade. While Amazon is by far the biggest bookseller in the United States, it does mean that there's a significant chunk of the book-buying public that doesn't have access to their titles.
2
...and the more people that go to a brick and mortar store to buy a book they heard about and are disappointed to not find it there, the more will convert to buying online from Amazon. Way to cut off your nose, ABA. Maybe next you can stop carrying books about computers to protest the emerging digital age?
Amazon has to be laughing their assess off at this. Fine, small competitors, make yourselves less useful.
Amazon has to be laughing their assess off at this. Fine, small competitors, make yourselves less useful.
7
@6: What does that have to do with anything? Do you think the courts ever decide things based on unrelated illegal activity the victim engaged in? Do you think they should?
That said, this is incredibly unlikely to create legal issues. It's an indie trade organization, and they were very clever about the terms: "only publishers’ titles that are made available to retailers for sale in all available formats will be included in the IndieCommerce inventory database." That's a fair and reasonable policy.
Even if they had flat out said "we hate Amazon and our members won't sell their books," the only way I could imagine legal trouble would be if a member *wanted* to break the boycott and was contractually prevented from doing so... that gets into cartels. But that doesn't sound like the case here.
IANAL, but I get paid to analyze legal opinions.
That said, this is incredibly unlikely to create legal issues. It's an indie trade organization, and they were very clever about the terms: "only publishers’ titles that are made available to retailers for sale in all available formats will be included in the IndieCommerce inventory database." That's a fair and reasonable policy.
Even if they had flat out said "we hate Amazon and our members won't sell their books," the only way I could imagine legal trouble would be if a member *wanted* to break the boycott and was contractually prevented from doing so... that gets into cartels. But that doesn't sound like the case here.
IANAL, but I get paid to analyze legal opinions.
8
Don't stock books people want to buy! Be inconvenient! Brilliant business moves! https://www.google.com/search?q=jackie%2…
9
I'm going to boycott "big indy" and their anti-competitive practices. Thousands of bookstores banded together into a monolithic monopoly on brick and mortar book sales.
11
Um, is there any evidence that this new Amazon imprint has "books people want to buy"? Pretty much no one's going to notice, unless the books get onto the NYT list, which is unlikely if Amazon is the only place you can buy them. Book reviews in the mainstream press are pretty much a thing of the past. Aside from a handful of people who get on the talk show circuit, a large percentage of whom are selling "serious" political books on the likes of Colbert and so on, and are thus uninteresting to almost everyone, there aren't a lot of books out there that are "must haves" for a lot of people. Amazon will be able to sell these books to people who are browsing on their website; indie bookstores will sell whatever they have on their shelves. I don't think anyone's going to miss them, frankly.
It doesn't solve the problem, nor does it exacerbate it. Until one of them becomes a hit. What's worrisome there is that that will mean bookstores miss out on the hit, which could be fatal -- ask your local shop how they would be doing financially without Potter and Twilight.
It doesn't solve the problem, nor does it exacerbate it. Until one of them becomes a hit. What's worrisome there is that that will mean bookstores miss out on the hit, which could be fatal -- ask your local shop how they would be doing financially without Potter and Twilight.
12
this is all so stupid.
guess what, bezos is smarter than every single person in the publishing industry and will win. bow to him, use his platform, and move on with life in the new digital era.
the sooner you start using amazon to sell books instead of your costly b&m store, the sooner you'll start making profit.
guess what, bezos is smarter than every single person in the publishing industry and will win. bow to him, use his platform, and move on with life in the new digital era.
the sooner you start using amazon to sell books instead of your costly b&m store, the sooner you'll start making profit.
13
I'm sure the 8 or 9 people that still drive to a store to buy books on paper will care.
I do wonder how they think adding even more items to the list of things they don't have will bring in business, but that's not really my problem.
I do wonder how they think adding even more items to the list of things they don't have will bring in business, but that's not really my problem.
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@11 - Well, there was that list of titles Nancy Pearl assembled. It's like Sophie's choice for bookish hipsters.
15
What we need are bookstores with educated staff, liquor licences, and pleanty of easy chairs. I'd go broke.
17
Children stamping their feet and holding their breath hoping to get their way, with about as much comprehension about what's going on
18
Maybe I'm in a different part of the country than many commenters, but the brick and mortar bookstores in my city (Baton Rouge) seem to be doing pretty well. Well, except for the former Border's, but even that was doing good business at the trendiest part of our biggest mall before the chain tanked. Our Barnes & Noble has a pretty full parking lot, plenty of students, and families with kids whenever I stop buy. The Books-A-Millions aren't as popular, but are doing OK in thier locations, and we have a few used book stores that are doing fine. Amazon probably is selling books in our area, but it's not putting the tangible book stores out of business. I personally will use either on-line or local sources for tangible books, but I will not buy e-books from anyone using proprietary DRM, therefore no Amazon e-books for me.
19
Amazon has announced they will be opening a bricks and mortar store in Seattle.
Their profit margin fell to a measley 0.5% last quarter.
Now do you like them better?
Their profit margin fell to a measley 0.5% last quarter.
Now do you like them better?
20
Main reason I ofthen don't bother with bookstores is the expectation that they won't have what I want on the shelf. Now they announce plans to have even less? Brilliant.
21
Ten years ago, when I had set of books out, I sold ten or a hundred times more through brick & mortar stores in the U.S. and Canada, than on Amazon.
Although Borders was in business back then, B&M stores refusing to sell Amazon's books should still put a big dent in the sales of those books.
As an author, I also appreciated the fact that the b&M stores sold new books, on which I received royalties. Whereas, after a certain point Amazon offered a lot of used copies, on which I didn't receive royalties.
I'd guess that Amazon and their authors are going to be worse off than the B&M stores in this deal.
I imagine that authors will keep that in mind when they're signing contracts with Amazon from here on in.
I also think Amazon brought this on themselves with the dick moves of fighting sales tax, and that recent ap where, if memory serves, Amazon encouraged buyers to go to b&M bookstores, and record the price of the books sold there, so Amazon could beat that price.
Although Borders was in business back then, B&M stores refusing to sell Amazon's books should still put a big dent in the sales of those books.
As an author, I also appreciated the fact that the b&M stores sold new books, on which I received royalties. Whereas, after a certain point Amazon offered a lot of used copies, on which I didn't receive royalties.
I'd guess that Amazon and their authors are going to be worse off than the B&M stores in this deal.
I imagine that authors will keep that in mind when they're signing contracts with Amazon from here on in.
I also think Amazon brought this on themselves with the dick moves of fighting sales tax, and that recent ap where, if memory serves, Amazon encouraged buyers to go to b&M bookstores, and record the price of the books sold there, so Amazon could beat that price.
22
Is the chunk of the book-buying public that doesn't have access to AOL dialup, much less any broadband whatsoever at work, home, or the library, really significant? If I was Amazon, I would not feel the least bit threatened by brick and mortar boycotts.
23
I wish I had seen this article last night, it pretty much validates my point @18 on why I won't buy e- books from Amazon (nonstandard format and DRM):
http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/02/unified…
http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/02/unified…
24
Gotta love how when writers have a better way to make money while maintaining the rights to their own works .... all the "supporters" of such ban the new method. Shit, these book dealers need to grow up and enter the 21st century.
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