To Amazon, or Not to Amazon-Wasn’t Really a Question

Many people in the publishing industry have been paying close attention to the tense debate going on between Retail powerhouse, Amazon, and publishing heavy hitter, Macmillan. Writers of fantasy, science fiction and horror have been watching very closely, too, as Macmillan has always been one of the go-to publishers for these genres, and their sub-genres. The sticking point, on the surface, has been pricing; Macmillan has been urging Amazon to raise the base costs for most e-books from $9.99 to $14.99. Amazon has resisted these urgings.

So, on the surface, it hasn’t been hard for Amazon to paint Macmillan as the cold-hearted, corporate giant with nothing of importance except the all mighty bottom line. Amazon has released a statement, advising customers that they’ve removed all Macmillan titles from their Kindle store, now. They even go so far as to say they know that eventually they’ll add them back, at the price Macmillan is demanding, but they wanted to send a message. Per Amazon’s release to customers, “We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms, because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for ebooks.” Amazon has taken the, “We’re looking out for the “little guy” stance. They even released their free PC version of the Kindle, so readers can download it to their computers, and utilize their Kindle downloads right on their PCs, at home.

By extension, the authors who have spoken out against Amazon’s actions have been painted as greedy and grasping, with no regard for their readers and the current economy.

To add a little spice to this soup, Apple will probably be allowing publishers more freedom to set price points for e-books, to be used with their newest toy, the iPad. (Yes, you’ll be able to buy iBooks from their iBookstore…but commenting on their naming issues is fodder for a different blog.) Many professionals following this escalation between Macmillan and Amazon have stated the real issue may be Amazon’s fear that Apple, and later this year, Google, may seriously threaten the effective monopoly they’ve held over the e-book industry. This could be seen as the playground bully suddenly feeling insecure because a couple of bigger kids have moved into the neighborhood and have been eying the playground.

John Sargent, the chief executive for Macmillan, stated, in response to Amazon’s actions, “Amazon and Macmillan both want a healthy and vibrant future for books. We clearly do not agree on how to get there. Meanwhile, the action they chose to take last night clearly defines the importance they attribute to their view. We hold our view equally strongly. I hope you agree with us.” This statement came out in a paid advertisement to all Macmillan authors, illustrators and literary agents. When you read this, I think you’ll see that Macmillan has taken the higher ground; they aren’t slinging mud, or making veiled inferences about Amazon’s actions. Macmillan made a reasonable counter to Amazon; and instead of responding, Amazon effectively packed up their toy box by pulling all Macmillan titles from their core US site. Sargent also said, “I regret that we have reached this impasse. Amazon has been a valuable customer for a long time, and it is my great hope that they will continue to be in the very near future. They have been a great innovator in our industry, and I suspect they will continue to be for decades to come.”

Macmillan is interested in looking to the future of books and those touched by them. And, believe it or not, we readers aren’t the only ones affected by the actions of these industry giants. Authors, publishers, distributors and even the college kid behind the counter at your local bookstore, are affected. If the market is not fair to all of the players, eventually, we may not have much of a market and the players we love may take their balls and go home. Consider this; if your favorite author literally can’t afford to continue writing the stories and characters you’ve fallen for, then they’ll stop writing about them. Period. Writing and publishing books is, at the end of the day, still a job. It’s not being greedy, or grasping, or unfeeling to want to be paid for the work you’re doing. So, again by extension, back up the chain, it isn’t cold, or wrong to want to create a stable marketing environment where all of those people work.

So…what can we, “the little people”, do? Well, we can ignore this scenario, and continue with business as usual. I suspect that might be Amazon’s “best case scenario”, that people will simply keep shopping as they have done, because it’s easy and it’s habit. We can read up on the situation, and make informed decisions about how we spend our hard earned money, and what “commercial statements” we make with our spending. And we can choose to stand with the authors and publishers who have been bringing imagination, romance, drama and color into our lives and simply choose to spend those dollars elsewhere; remove Amazon branding and associate sales widgets from our sites; and talk to other readers about what we’re doing, and why. I’ve chosen option number three: I pulled the Amazon widgets from my sites – professional and personal – and my professional e-mails will no longer refer people to Amazon. I’ll spend my very hard earned dollars with other merchants…unless the giants come back down to our level, in a no-mud-slinging manner.

The corporate giants can make grand, sweeping gestures that are noticed immediately. I put it to you, that it’s hard for the giants to see the “little people” from way up there; but if enough little people make their own, small gestures, they can attract the attention of the giants, anyway. And if you’ve read your books, you know that in the end, things don’t go very well for the giants that go stomping around. Remember Jack and his beanstalk.