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What You Need to Know About Hachette vs Amazon https://www.change.org/petitions/hachette-stop-fighting-low-prices-and-fair-wages !selfpub
Friday, 15-Aug-14 21:46:10 EDT from web- simsa01 and quix0rquitter like this.
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@laurelrusswurm Cf. “Is Amazon Evil?” [Onnesha Roychoudhuri] http://bit.ly/1pmaU0q {A more factual piece from 2010 on Amazon]
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@laurelrusswurm Cf “Is Amazon Evil?” (2010) [Onnesha Roychoudhuri] http://bit.ly/1pmaU0q {Amazon & market conditions of publishing industry]
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@laurelrusswurm @simsa0 I haven’t read any of these links, but I am aware that #Amazon has similar disputes with several smaller publishing houses, so this could be a case of muscle-flexing to get preferential terms & prices.
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@simsa0 Factual? From just before the big 6 & apple were busted for collusion to price fix to inflate ebook prices?
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@lnxw48 I’ve been researching to blog about this, which makes me doubt that. The big 5 (nee 6) are big because they have consumed…
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@lnxw48 ...other publishers. They each have masses of small imprints that used to be small publishers but are now imprints (divisions)
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@simsa0 Tho not a fan of Amazon, given a choice between it & Big 5 I would take Amazon b/c it makes it possible for authors to be indies
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@simsa0 I certainly don’t want #Amazon to be a monopoly but there ARE other sources like #KOBO #Smashwords #TUEBL #ProjectGutenberg
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This is the experience of a real small publishing house http://www.thecockeyedpessimist.blogspot.ca/2014/05/whos-afraid-of-amazoncom.html
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Lagardère’s Investor Presentation (mother company of Hachette) http://www.thepassivevoice.com/06/2014/lagarderes-investor-presentation/
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@simsa0 This is what led me to the Lagardère post http://www.hughhowey.com/hachettes-slides-to-investors/
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@laurelrusswurm As reader I don’t use ebooks from Amazon has I don’t own them & Amazon may delete all my “subscriptions” w/o warning >
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@laurelrusswurm > cf. e.g. http://bit.ly/VvcaTl http://bit.ly/1rg9EyM For authors: How the royalties by Amazon compare to trad. publishers >
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@laurelrusswurm > I can’t say, it’S tiny in both worlds I suppose, regardless how much promotion you do on your own. (Don’t know if this >
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@laurelrusswurm > http://bit.ly/1lbcByv is still a valid point, if it ever was).
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@laurelrusswurm Even if you don’t want it to be, Amazon is the monopoly, in that it exerts power like the Big 5. And sorry: I prefer well >
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@laurelrusswurm > crafted books (well written, well designed, wel produced), so Project Gutenberg gives me the creeps. But this is more >
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@laurelrusswurm > “content” & how it enters my reading eyes, not the topic of “freedom” you raised (as if there indeed were any in these >
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@laurelrusswurm > times of capitalist cholera). (I never read a novel via the screen of my computer b/c of my eyesight, nor on kindle.)
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@laurelrusswurm > crafted books (well written, well designed, well produced), so Project Gutenberg gives me the creeps. But this is more >
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@laurelrusswurm > about “content” & how it enters my reading eyes, not the topic of “freedom” you raised (as if there indeed were any in >
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@laurelrusswurm > about “content” & how it enters my reading eyes then the topic of “freedom” you raised (as if there indeed were any in >
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@laurelrusswurm > these times of capitalist cholera).
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@laurelrusswurm Thx for all the links, I’ll red them later. Now off to work at the scullery of the restaurant.
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@laurelrusswurm > about “content” & how it enters my reading eyes than the topic of “freedom” you raised (as if there were ndeed any in >
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@laurelrusswurm > about “content” & how it enters my reading eye than the topic of “freedom” you raised (as if there were indeed any in >
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@laurelrusswurm > these times of capitalist cholera).
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@laurelrusswurm Thx for all the links, I’ll read them later. Now off to work at the scullery of the restaurant.
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Cory Doctorow wrote about this recently in the context of DRM http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/20/how-amazon-holding-hachette-hostage
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@laurelrusswurm Well, I can’t judge this, but there are reports that Amazon pays out the worst > http://is.gd/3P0Sc2
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@laurelrusswurm “For every $9.99 book I sell I, the author, pay 30% to Amazon for the right to sell on Amazon AND $2.58 for them to >
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@laurelrusswurm > deliver the DIGITAL GOOD to your device. It is free for the reader, but the author, not amazon, pays for delivery.”
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@boneidol Some famous writers are trying to rally public opinion against Amazon to artificially inflate the price of eBooks.
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@boneidol The authors claim Amazon discriminates against them by not providing the stellar service they got under the expired contract.
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@boneidol The chief complaint is authors are being economically hurt, yet Amazon has offered 3 ways to compensate ignored by Hachette
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@boneidol I’ve read complaints of ordinary Hachette authors unhappy with Hachette & the superstar authors lobbying against Amazon
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@laurelrusswurm The publishing business tends to be anti-competitive, but #Amazon is very close to being a monopoly (which carries special obligations to prevent abuse of monopoly position). By almost all accounts, Amazon is not carrying out those obligations.
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@simsa0 Read the “buyers remorse” comment at the top of the comments. This is not Amazon’s deal with self publishers.
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@simsa0 That may change if Amazon becomes a monopoly. It doesn’t have to…readers should support #KOBO and other etailers & #DRMfree
lnxw48 likes this. -
@simsa0 It irritates me to have to support Amazon, but if I’m right this is part 2 of !ebook #pricefixing saga and bad for !books
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@simsa0 I don’t either. People who buy my book through #Amazon get a #DRMfree !eBook that can be format shifted & backed up anywhere
lnxw48 likes this. -
@lnxw48 No, by the accounts of the mainstream media. Like mainstream publishing, it is unhappy with disruption of its business model.
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@lnxw48 Amazon and Hachette’s contract has been expired I think as long ago as January. It very much appears the sticking point is…
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@lnxw48 I don’t know. Presumably when Amazon acquired #CreateSpace and started competing with #LuLu directly. Up until then I think…
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@lnxw48 no one is more concerned than I am about the prospect of an Amazon monopoly, but Hachette reassures me we are not there yet.
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@lnxw48 The “AuthorsUnited” authors who imply they represent all authors and stand against preventing book sales from being blocked…
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@lnxw48 ...say nothing about the fact that self publishing authors POD books are blocked from sale in brick&mortar bookstores.
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@lnxw48 well over 8,000 !selfPub authors, indies & readers signed http://ur1.ca/hzd20 in fear of return to big5 publishing oligopoly
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@lnxw48 If the complaining authors have no contract with Amazon I don’t understand how they can blame Amazon for not giving them perks…
quix0rquitter likes this. -
@lnxw48 ...to which they were entitled under a contract. Amazon continues to sell their books without a contract in force.
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@lnxw48 Amazon has also offered 3 ways to make up for any economic loss Hachette authors incur during the dispute, which was declined.
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@lnxw48 I am under no illusion Amazon does this because it is nice, but it is good business not to have big name authors badmouthing it.
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@lnxw48 Hachette’s big authors want to be in the middle, so they can lobby; it is the little Hachette authors who wish Hachette accepted
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@lnxw48 Apparently Amazon did the same thing in a previous negotiation with a Big 5 Publisher.
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@laurelrusswurm Could you please be more specific about which comment you have in mind? Thx.
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@lnxw48 This is the guy who started the anti-Amazon letter/petition/ad https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100211/0222088129.shtml
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@simsa0 This one: “Reading about the Amazon vs Big 6, Kindle vs Nook, ePublishing vs Legacy publishing. What I find distasteful about this article is that he has as
bad case of buyers remorse I have ever seen. After reading this it took me less than 15 minutes to find Amazon’s pricing. He knew beforehand what the cost per book was. If he didn’t like the pricing he
didn’t have to sign with them. If he had done his research properly in the beginning he could have chosen just to self publish. Instead he used Amazon’s platform then decided to scream that he had been taken when in fact he hadn’t. Then he used his hissy fit as a way to market his book and direct people to his self publish page. Good Marketing for him. but it leaves a bad taste. He could have gone straight to Nook or iBooks initially, but I feel that he planned his marketing strategy to take the ant-Amazon anti-Big Bad Wolf into consideration and then let
the extremists do all the work for him. I don’t know anything about his book and at this point I don’t want to. His whining is more than enough to read.” -
Paying for no cost delivery may seem onerous, but I think making readers pay $20 for a #DRMed !eBook is far far worse.
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@laurelrusswurm @simsa0 Makes sense. I think that’s about when I started hearing more about #Amazon‘s anti-competitive activities. (Although I’ve been hearing about them since at least 2006.) I certainly was not defending Hachette (never heard of them before the dispute went public).
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@laurelrusswurm Thx. I disagree w/ it: It’s not a simple “he didn’t have to sign up”. To reach a larger audience at all, he had to accept >
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@laurelrusswurm > a bad deal. Then the comment goes on suggesting that b/c the author didn’t have to accept the terms of the deal, he did >
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@laurelrusswurm > all along to badmouth Amazon for PR. Which I find to be a rather malignant insinuation.
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@laurelrusswurm Yep. I find the licensing-model taken from software (proper) rather harmful in book publishing. I keep buying paper books.
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@laurelrusswurm I won’t enter into that as I don’t know details. As reader I read paper books, as author I wouldn’t like to become a geek >
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@laurelrusswurm > first just to be able to publish a book at all. As I wouldn’t waste my time on self-marketing. So I my opinion authors >
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@laurelrusswurm > should simply stop hoping to earn money from their “content” or “creation” at all. As there is already too much text >
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@laurelrusswurm > competing for our attention, ppl should accept that there is no money to made in writing & publishing.
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@simsa0 I think its an accusation, but I find it credible. There are those who play upon prejudices to get what they want. And do.
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@laurelrusswurm @lnxw48 Of course it did, even / esp. in the paper world. Remeber counter-public of the 60s – 90s? Point is: In those >
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@laurelrusswurm @lnxw48 > times it wasn’t about the money but to get stuff out, to raise awareness, to enlighten ppl. Now those means, >
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@laurelrusswurm @lnxw48 > electronically modified are used to make a buck, & ppl whine b/c they can’t make it quick & big.
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@laurelrusswurm @lnxw48 Of course it did, even / esp. in the paper world. Remember counter-public of the 60s – 90s? Point is: In those >
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@laurelrusswurm @lnxw48 > times it wasn’t about the money of but to get stuff out, to raise awareness, to enlighten ppl. Now those means, >
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@laurelrusswurm @lnxw48 > electronically modified, are used primarily to make a buck, & ppl whine b/c they can’t make it quick & big.
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@laurelrusswurm @lnxw48 > times it wasn’t about the money but to get stuff out, to raise awareness, to enlighten ppl. Now those means, >
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@laurelrusswurm @lnxw48 > electronically modified, are used primarily to make a buck, & ppl whine b/c they can’t make it quick & big.
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@laurelrusswurm It’ll happen now & then, but in this specific case? I rather disagree.
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@simsa0 Sure, it was possible to self publish pamphlets/newsletters/fanzines, but self published novels were dismissed as “vanity press”
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@simsa0 based on what?
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@simsa0 On the contrary, there is an obscene amount of money to be made from writing. Just trad publishers do their best to keep it all.
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@simsa0 There are many reasons to write and publish. Fiction is as important as nonfiction; sometimes more.
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@simsa0 The odd creator doesn’t want to share their work, but most want to reach an audience. Creation is communication.
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@simsa0 Selfpublishers can hire others to do the things they can’t. It’s much cheaper than entering the indentured servitude of tradpub
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@simsa0 Self publishers who are not independently wealthy can crowd source funds thru services like #pubslush #indiegogo or #kickstarter
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@simsa0 I rather think you get people who expect to make it big quick whining in all walks of life.
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@simsa0 Writers want to make a living as writers, not bricklayers. If people are buying books why shouldn’t they?
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@simsa0 I’s discourage anyone who becomes a writer to get rich; there are easier ways.
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@laurelrusswurm true as well.
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What @Ubersoft News has to say about Hachette vs. Amazon https://www.eviscerati.org/comics/comic/hd/2014/08/Struggle-Between-Empires http://sn.jonkman.ca/attachment/18799
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