Cussedness

authorsguild.org said...

Last week Amazon announced that it would be requiring that all books that it sells that are produced through on-demand means be printed by BookSurge, their in-house on-demand printer/publisher. Amazon pitched this as a customer service matter, a means for more speedily delivering print-on-demand books and allowing for the bundling of shipments with other items purchased at the same time from Amazon. It also put a bit of an environmental spin on the move -- claiming less transportation fuel is used (this is unlikely, but that's another story) when all items are shipped directly from Amazon.

We, and many others, think something else is afoot. Ingram Industries' Lightning Source is currently the dominant printer for on-demand titles, and they appear to be quite efficient at their task. They ship on-demand titles shortly after they are ordered through Amazon directly to the customer. It's a nice business for Ingram, since they get a percentage of the sales and a printing fee for every on-demand book they ship. Amazon would be foolish not to covet that business.

What's the rub? Once Amazon owns the supply chain, it has effective control of much of the "long tail" of publishing -- the enormous number of titles that sell in low volumes but which, in aggregate, make a lot of money for the aggregator. Since Amazon has a firm grip on the retailing of these books (it's uneconomic for physical book stores to stock many of these titles), owning the supply chain would allow it to easily increase its profit margins on these books: it need only insist on buying at a deeper discount -- or it can choose to charge more for its printing of the books -- to increase its profits. Most publishers could do little but grumble and comply.

We suspect this maneuver by Amazon is far more about profit margin than it is about customer service or fossil fuels. The potential big losers (other than Ingram) if Amazon does impose greater discounts on the industry, are authors -- since many are paid for on-demand sales based on the publisher's gross revenues -- and publishers.

We're reviewing the antitrust and other legal implications of Amazon's bold move. If you have any information on this matter that you think could be helpful to us, please call us at (212) 563-5904 and ask for the legal services department, or send an e-mail to staff@authorsguild.org.

Feel free to post or forward this message in its entirety.

Other spots to find me:

message board

livejournal

xanga

CREDS, a partial list
Blood Rites, Blood Heresy, Blood Dawn, Blood Wraiths, Blood Paladin, Blood Arcane
articles published in:
Movieline *** Cinefantastique *** Washington Post Book World *** Los Angeles Times *** Los Angeles Drive Guide *** Black Belt *** Martial Arts Weapons *** Monsterland *** Thrust: Science Fiction in Review *** Science Fiction Review

Former MPAA Accredited Journalist.
Currently Active member, SFWA

Cussedness Godwar Central Station LEVEL 20 ARCH-CURMUDGEON ALL HATE MAIL WILL BE POSTED I am an out of the closet, bi-sexual gender queer and have long believed that the personal is political. Perhaps that is simply a bit of 1960s idealism that most people have outgrown; but it remains near and dear to me. I am the best-selling dark fantasy ebook author of the Dark Brothers of the Light series. I made my first short story sale at 23. it appeared in Amazons! which took the World Fantasy Award for best anthology in 1980 February 2004: In The Darkness Hunting: Tales of Chimquar the Lionhawk (wildside press) Dark Brothers of the Light Series. Renaissance Ebooks.
:: HOME :: GET EMAIL UPDATES :: Rabid Duck :: Kallisti :: Charybdis :: my homepage :: My Message Board :: Karen E. Taylor :: EMAIL ::
Previous Entry :: Next Entry Mood: Annoyed Read/Post Comments (2) Share on Facebook		2008-04-05 3:58 PM amazon / booksurge controversy authorsguild.org said... Last week Amazon announced that it would be requiring that all books that it sells that are produced through on-demand means be printed by BookSurge, their in-house on-demand printer/publisher. Amazon pitched this as a customer service matter, a means for more speedily delivering print-on-demand books and allowing for the bundling of shipments with other items purchased at the same time from Amazon. It also put a bit of an environmental spin on the move -- claiming less transportation fuel is used (this is unlikely, but that's another story) when all items are shipped directly from Amazon. We, and many others, think something else is afoot. Ingram Industries' Lightning Source is currently the dominant printer for on-demand titles, and they appear to be quite efficient at their task. They ship on-demand titles shortly after they are ordered through Amazon directly to the customer. It's a nice business for Ingram, since they get a percentage of the sales and a printing fee for every on-demand book they ship. Amazon would be foolish not to covet that business. What's the rub? Once Amazon owns the supply chain, it has effective control of much of the "long tail" of publishing -- the enormous number of titles that sell in low volumes but which, in aggregate, make a lot of money for the aggregator. Since Amazon has a firm grip on the retailing of these books (it's uneconomic for physical book stores to stock many of these titles), owning the supply chain would allow it to easily increase its profit margins on these books: it need only insist on buying at a deeper discount -- or it can choose to charge more for its printing of the books -- to increase its profits. Most publishers could do little but grumble and comply. We suspect this maneuver by Amazon is far more about profit margin than it is about customer service or fossil fuels. The potential big losers (other than Ingram) if Amazon does impose greater discounts on the industry, are authors -- since many are paid for on-demand sales based on the publisher's gross revenues -- and publishers. We're reviewing the antitrust and other legal implications of Amazon's bold move. If you have any information on this matter that you think could be helpful to us, please call us at (212) 563-5904 and ask for the legal services department, or send an e-mail to staff@authorsguild.org. Feel free to post or forward this message in its entirety. Other spots to find me: message board livejournal xanga CREDS, a partial list Blood Rites, Blood Heresy, Blood Dawn, Blood Wraiths, Blood Paladin, Blood Arcane articles published in: Movieline * Cinefantastique * Washington Post Book World * Los Angeles Times * Los Angeles Drive Guide * Black Belt * Martial Arts Weapons * Monsterland * Thrust: Science Fiction in Review *** Science Fiction Review Former MPAA Accredited Journalist. Currently Active member, SFWA Read/Post Comments (2) Previous Entry :: Next Entry Back to Top