Re: amazon and filtering

Kent,

LSI places a barcode on the last page of every book to ensure the  
right interior gets with the right book cover. So, yes, there is a way  
for Amazon--and anyone else--to tell if the book was printed there.

I'll caution everyone not to take all the hysteria this issue has  
generated at face value. With all due respect to Angela Hoy, she is  
NOT a publisher but a book shepherd. The prices her individual authors  
will pay per copy will not be the same as what actual publishers do. I  
know this; we've been a Booksurge customer since 1999. She also admits  
she hasn't had any business dealings with Booksurge for years. As  
someone who has, I can say that there have been a massive number of  
positive changes in the company just in the last five years.

A 55% discount is standard for the print publishing industry. Cries  
that Amazon is a vendor not a distributor don't hold water--they  
distribute to their various overseas warehouses, which is a costly  
proposition even given LSI books can be printed in the UK. Many of the  
publishers who are shouting so loudly are either self-publishing  
authors or ebook publishers who offer print if their authors so  
desire. They give LSI a short discount, apparently not understanding  
that gets passed down the artery, and which means Amazon may well be  
losing money on most if not all sales of their books. Amazon decided  
to kill the free ride. TANSTAAFL.

Finally, I find it ironic that people are protesting the very thing  
that makes print-on-demand different from offset/web: it can eliminate  
the middle man. Yes, you'll pay for the privilege, but, well, see  
previous paragraph. Amazon says we have a perfectly capable printing  
plant. If the POD books come from there, we can have them as soon as  
we need them (Amazon orders have priority at the Booksurge shop) and  
we can make more money from them. AMAZON won't benefit directly from  
the printing costs--that goes to Booksurge. Amazon is prepared to  
commit resources to provide FREE transfer of all book files to  
Booksurge, and unlike LSI they to date haven't charged an annual  
storage fee. Anyone care to estimate how much that's going to cost in  
employee hours?

Notice how that part tends to get lost in the Amazon-as-bully rhetoric?

IOW, everybody shouting for revolution seems determined to overlook  
that Amazon certainly has a right to decide the terms under which  
they'll do business, are not obligated to take constant revenue losses  
to be nice to a slew of presses and authors who may sell half a dozen  
copies a year and have actually committed significant resources to  
making the transition as easy as possible.

Do I think the whole thing could have been handled better? I thought  
so at first, but then I thought about how likely success would have  
been if Amazon had contacted these same publishers and ASKED them to  
pretty-please place their POD files with Booksurge. For all I know,  
they did, and I can imagine how useful it was.

Now I'm being chastised elsewhere for refusing to join in a boycott of  
all things Amazon. I'm a traitor to the cause, insensitive to the  
rights and feelings of my fellow authors and publishers. Never mind  
that I may be the only one there in possession of the above noted  
facts--among others. It's the principle of the thing.

Well, I have 100+ authors who trust me to make sure their books are  
available for sale in as many places as possible. If they,  
individually, ask to have their book's link to Amazon removed, I'll do  
it; but as a company? Not a chance.

Liz

Elizabeth Burton, Executive Editor
Zumaya Publications LLC
Opening Doors to the Creative Mind
http://www.zumayapublications.com




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