Talisman Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 Amazon, the online book seller, could face a strike by authors and publishers in an increasingly bitter battle over book profits - by Nick Allen. The UK's biggest publisher, Hachette Livre UK, is leading the charge against Amazon, which it claims is squeezing the market and demanding too great a share of sales. In a very public fallout Amazon stopped selling new copies of about 50 Hachette titles, including books by Kate Mosse, Alexander McCall Smith, James Patterson, Stephen King and Dan Cruickshank, on its British website. People are still able to buy and sell the books second hand through Amazon but the publishers make no money out of those sales. Hachette claims the move was aimed at at pressuring it into giving up a greater percentage of profits and vowed to fight the Amazon "juggernaut". Chief executive Tim Hely Hutchinson said: "In Britain the terms publishers give to retailers are the highest in the world and more than half of the price of a book goes to the retailer. We have collectively been too soft in our negotiations and we are trying to make a stand. "Amazon put pressure on us and took the 'buy' button off a number of prominent authors' books on their website. We don't like it and our authors don't like it." As Amazon continues to grow Mr Hely Hutchinson warned that independent book sellers, as wells as authors, would be the victims. In five years time readers outside the major city centres may face the prospect of only being able to buy their books from Amazon or a supermarket, he said. The Society of Authors acknowledged that Amazon has helped writers to sell more books but said the current dispute would affect their sales. Chair of the society Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring, called for a strike against Amazon. She said: "To punish the author so publicly and so humiliatingly is really not on. I hope other publishers join Hachette and basically strike against Amazon to say there is only so far you can push us before you break us and we are not going to take it any more." Novelist Emma Darwin, the great-great granddaughter of Charles Darwin, said she supported Hachette's stand even if it affects her own sales. She said: "This is about whether Amazon can be allowed to exploit its near monopoly." In an email to all Hachette's authors Mr Hely Hutchinson said: "Despite advantageous terms Amazon seems each year to go from one publisher to another, making increasing demands in order to achieve richer terms at our expense and sometimes at yours. We are politely but firmly saying that these encroachments need to stop now." Literary agents accused Amazon of being "predatory" and "ruthless". Clare Alexander, managing director or Aitken Alexander Associates, which represents Sebastian Faulks and Germaine Greer, said: "This is a disturbing glimpse of the iron in Amazon's soul." Jonathan Lloyd, managing director of literary agent Curtis Brown, said: "I think the entire industry of publishers, authors and agents are 100 per cent behind Hachette. Someone has to draw a line in the sand. "Publishers have given 1 per cent a year away to retailers so where does it stop? Using authors as a financial football is disgraceful." An Amazon spokesman said: "We are totally committed to offering the broadest selection of titles possible. We are also committed to ensuring we offer our customers the lowest possible prices." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2123221/Amazon-could-face-strike-by-authors-and-publishers.html#continue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ii Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 *laughter* That's funny. The mean streak in me quite enjoys seeing people shoot themselves in the foot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Stein Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Who, Amazon or Hachette? I'm with the publishers here. Amazon are like Tesco, using their might to press for more discounts mainly for their own benefit. When Amazon started, most books whether bestsellers or backlist titles, had 20% off. Now bestsellers are routinely half price (does anyone really need the new Tom Clancy for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Very interesting Talisman, thanks for posting that. I might consider not using Amazon if they are throwing their weight around. I don't like it when businesses use strong market share to squeeze their suppliers or competitors unfairly, which is why I have a dislike of Tesco, walkers crisps, microsoft et al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 This has been going on for months. It started in the US when they said that print on demand publishers had to use their own printer or risk having their buy buttons removed. The problem is that their printer charges twice what everyone else does and is not good quality. Several publishers did cave in, but only because they charge their authors for having their books on Amazon, and if they didn't and Amazon carried out their threats, these publishers left themselves open to being sued. There is no need though to charge for this service, since books are automatically fed to Amazon and other online retailers via the ISBN agency. In this case then what goes around did indeed come around ! No buy buttons have as yet been removed for any POD books, but one US publisher is now suing Amazon under anti trust laws. Again, it is all detailed on my blog site. The latest dispute with Hachette is though more interesting, since this is not about a POD publisher, but one of the largest publishing groups in the world. Talk about cutting off their noses to spite their face ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenmck Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I've been hesitating to say anything but I'm an author who will be affected by Amazon's new tactic. Basically, they won't carry my books (from a small press) because Whiskey Creek can't pay the huge monthly fee Amazon demands to post books. Before, there was an option for smaller presses (and POD) for a compromise where for a lesser fee, the book was still accessible BUT at a heftier cost. Now, there is no option for the small press except the Amazon Market Place which gets little or no traffic and is not as accessible for the general Amazon customer. The only reason they're doing it is because they have their own printing company and want to force small presses to use them rather than BookSurge or Lightening Source. (Or in my case, PawPrints). It's unfortunate, but not surprising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Thank you Jennifer. Of course the other problem with Marketplace is that the books do not qualify for free shipping, which also puts a lot of people off. Amazon then is not good news for any author right now. They would imo be wise to remember that the bigger you are the harder you fall ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ii Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Who, Amazon or Hachette? Hachette. I'll elaborate later, I'm busy and had more than few glasses of wine with an early dinner at the moment. and given how easily my words have been misinterpreted lately, I want to make sure I write as clearly as possible and I just don't have the time right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Didn't see your earlier post Philip, not sure how I managed to miss that ! You are right though, the majority of books on Amazon market place are not second hand copies, but being sold through other online retailers and sometimes even the author themselves if the book are POD or self published. Amazon in my view though are a dangerous predator who will not stop until they have almost total control of the market. Given their rate of growth, if is entirely possible that they will be the biggest book retailer within three years. This is why they need to be stopped - now ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Stein Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Well don't forget in the UK under monopolies laws they cannot have more than 25% of the market for any given range - having said that I think they have 13% of the book market at the minute so they could effectively double their market share before falling foul of those laws. Here's a thought: do books sold on Amazon Marketplace count toward Amazon's market share? Probably, as Amazon make money from them (the seller's fee they deduct); but really the bulk of the money is going to the third party seller, like the Book Depository or Aphrohead. Does it also then count toward their market share? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Interesting question ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 It might be worth actually getting in touch with Amazon and asking about it. If you state you want the information under the Freedom of Information Act, they would have to comply, whether they liked it or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted June 18, 2008 Author Share Posted June 18, 2008 Now there's a thought ! The trouble is though, how the hell do you get in touch ! This is a company that is notorious for not being contactable ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Stein Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Sorry to dampen your ardour ladies, but the Freedom of Information Act only applies to public bodies like government departments, health and education authorities, even (I think) quasi-public bodies like the BBC. Private and public limited companies like Amazon aren't covered. Makes sense really, otherwise rival companies would be able to extract all sorts of confidential information for business benefit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 They're obliged to give you any information they hold about you, but that's it, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Stein Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Yes that's right. That's under the Data Protection Act rather than the Freedom of Information Act. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KW Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 This just stinks. As if there aren't ENOUGH politics involved in pubbing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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