Comments on: Amazon to book publishers: Welcome to the jungle, baby

By: Kare Anderson

Kare Anderson — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:06:43 +0000

Re Lucian’s concern i think publishing will continue to morph and new alliances of writers, journalist, curators, illustrators, translators and social & mobile geeks will collaborate on ways to create ebooks, enhanced ebooks, interactive books — and additional distribution channels along with amazon… and increasingly what we create can be agnostic of technology, available on any devise, Mathew’s coverage has been in-depth, up-to-date and writing for a wide audience… as a former JSJ reporter who is interested in this area i am in awe of his writing, and thankful for it, like so many others here evidentally are… maybe you, Matthew, will author your own Amazon-supported book?

By: Debra Holland

Debra Holland — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:38:45 +0000

Thanks to Barry and others for leading the way. I’ve had over 26,000 sales of my sweet historical Western romances in five and a half months. I’m SO glad I didn’t go the traditional way! It’s an interesting and exciting time to be an author.

By: Marco Cota

Marco Cota — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:04:56 +0000

Publishers never did anything for me so I support Amazon and you used to work for them John!

By: Q. Kelly

Q. Kelly — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:20:03 +0000

I definitely get what Eisler says about waiting and waiting for his contract. That was one reason I decided not to sign with the publisher who was interested in my three books. Publisher took forever to send the contract, and in the meantime, people started talking to me about going indie. I got lucky the publisher dawdled, eh ;-)

By: Nadine C. Keels

Nadine C. Keels — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:49:14 +0000

Suspicious search results on Amazon? That’s the last thing any author would need. I can’t say I haven’t had and heard of self-publishing woes–like authors’ ebooks being purchased without ALL the sales showing up in the authors’ accounts–but I do enjoy the control that comes along with self-publishing. However, I don’t relish the thought of traditional publishers becoming obsolete because not every author wants to be a DIY publisher. Some writers want to write books and connect with readers without having to hire teams of editors, designers, etc with all of the expenses coming out of the writer’s pocket. I do hope traditional publishers will adapt and keep competition going.

By: Michael W. Perry

Michael W. Perry — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:10:17 +0000

There’s a more serious issue lurking in the shadows. As an Amazon programmer and one of their lawyers admitted to me, the site’s search engine is heavily biased to give results that maximize Amazon’s profit. When the markup of one edition over another is high enough, the less profitable title disappears completely from the search results. All you see is the pricey version. At times it’s almost spooky. Search for the ISBN and there the book is. Search for the title, taking care to get it precisely right, and it disappears.

Amazon could do something similar to push their own titles. A book from another publisher might go strangely missing, particularly if you don’t enter the title precisely right. At the same time, Amazon titles that share nothing with what you’re look for but the same broad genre may clutter the search results.

Of course, in the long term, it’s precisely this sort of behavior, coupled with Amazon’s large market share, that’s likely to lead to federal anti-trust intervention.

By: Mark Coker

Mark Coker — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:41:35 +0000

The power in publishing is shifting from publishers to authors, and for all the reasons Barry cites, this is good for authors and readers. Amazon realizes this and has the unique ability to offer the best authors deals that are difficult to turn down. The deals benefit Amazon and the author but harm publishers, and, more importantly to Amazon, harm Amazon’s ebook retailing competitors because many of these deals give Amazon a one year exclusive. The books can be read on a Kobo, iPad, or virtually any other device, but they can’t be purchased in those devicemakers’ own stores. Since the customer has more loyalty to the author than the store (and who doesn’t have an Amazon account?), the customer is served. How can Amazon’s competitors beat Amazon at such strategic cherry picking? By collectively offering authors a better opportunity. Like I said, authors are in control now. My congrats to Barry.

By: Deborah Reed

Deborah Reed — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 01:55:34 +0000

I too am an amazonpublishing author under their encore imprint, and am here to sing their praises. They have given me way more control than any author I know who is signed with one of the big six, and they actually value my opinion of the product I created. Imagine. They’ve been able to get my books out quickly while reaching a mass market of ideal readers, and in the process make bestsellers out of both of my books. They are the most innovative, author-friendly publisher out there, hands down.

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:50:44 +0000

Thanks, Phyllis.

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:50:08 +0000

Totally agree — better to have more competition rather than less. But Amazon is the first real competition many mainstream publishers have had in a while.