I’m a fan of the company, so count me stunned that Amazon is about to destroy the print on demand business by forcing writers and publishers to use the expensive Amazon owned BookSurge POD service. Those who don’t will not be able to sell their titles through the Amazon direct service (only via the 2nd tier marketplace).
This seems to me to be a disgusting abuse of Amazon’s market position and just plain nasty greedy. Sure people can sell their book elsewhere, but the main thing that has been driving the adoption of print on demand – apart from the fact that it’s a brilliant way to create and distribute books if you’re a small player – is the fact that you can get instant online distribution from Amazon. And they make money too, so it’s not like it’s charitable service!
Here’s a full report from Writers Weekly, an online petition and the boycott call. If you want to see book publishing flourish and grow away from the clammy dead hand of big publishing, then you’ll sign up and help show Amazon what a stupid and ignorant decision this is.
Excellent idea, Nigel. My book is published on demand by Lightning Source (an itty bitty division of monolithic publishing house Ingram) and is caught in the crossfire. Amazon's standard take is 45% of the cover price, which amounts to over 5 a copy for my book. I can't imagine why they need more.
Well James, let’s hope that someone senior inside Amazon sees sense and backpedals on this silliness. :-)