Re: amazon and filtering

--- In [email protected], "joseph harris"
<smilepoet@...> 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
> 
> 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.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> 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
> 

Dear Folks:

I'm coming a bit late to this dance since I've been off line most of
this week. I'm also doing so by de-lurking within this group. I've
been monitoring the discussions here for a few months now and I've
learned some useful and interesting things but this is the first time
I've run into a topic where I think I have something worthwhile to
throw into the discussion.

I'm a long-time denizen of the publishing business, most currently as
a part-time consultant for E-Reads. For those of you who aren't
familiar with the company, ereads.com was founded in 2000 by Richard
Curtis, a literary agent who has, as a sideline, pontificated publicly
for many years on all things publishing-related. He wrote a monthly
column for many years in Locus, The Magazine of the Science Fiction
and Fantasy Field, he has published numerous opinion pieces in
Publishers Weekly and he has also had several books, compiled from his
writings on the publishing business, published by mainstream presses.
He had been playing the visionary for a number of years about the
digital future of publishing and, after seeing the first Print on
Demand publication and the first handheld e-book reader, he decided to
put his money where his mouth is by starting a company to take
advantage of the new technologies and bring back into availability
previously published titles, mostly genre (romance, science fiction,
fantasy, mystery, westerns and so on). E-Reads has released more than
900 titles and continues to add new titles on a monthly basis.

Since I started with E-Reads, we've decided to turn the main page of
the site into a blog, which we're using (no surprise) to plug the
books we publish but also to comment on the technology of e-books and
on the general business of publishing as it relates to e-books and POD.

Within the last few days, Richard posted a major entry on the
Amazon/Book Surge decision and its implications. I can't resist
teasing you all with an excerpt from what he posted:

"Though Amazon's ploy comes as a shock to publishers and authors, it
did not come as a surprise to me. In the summer of 2005 Amazon.com
announced the acquisition of MobiPocket, an e-book company, and
BookSurge, a print on demand operation. A lot of ink was spilled on
the MobiPocket deal but no one except me speculated on what it meant
for a book retailer to have the capability of printing books on
demand. In a guest editorial in Publishers Weekly, I wrote,
"It's hard to say for sure what is behind amazon.com's acquisition of
BookSurge, the on-demand book-printer. But any move the Nine Gazillion
Pound Gorilla makes is worthy of serious consideration. Indeed, the
implications of the deal, especially combined with amazon's purchase
of e-book company MobiPocket, are profound."

The implications were so disturbing that PW's editors urged me to tone
down my speculations, which seemed to fall at the red end of the
spectrum of possibility. Actually, I suspect that the editors were so
freaked out that they went into denial. And who can blame them? In my
editorial I spun the logic of Amazon/BookSurge to the max."

The Permalink to this entry is:
http://www.ereads.com/2008/04/nine-gazillion-pound-gorilla-bares-its.html

He has also just posted another entry with further commentary. I
invite you to check out our site and see what we have to say about the
state of the business today and specifically about this vital topic of
interest. Click to our site for more and feel free to comment either
on the site or in this group. The permalink to the latest entry is:
http://www.ereads.com/2008/04/direct-sales.html

My apologies if some of the above comes across as too
self-promotional. I think there's some significant commentary here but
I also think it needs a bit of relevant history and context to make
its point.

John Douglas
--
Acquisitions Editor, E-Reads
www.ereads.com
[email protected]
[email protected]


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