Re: amazon and filtering

The way I see it, this move will ultimately be unsuccessful -- which is why Amazon has not publicly announced it, but has put pressure on publishers one by one.

The ways around it are, IMO, too easy to implement.

Easiest (I think) would be for sister companies LSI and Ingram to share more of their databases, essentially making it impossible for Amazon/Booksurge to tell when the books come from LSI. This would force Amazon to either stop purchasing from Ingram (a deadly move, IMO) or drop this attempt.

If LSI and Ingram don't do this, then publishers can simply stop making it obvious that they use POD -- principally by setting up a direct wholesale account with Ingram. This means that Ingram would report that the books come directly from the publisher instead of from LSI. The downside to publishers is that they would have to do more paperwork - and invoice Ingram directly instead of letting LSI do it for them.

Kent



At 10:01 AM +0000 3/28/08, Joseph Harris wrote:
>Cathi Stevenson brought this to the pub-forum list; it is a must read.
><http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html>http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html
>
>There are quite a few implications. Basically it is about Amazon flexing its monopoly muscle and trying to force all POD through its subsidiary, Booksurge.
>
>But, following our current thread about filter future, it is worth noting that up to this point Amazon has served as a good example of post-publishing filtering. Since for effective filtering it is necessary to amass a large collection of works the Amazon model, of that filtering [complex indexing perhaps] being an essential part of the business and marketing model, was a powerful straw in the wind.
>
>However, the action described in the article once again reminds us of human frailty - the urge to put the boot in when one feels powerful! And that again asks the question, from a different angle perhaps, whether post-publication filtering is really going to happen - reliably anyway?
>
>It is one that needs studying - any restrictive practice is against the trend to increasing openness and fairness [if I have that right ;-)].
>
>Joseph Harris
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>								


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