A hearty "Fuck you!" to Amazon

[elfs]

I don't pay enough attention to the business of writing as I should, but now I'm just completely furious at Amazon for it's latest trick. As most of you know, I don't go through a traditional publisher, instead Publishing through Lulu, a print-on-demand (POD) service, which is at least honest about what I'm doing.

Amazon has announced that it will no longer provide sales services for POD books... unless you use their print service, BookSurge. They will not sell books printed by Lulu or Lightning. Writers Weekly has confirmed this, and supporting articles have appeared in the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

I'm not buying a damn thing from Amazon until they back off this punk stupid stunt.

Comments

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't assume conspiracy yet. It's entirely possible that Amazon's dropping POD books because - for instance - they aren't able to meet the turnaround times Amazon needs, or something of the sort. Probably worth waiting to see what Amazon has to say, at least.

[(Anonymous)]

Zetawoof,

I personally know your comment to be false. LSI & Ingram provide POD services for Amazon.com where thousands of books are manufactured in under 12 hours and shipped in 20 hours every day to meet the service levels set forth by Amazon.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I think the correct terminology is that Zetawolf is incorrect, not "false"; the latter implies conscious falsehood, and I don't think either one of us believes Zetawolf was lying.

It should also be noted that LSI/Ingram had a deal with Amazon whereby when they shipped orders taken from Amazon, they shipped in Amazon-branded boxes. Amazon's current power play is sheer stupidity.

Amazon

[(Anonymous)]

Potential of anti-trust violation here? Amazon and booksurge appear to be marching -

amazon troop surge (http://www.amazontroopsurge.com)

Strike Strike Strike

[pandakahn.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on this one.

I will send off an e-mail to AMAZON.COM Inc. asking for clarification. If they don't have a good reason then I am going to suspending them until they do. I feel that people should let business know when they do something that someone believes to be stupid and against the interests of the customer.

And that reminds me to go to LULU (In a bind because they are a company I dislike for a large number of reasons...) and find out what is available form you at this point.

MPK

Re: Strike Strike Strike

[omahas.livejournal.com]

And that reminds me to go to LULU (In a bind because they are a company I dislike for a large number of reasons...) and find out what is available form you at this point.

You can find his Sterlings Novel there right now. :)

[elgatocurioso.livejournal.com]

I believe what's happening is bigger than you think. Amazon has created the Kindle and now it is starting to ramp up it's own POD service. I believe that Amazon is looking ahead to a digital publishing future with a completely different business model that will eventually completely replace traditional book publishing. Amazon plans to be one of the biggest big publishers in the new publishing environment.

Expect to see full-sized color "Super-Kindles" with stylus functionality that aren't just for pleasure reading, but rather are full size "PADDS" that don't have the power of computers but can replace entire school textbooks (as soon as the battery technology to meet energy demands is available). The POD component is integral to the business model as Amazon sees traditional print-only publishers dying off due to digital competition and wants to provide print capability (at a premium over digital delivery) for special request orders. If the Kindle succeeds where other eReaders failed (big if- this depends upon battery technology and the speed of adoption) Amazon thinks this will be sooner rather than later.

It short, it simply makes business sense not to carry your future direct competition forward with you as you go. It's not a ploy, it's "strategery"!