Amazon owns the marketplace: return of the distributor
March 29, 2008
For awhile there it looked like independent publishing was going to be feasible. Between print-on-demand services like Lulu and Amazon’s willingness to integrate their catalogs in with the other print houses, someone like me,
Scott and Sheri or
Glen could write a book, list a book, and send people to a store they recognized to purchase it. Without making exploitative bargains with publishers or distributors.
Now Amazon is flexing its marketplace muscles, leveraging it’s overwhelming strength in the online sales market to force independent publishers to use their print-on-demand service or lose their “Buy Now” button.
Reports have been trickling in from the POD underground that Amazon/BookSurge representatives have been approaching some Lightning Source customers, first by email introduction and then by phone (nobody at BookSurge seems to want to put anything in writing). When Lightning Source customers speak with the BookSurge representative, the reports say, they are basically told they can either have BookSurge start printing their books or the “buy” button on their Amazon.com book pages will be “turned off.” [ Amazon.com Telling POD Publishers - Let BookSurge Print Your Books, or Else ]
Booksurge’s terms aren’t competitive with other POD houses and apparently a number of people weren’t pleased with the product. It’s not like it costs Amazon that much more labor, apparently. At least in the case of Lightning Source, one of the largest POD houses, the publisher still handles most of the distribution:
What he didn’t say was that Lightning Source not only packages books for Amazon customers in boxes that feature an Amazon.com return address label, but also drop-ships those orders directly to Amazon customers at Amazon’s request. [ Ibid. ]
They can’t (or won’t) compete on price and quality for the service they’re offering, so they’re going to throw up new barriers on anyone who refuses to purchase their inferior product.
I’m not sure what should be done about this. But it’s worth noting. People who want to remain independent should probably start making plans to sell around Amazon if they aren’t already.
Hat tip: Jason at the Wild Hunt
Posted in Art and Writing
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March 31st, 2008 at 1:25 am
A good case can be made that what Amazon is attempting to do violates anti-trust laws. Waiting for federal anti-trust action would take many years–years to get the Justice Department to act, years of trials, years of fussing over what the court decision means. Notice how long it took to deal with Microsoft’s tactics, despite the fact that the corporations they were bullying were large and powerful. None of us can afford that long a wait.
Action at the state level, however, could move much faster, particularly if it involves off-the-record contact and a somber warning from those who can make trouble for Amazon. Amazon is headquartered in Seattle about a ten minute drive from the office of the Antitrust division of the Washington state attorney general. Here’s the contact information:
Office of the Attorney General
Antitrust Division
800 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2000
Seattle, WA 98104-3188
http://www.atg.wa.gov/Antitrust/default.aspx
Telephone: 206-587-5510
Fax: 206-464-6338
Note the remark on that web page that “The Antitrust Division only processes complaints that involve either Washington State residents or businesses located in Washington State.” Amazon is in Washington state, so it matters not where you are. You might also want to raise the issue with your state attorney general’s antitrust office, asking them to get in touch with their colleagues in Seattle. If you’re a publisher, encourage your authors to write. If you’re an author, encourage other writers to contact them.