If you read a lot of books, or if you’re a writer, you are probably at least aware of what’s been going on between Amazon and the publishing company Hachette. Possibly, you are also confused by it, or maybe just conflicted. I fall into this latter category, and I’ve spoken with a couple of my author friends about it, so my goal in writing this post is to facilitate some kind of discussion about what’s going on between Amazon and Hachette.
To start us off, here’s an article (clearly biased in the anti-Amazon direction) that lays out the situation pretty well and should answer any immediate questions you may have. Basically, Amazon is making it really difficult for customers to buy Hachette-published books because the two companies can’t come to an agreement about how to sell these books. Amazon finally spoke out a little bit at the end of last month, and this article sums it up without any bias one way or the other.
As a person who has never actually had a problem obtaining books from Amazon, and as an as-yet-unpublished writer (either traditionally or independently), I personally do not have any qualms with Amazon. I am not going to boycott them until I understand this situation more. But based on what I’ve read so far, I understand why some people are choosing to boycott Amazon. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a personal choice. Author Neil Gaiman pointed out recently in an interview that we don’t REALLY know what’s happening, because all the details are under non-disclosure.
These articles I’ve linked to show the perspective from some of the big authors who are affected by these business proceedings. But what about independent authors? What about writers who can’t get the time of day from these enormous publishing companies? How does this affect them?
Author Frank Schaeffer defends Amazon because he believes he would not have been as successful without Amazon’s help, and he’s not the only independent author who feels this way. My writing partner told me she wouldn’t be a writer today it it weren’t for Amazon, and that for every J.K. Rowling and James Patterson, there are 500 authors like her. The jury is out as to how this affects unpublished authors seeking traditional publication.
My conclusion is this: it’s a business war between two major corporations. Many people seem to be forgetting that Hachette is ALSO a big company, and I think that’s important to keep in mind. I will never understand the ins and outs of it because I don’t have any expertise in business, so I’m going to wait to pass judgement until everything is settled. But maybe some of you reading this have a better grasp on the situation. Is Amazon really the big bad that so many people are quick to claim? What do you think about what’s going down between Amazon and Hachette? If you’re boycotting, why, and if you’re not, why not?
I’m not boycotting Amazon in the least. Amazon is a retailer–a large retailer, but still, in this situation, they are a retailer. Hachette, as a publisher, has to contract with retailers to get their products (books) on store shelves. The details of this contract dispute between the two companies have not been made public. This is an important fact for people to remember before the automatically jump on the “Amazon is Evil” bandwagon. (Remember, Hachette was one of the publishers sued by the Department of Justice last year for price-fixng e-books. They are not an innocent party who designs their business practices around what is best for the readers.) So, presumably, Hachette doesn’t like the terms Amazon is asking for.Amazon wants to do away with the agency model, and have the ability to discount book prices for consumers. Hachette loves the agency model because they get to set prices and call the shots. It also ensures that Amazon’s discounts can’t cut into their profit.
Let me break this down for you:
Hachette’s all like “They are our books. We want to be in charge!”
Amazon’s all like “Okay. So go sell your books somewhere else.”
And Hachette’s all like “But we sell a crap-ton of books in your store.”
So Amazon’s all like “You can continue to sell a crap-ton in our store if you let us sell books cheaper to our customers.”
And Hachette’s all like “But we don’t want to sell cheap books.”
And Amazon’s all like “So again, go sell your books somewhere else. We don’t care. We like selling your books, but if we don’t we can just come out with a super-duper new Kindle Fire with turbo power and a jet pack, to make up for the lost sales.”
And Hachette sticks out their tongue and goes over to their friend Walmart. They tell Walmart, “Hey you can sell our books in your store and discount them cheaper than Amazon.”
And Walmart’s all like “40% off for everyone!”
At some point there is hair pulling and name calling too, but you get the picture. What I’m saying is this – business is complicated. Big business even more so. The managers of these companies are paid big bucks to work this shit out. We don’t need to go in half-cocked with only part of the information and start acting like we know enough to take sides.
Now, everyone go read a book.
I gotta say, I have to agree with you wholeheartedly on this one. It seems like the most logical path for the argument to go. Personally, I am content to let the big kids duke it out while I happily continue reading my ebooks. If something concrete comes out about Amazon’s dealings that makes them look like bad guys, I’ll reconsider my stance on the issue. But for now, it’s not worth worrying about.