Monday, March 31, 2008

Amazon New Rules for POD May Create PO'ed Publishers

Many have weighed in since the announcement in February 2008 - and not all is happiness and light.

Amazon changes rules for print-on-demand publishers
Robert L. Mitchell weighs in over at ComputerWorld with "Amazon pulls a Microsoft"

Where do you stand? Angela Hoy of BookLocker is fighting the good fight for the little guy. Check out: http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html

Authors, readers, and small publishers are taking a stand:
"We bemoan the loss of independent booksellers, but they're going out of business because we buy our best-sellers at Wal-Mart and online. This move will lead to small publishers going out of business, too, unless readers decide to take a stand.

There's a precedent for Amazon's throwing its weight around. Back in 2000, they began suing companies using a similar mechanism to their one-click checkout system. It wasn't until a PR swell on the Internet threatened their business that they backed down."
Now there's a petition to protest Amazon's move:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/protectPOD/

Greg at the blog Publish Yourself comes down on the side of publishers and consumers with Amazon Strongarms Small Publishers.

The shakeout will be interesting. Will small publishers move to B&N and rely more on their own websites to sell or will they relinquish more profit to Amazon and pay $29 per book Advantage fee distributed with 55% off of the cover price?