Amazon launches their weapon of mass destruction, steps on the long tail of independent authors
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People continue to have this idea that companies like Wal-Mart, Amazon, Apple, IBM, Starbucks and Microsoft are bulletproof.
Folks, it just isn’t so. You might also have thought that UCLA was bulletproof Thursday night against Western Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament, except that no one told WKU about it. Top-seeded UCLA pulled it out in the last 4 minutes, after leading 12th seeded WKU by only 4 points with 5 minutes remaining.
David and Goliath plays out every day, if David is clever enough.
These big companies that small business owners love to complain about are great at building giant customer lists and then turning right around and crapping in their corn flakes. They do it everyday. All you have to do is look around (one of the reasons I mentioned the Google Alerts thing yesterday).
It’s Amazon’s turn. They just got punched in the word of mouth.
What am I talking about?
The Amazon print on demand (POD) story at WritersWeekly.com.
And the Wall Street Journal, TechDirt, Washington Post, TechCrunch, Computerworld and Publisher’s Weekly. And so on.
Before you think that this only affects big print on demand publishers, don’t forget that little (and some not so little) independent authors sometimes see the bulk of their sales via Amazon and POD.
If there are fewer authors able to sell on Amazon (because of their demands), what happens? Does the record industry try to do this next? They’ve already lost control, but there is leverage out there if they want to use it (movies, for one).
What about your ISP? Perhaps they will require that all websites updated from your DSL account must be hosted with their web hosting services. They can easily control this.
The upside is that the market always has a way of sorting this stuff out. Somewhere out there, there’s a little print on demand house just rubbing their hands together.
Oh yeah, and I just realized that my Google Alerts are not covering enough bases.
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Posted: March 29th, 2008 under Amazon, Competition, ECommerce, Ethics, Management, Media, Public Relations, Word of mouth marketing.
Comments: 8
Comments
Pingback from Easy Author Websites » Amazon puts the Squeeze on POD Publishers
Time: 3/30/2008, 4:31 am
[…] a stone with his simple, yet effective sling shot. Let’s hope Mark Riffey is right. In his post he says, “David and Goliath plays out every day, if David is clever […]
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Time: 3/30/2008, 6:57 am
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Time: 3/30/2008, 9:55 am
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Time: 3/30/2008, 11:53 am
[…] Amazon launches their weapon of mass destruction, steps on the long tail of independent authors by Mark Riffey […]
Comment from Tom Hannon
Time: 3/30/2008, 9:10 pm
Bruce Springsteen sang “Poor man wants to be rich- Rich man wants to be King- And the King ain’t satisfied till he rules everything.” In this case Amazon is the King and he won’t be happy till he rules everything
Comment from Author
Time: 3/30/2008, 11:35 pm
A good case can be made that what Amazon is attempting to do violates anti-trust laws. Waiting for federal anti-trust action would take many years–years to get the Justice Department to act, years of trials, years of fussing over what the court decision means. Notice how long it took to deal with Microsoft’s tactics, despite the fact that the corporations they were bullying were large and powerful. None of us can afford that long a wait.
Action at the state level, however, could move much faster, particularly if it involves off-the-record contact and a somber warning from those who can make trouble for Amazon. Amazon is headquartered in Seattle about a ten minute drive from the office of the Antitrust division of the Washington state attorney general. Here’s the contact information:
Office of the Attorney General
Antitrust Division
800 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2000
Seattle, WA 98104-3188
http://www.atg.wa.gov/Antitrust/default.aspx
Telephone: 206-587-5510
Fax: 206-464-6338
Note the remark on that web page that “The Antitrust Division only processes complaints that involve either Washington State residents or businesses located in Washington State.” Amazon is in Washington state, so it matters not where you are. You might also want to raise the issue with your state attorney general’s antitrust office, asking them to get in touch with their colleagues in Seattle. If you’re a publisher, encourage your authors to write. If you’re an author, encourage other writers to contact them.
It might be best to call followed up by a letter or fax.
Pingback from Amazon angers authors and publishers over print on demand terms | Hotseat Radio
Time: 4/18/2008, 2:15 pm
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