Should You Boycott Amazon?
Kind eReader,
Should you boycott Amazon? Maybe, as book lovers, we all should.
I have hesitated to address this matter in Life of e, mostly because I myself am pretty conflicted about it. After all, Amazon has great pricing and selection and that’s why I’ve made 95% of my book purchases through them for years. They also sell more of my books than all other retailers combined, and a person hates to bite the hand that feeds them.
That said, I guess I’d rather let you know the facts and you can make up your own mind.
The problem with Amazon is that they want to rule the world of books. There’s a fine line between healthy capitalistic desire for market share, and using coercion to the detriment of the public for the sake of profits. Right now I think Amazon has crossed the line.
The first problem of this nature arose in Summer 2006 when Amazon, having purchased the ebook publisher/distributor Mobipocket, phased out selling other formats of ebooks (Adobe pdf and Microsoft lit). Authors and publishers took a huge hit in sales from this change, and I daresay some even went out of business. It took Amazon over a year to accomplish the justification for their policy change: that being the release of Amazon Kindle, an ebook reader that requires an adapted version of Mobipocket format. Now they sell only ebooks in Kindle format.
The positive spin on this scheme is that it could encourage a single format of product (like the rise of VHS) and simplify things for readers. If the Kindle device were really excellent and affordable, the consumer would also benefit. As of yet it is definitely not affordable ($400). Kindle format books are not catching on quickly, and at this rate will never reach levels of the ubiquitous pdf. In other words, six months after Kindle’s release, neither publishers nor readers (nor Amazon itself for that matter) has benefited from this Mobipocket-related power play.
Fast forward to spring 2008, and Amazon makes its next big move. As opposed to the super-hyped Kindle release, this time Amazon acts so quietly and slyly that few notice at first and even now you may well know nothing about it. What did Amazon do? They contacted publishers using print-on-demand technology and informed them that unless they started printing their books using Amazon’s subsidiary, BookSurge, Amazon would not sell said books except as “new and used.” In other words, no “buy” button, no free shipping eligibility, no in stock fast shipping status.
Those things are the kiss of death to publishers. As an indication of how deadly, I’ll just tell you that most of the bigger POD publishers caved right away and agreed to switch. And believe me, the new BookSurge contract takes a bigger bite out of publishers’ profits as well.
Clearly this impacts the options and cost for publishers. It also affects readers. In my experience and from online reports of others, BookSurge is the frequent object of complaints regarding both quality and timeliness. My publishing house certainly has no interest in switching from the high quality, efficient and beautifully run Lighting Source, Inc. for POD services…the readers of my books deserve quality. And readers also deserve to be able to purchase the books they want-regardless of who prints them-and get fast and free shipping.
Amazon has gone too far this time. They have demonstrated they truly do want a monopoly on the new publishing technologies, both ebooks and POD print books. Clearly their business plan is to eliminate other options for publishers and readers. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to grow your business, but when you are willing to do so at the expense of your suppliers and, worst of all, your customers, that’s when it’s time to call in the anti-trust lawyers.
Which is exactly what has happened. Countless complaints of anti-trust violations have been filed against Amazon in the past weeks, including a class action suit. I myself have filed an anti-trust complaint, and also stopped purchasing anything from Amazon.
On the other hand, I’m afraid you won’t be seeing me removing all the purchase links to Amazon for my books (that would be a daunting task anyway). I recognize that’s pretty hypocritical, but for a lot of readers, if Amazon doesn’t sell your book, they won’t buy it. Which is why we POD publishers are in this pickle. I don’t want Amazon forcing me to lose them as a retail channel, so how much sense does it make for me to cut them off myself by taking down links?
But I can say to you, please show your dismay with Amazon by buying your books from other online retailers, like Barnes & Noble and Powell’s. It’s in the best interests of authors and publishers like me, but more importantly, it’s in the best interests of readers everywhere, that Amazon learn to play fair.
eRead on,
Diana
Diana Laurence is the author of the Soulful Sex anthologies of erotic romance fiction, and released her latest book “Bloodchained” in September 2007 (http://www.bloodchained.com/). Diana’s works are published by Living Beyond Reality Press (http://www.livingbeyondreality.com/). Visit her at www.dianalaurence.com or enjoy her blog at http://www.eroticawithsoul.blogspot.com/.
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This probably isn’t a popular stance, but I have to agree with amazon. I read what their CEO said about why they made the move they did. It made perfect sense to me.
Why should amazon and the end customer have to wait around for you the publisher to print and ship the book? By going through their publisher, customers that buy books from amazon will get their book sooner.
Which is probably a good argument for switching to eformats since that’s instant!
My problem with your argument is yes, you’re being hypocritical. Not that we all haven’t been at one time or another. You essentially want the same thing amazon does… to have your cake and eat it too.
As far as I know there’s nothing that says you can’t do your POD with amazon and other POD printers to sell to B&N, etc.
The truth of the matter is, no one “waits around for me to print and ship the book.” I know from experience that my titles ship the very next day. And I’ve read reports that, ironically, people who have been ordering BookSurge-printed titles have found themselves waiting for a week and more. So don’t be confused…this new approach of Amazon’s does nothing to shorten delivery time.
It really irritates me that Amazon is making this argument to support its decision. They know very well it isn’t true. So don’t be duped!
Believe me, fast delivery to the customer is key in my mind. That’s EXACTLY why I prefer Lightning Source to BookSurge.
So if I order from you on Friday night… you’re going to ship amazon the book on Saturday? How about if I order Saturday?
A week is standard shipping I suppose. Adding days waiting for the book to be printed and then shipped to amazon’s warehouse… just days added.
I guess I just think they’re within their rights as a company to use whoever they want. They’ve worked hard to build their business and you and thousands of other authors have benefited from it. In my opinion, if they see a way to be more efficient, I’d jump on it.
Ally, the problem here is that you don’t understand how the POD business works or what is really going on with Amazon, beyond the statements being made by their marketing department. I’ll try to clarify.
In most cases, Amazon has a few copies of my books already in stock. If you order one of them, it will ship from Amazon within 24 hours. If Amazon is out of stock, they can order more copies that day from LSI, my printer/distributor. LSI prints the book immediately and it ships to Amazon (or drop ships to the customer) the next business day. You will receive it in a few days, like any other Amazon out of stock title.
Please be aware that this is exactly the same process that occurs with books printed for Amazon sale by Booksurge. Booksurge is not located any closer physically to Amazon’s warehouses than LSI is. Meanwhile, (1) Booksurge does not consistently print and ship as efficiently as LSI, and (2) the quality of their product is less consistently good than LSI. Bottom line: NOT MORE EFFICIENT. Not better for the customer, not better for the author and publisher. Only better for AMAZON.
So I want to make clear that Amazon is not truly doing this to be more efficient. They are doing it so that they get all the profits from the POD publishing business, and control so much of the market they can name their cut, while authors and publishers suffer by losing income.
Amazon has worked hard to build its business, but remember that authors and publishers are only making their fair share of sales for their OWN hard work. This new system enables Amazon to force authors and publishers to take a smaller percentage of profits, or else not be able to list their books in the biggest marketplace in the world.
I’m not the only one thinking this may be illegal…Amazon is being investigated for anti-trust violations, as well as sued.
One final thing I’d like to say in the interest of fairness: Amazon has made more money off my books than I have. Who do you think has worked harder for those profits, me in writing, designing, publishing, and promoting those books? Or Amazon, for having up them up on web pages, housing some copies, and paying for some customers’ shipping? Don’t get me wrong, I really, really appreciate the service Amazon does. I’ve said so many times. But at the same time, I resent the idea that they haven’t made plenty of money off of the authors and publishers that supply them with books.
Everyone can benefit: It just needs to be maintained as a fair system.
Amazon’s faster shipping argument holds no weight because Lightning Source already drop-ships POD books directly to Amazon.com customers, using an Amazon.com return address label.
You can read more about this topic, including information on BookSurge’s history of quality problems here:
http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004610_04022008.html
From amazon’s site: Q: Is Amazon requiring that print-on-demand books be printed inside Amazon’s own fulfillment centers, and if so why?
A: Yes.
I am boycotting Amazon because of this monopoly attempt, and that is what they’re doing … attempting a monopoly. No, that’s not okay. It’s not fair to authors, publishers, or book buyers.
When books have to be rerouted through Booksurge, there is an additional cost. Who pays it? Everyone except Amazon. Like Diana, I already make less on my books than does Amazon. Still, they want more.
This is not about the customer. It does not affect how many packages you get. I often received 3 packages for the same order even when they didn’t include POD books. They don’t have single package fulfillment, anyway, so their excuse is bogus.
I have taken down my links to Amazon, as well as the Amazon store I had on my site. I ask my readers to please buy from anywhere else, preferably an independent book store. My books are still listed there because my company sends the listing. As I am supportive of my company, I won’t ask them to change their listing policy for me. However, I will not link to them or buy from them unless they revert the policy.