| | The amazon pod people: My letter to Angela | |
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lin Five Star Member
Number of posts : 2753 Registration date : 2008-03-20 Location : Mexico
| Subject: The amazon pod people: My letter to Angela Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:49 am | |
| I've posted most of this here before, but am interested in spreading this idea.
Hello, Ms. Hoy
Your WW column was my first inkling of what I guess I'll call the Amazon Outrage. I have some comments on that which you might find interesting. I have no desire to blog or write them up, but think there might be a solution in here somewhere. You are welcome to use anything I write to your here.
I've been familiar with amazon.com from their early days when I was a journalist in Seattle. I even applied to write consumer stuff for them at one time. And I've been a customer. All three experiences reinforced my impression that they have a very deeply rooted corporate culture of arrogance, self-conviction, and what it's hip to call "evil". They stiffed me for a hundred bucks and dared me to take it to court. They respond to any accusation of wrong-doing with the bland assurance that "we're amazon, our managers wear nose rings and ripped jeans, we can do no wrong, who the hell are you".
Which I mention mostly to indicate that I consider them not only unboycottable (like sanctions ever accomplished anything and writers could ever organize) but also immune to bad publicity. They just don't care.
If you don't mind a digression before presenting my "how to bell the cat" solution for writers, I think it's important to realize how much amazon's listings have been in driving the explosion of small presses and individual expression in recent years. Sure, everybody knows about toner-based "printing" providing the technology, but the automatic link to amazon has been very powerful, if only as a dream convincing people they can pay a few hundred bucks and be out there on the world market.
And they are. Presence on amazon has become a new definition of what "published" means. What a "real book" is. Quibble as you will, if I'm on amazon I'm a real author in the world's face and that's that. I sure this is not a new idea to you, but it underscores why I think this is a really important issue to keep from withering the "thousand flowers bloom" we've been seeing in publishing.
So what can writers do? You've gathered that I don't think picket lines, publicized outrage or calls to boycott are going to help much. I also think it's very doubtful that competitive outfits like B&N will exploit this to compete with amazon: much more likely they'll roll over. In fact, it could have been something already agreed on by all parties.
I think there is a powerful tool that could be used, though, and am interested in spreading it as a "viral" concept that might help writers and just MIGHT be a threat that amazon would recognize.
The chink in the armor is "third party selling". What I suggest is the formation of large co-operative selling groups of writers with the intent to sell their books as "New or used". The BUY botton may evaporate, but the "third party" links are still there and I think even amazon would think twice about removing that activity.
It costs money to be a third party vendor. Not a problem for 20 writers from a coffee house clach. Or 100 joined by some organizer from a website. Or a "big small" POD publisher like Bewrite or Whiskey Creek. And they could easily acheive enough sales volume to save money by becoming the amazon equivalent of a Power Seller. And could easily post prices for new books well under amazon's list, making the link look attractive. It might actually be a better way to sell your book than letting amazon take a cut.
Of course, there's a good chance some beancounter jerk up in Seattle would end up seeing this as detrimental to fiscal performance against leveraged expectations of increase in the decrease of BookSurge projected revenues and get rid of THAT, though.
But I think it's the only effective tool writers can use against this. At best, the threat of it might cause a reversal of this policy. At best, it might provide more profit for writers, some exercise in solidarity, and cheaper books for the public.
Thanks for your attention
Lin |
| | | Abe F. March Five Star Member
Number of posts : 10768 Registration date : 2008-01-26 Age : 85 Location : Germany
| Subject: Re: The amazon pod people: My letter to Angela Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:02 am | |
| Lin, you have excellent insights. And you answered my question, "what can we be done?" |
| | | Jenny Four Star Member
Number of posts : 531 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : Sheffield, England
| Subject: Re: The amazon pod people: My letter to Angela Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:03 am | |
| While, in theory your idea is a good one, there is one problem. To make this cost effective, we would have to buy our own books taking advantage of the discount offered by the publisher, which means purchasing 50 books plus at a time to get a discount of 50%. Anything less, and the cost of postage could be crippling and the profit margin minimal. That's a lot of money to splash out and I daresay there are many authors who wouldn't be able to do that. Also, what do you do with the unsold copies? |
| | | Malcolm Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1504 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : Georgia
| Subject: Re: The amazon pod people: My letter to Angela Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:39 am | |
| Naturally, Amazon isn't going to remove the "new and used" sales because they take a giant chunk of the action and also control the shipping charges. One really has to be a power seller to make money selling books this way work very well. And this doesn't count the expenses of shipping materials and the billable hours used wrapping stuff up and driving to the post office.
I'd rather just concentrate on B&N sales which, with the membership discount, will undersell Amazon. Sure, it's a cut in royalty, but it helps make the overpriced POD books somewhat more competitive with their mainstream cousins.
Malcolm |
| | | Pam Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1790 Registration date : 2008-02-01 Age : 58 Location : Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| Subject: Re: The amazon pod people: My letter to Angela Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:40 am | |
| For me I have sent my letters, made some new connections and will now do the work arounds but must get back to the work parts of it all...write, publish, distribute. Write some more. Sell some more. |
| | | lin Five Star Member
Number of posts : 2753 Registration date : 2008-03-20 Location : Mexico
| Subject: Re: The amazon pod people: My letter to Angela Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:59 am | |
| One really has to be a power seller to make money selling books this way work very well. And this doesn't count the expenses of shipping materials and the billable hours used wrapping stuff up and driving to the post office.
That is why I suggested a co-operative. A bunch of people combined can BE a power seller. Shipping expenses are paid for by S&H charges.
It's not hard to mail out books on order: I've done it for years.
It's also not hard to envision a co-op like this-- essentially a distributor or jobber collective--being able to have its own shipping center.
The kids pick up a few bucks doing the packing and mailing in the afternoon after school. Or calling the UPS guy for a pickup. This is something that's worked for me and would work much better on a larger scale.
Sticking with B&N is not much of a solution, because they are pulling buttons, also.
Third party sales would benefit writers (more profit) readers (lower prices) AND, it's the only thing that amazon might see as a problem with their power play. |
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