Amazon.com Telling POD Publishers - Let BookSurge Print Your Books, or Else...

Sunday, March 30, 2008: Somebody started an online petition to combat Amazon's actions here. Please sign it online to show your support. (Note: Donations are NOT required by that site to sign the petition.)

Saturday, March 29, 2008: Whiskey Creek Press is a traditional publisher that uses POD technology. We were alerted by one of their authors that they appear to be the latest Amazon/BookSurge "buy" button victim. We checked and it appears numerous Whiskey Creek Press print books are now only available through resellers. The Kindle versions are, of course, still for sale directly through Amazon.

Friday, March 28, 2008: As of Thursday, the "buy" buttons for the vast majority of PublishAmerica books were removed from Amazon.com. The books can now only be purchased by resellers.

PublishAmerica issued a press release today that states, "PublishAmerica will not comply with Amazon's ultimatum, and will not allow that company to dictate who will print PublishAmerica's books, and at what conditions."

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Some Print on Demand (POD) publishers are privately screaming "Monopoly!" while others are seething with rage over startling phone conversations they're having with Amazon/BookSurge representatives. Why isn't anybody talking about it openly? Because they're afraid - very, very afraid.

Amazon.com purchased BookSurge, a small POD publisher/printer back in 2005. Amazon also lists and sells titles for the largest POD printer, Lightning Source, which is owned by Ingram (the large book distributor). According to their website, Lightning Source serves more than 4,300 publisher clients and has more than 400,000 titles in their system.

You'd think Amazon's purchase of BookSurge might have made things a bit uncomfortable between the two companies. However, they continued to work together, getting books on demand to Amazon.com's loyal customers. Things appeared to be cruising along just fine, but perhaps not anymore.

Reports have been trickling in from the POD underground that Amazon/BookSurge representatives have been approaching some Lightning Source customers, first by email introduction and then by phone (nobody at BookSurge seems to want to put anything in writing). When Lightning Source customers speak with the BookSurge representative, the reports say, they are basically told they can either have BookSurge start printing their books or the "buy" button on their Amazon.com book pages will be "turned off."

The book information would remain on Amazon, and people could still order the book from resellers (companies that list new and used books in Amazon's Marketplace section), but customers would not be able to buy the book from Amazon directly, nor qualify for the coveted "free shipping" that Amazon offers.

Don't believe it? I didn't believe it either. I am Angela Hoy, the co-owner of POD services company BookLocker.com and publisher of WritersWeekly.com. I am well-known in the industry for my activism performed through WritersWeekly Whispers and Warnings. Over the years, we have helped writers recover tens of thousands of dollars in fees from deadbeat editors and publishers, helped them negotiate better contract terms, assisted writers in obtaining payment after their copyrights have been violated, and even assisted police in collecting evidence to prosecute criminals who have preyed on writers. I am also the author of 11 non-fiction books.

Still doubting the reports could really be true, I emailed an Amazon/BookSurge representative who's been trying to get us to talk to him by phone. John Clifford of Amazon/BookSurge called me at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26, 2008.

My first comment was to tell him we heard a rumor that POD publishers who didn't use BookSurge would have the "buy" button on their Amazon.com book pages turned off.

He said, "What? Who told you that? That's not true!"

I told him I'd heard some rumors from the "POD underground."

He said he'd previously tried to talk to my husband, Richard Hoy, the President and CEO of BookLocker. I explained that we had a very bad experience with BookSurge in the past and that he was, naturally, hesitant to do business with them again. (Google the words BookSurge complaint without any quotes to see other customers' comments about them as well.)

He claimed the people who worked for BookSurge back then are probably all gone (but that didn't explain the more recent complaints). He made his sales pitch, talking about percentages and such, and said many POD publishers are resisting their attempts to convert to BookSurge. Mr. Clifford also said BookSurge's aim was to help Amazon customers get their books faster.

What he didn't say was that Lightning Source not only packages books for Amazon customers in boxes that feature an Amazon.com return address label, but also drop-ships those orders directly to Amazon customers at Amazon's request. Hmm...

He stated several times that books not converted to BookSurge's system would be "taken down." Since that wasn't exactly what we'd heard, I asked about books that perhaps weren't selling well, that aren't good candidates for converting to BookSurge (books that would remain for sale through Lightning Source, but would never be converted to BookSurge due to the time/expense involved).

Contrary to what he stated at the very beginning of our conversation, Mr. Clifford finally admitted that books not converted to BookSurge would have the "buy" button turned off on Amazon.com, just as we'd heard from several other POD publishers who had similar conversations with Amazon/BookSurge representatives.

Mr. Clifford said authors of those books could participate in the Amazon.com Advantage Program, meaning they would have to pay Amazon $29.95 per year PLUS 55% of the list price of their book, as well as buy and then send those books to Amazon directly for them to warehouse and ship to customers.

I explained to him that we had more than 1500 books in print and that it would take quite awhile to convert all of those over to BookSurge's system. He said as long as the relationship was "moving forward" that the "buy" button would remain active on our authors' books that had not yet been switched.

Another comment Mr. Clifford made was that their eventual desire is to have no books from other POD publishers available on Amazon.com.

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?!

I have to wonder if Jeff Bezos is even aware of what is going on within his organization. Here is Amazon's Vision Statement, taken directly from their website:

"Our vision is to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online."

What it doesn't say is, "Our customers can buy any print on demand book they might want online...as long as we also get paid to print it."

Nobody likes being backed into a corner, and saying "do this or else" naturally breeds angry rejection and hostility. If we did agree to sign the contract, pulling and transferring files to Amazon/Booksurge would take an enormous amount of time and money. From the POD publishers we've talked to, and from our own experience at BookLocker, we could all be looking at a dire and immediate threat of revenue cuts if we refuse to sign the Amazon/BookSurge contract. Most importantly, there could be an outcry from and potential financial hardship on the authors, who are completely innocent in all of this.

In BookLocker's opinion, and the opinion of all the fellow Lightning Source customers we talked to, the Amazon/BookSurge proposal does not appear attractive at all (yes, we obtained the contract and the file submission specifications). Amazon/BookSurge would make money two ways on Amazon.com sales - first the fee for printing the books, and then 48% of the list price of each sale through Amazon.com. Lightning Source allows its customers to set their own discount rate for Amazon and other retail sales, and does not force POD publishers or authors to pay "48%."

Furthermore, it could take the larger POD publishers months to submit their book files to Amazon/BookSurge, at a considerable cost and number of man-hours. This makes the deal even less attractive. Finally, while the initial list of books submitted by POD publishers could be submitted to Amazon/BookSurge for free, the contract states future books would cost $50 each to process. The cost for individual authors to publish through BookSurge is considerably more, with an average publishing package cost of more than $1,000.

Since Amazon/BookSurge does not offer Ingram distribution (Ingram distribution is considered imperative in the industry for bookstore sales), any company that accepts the Amazon/BookSurge deal, who desires to keep offering Ingram distribution, may need to maintain two copies of the book files. Since the Amazon/BookSurge current specs don't match the Lightning Source specs, future book files, both interior and cover, may need to be formatted separately. So, they would have to pay double the setup fees and might have to do double the formatting work as well...or pay designers to do double the formatting work.

Likewise, self-published authors who believe they must have Ingram Distribution AND an active "buy" button on Amazon to be successful may need to pay double the setup fees (to a POD publisher AND Amazon/BookSurge), and also may need to create two separate sets of formatted files.

In the event where two versions of a book might be available, Mr. Clifford said the Amazon/BookSurge version of the POD book would trump (override) the version offered by Lightning Source on Amazon.com.

AMAZON WAS BUILT BY BOOKS....That Were Written By AUTHORS

When authors get wind of this, we believe they are going to be livid. Authors are also readers. They love books. We suspect they buy from Amazon in droves. I, myself, have been an Amazon junkie for years, not only heavily promoting Amazon.com in my non-fiction books for writers and on our very popular website, WritersWeekly.com, but also listing my own books for sale there, ordering other authors' books, DVDs and numerous other products as well. I pulled up our Amazon customer account and looked at our receipts. We've spent $1508.81 at Amazon.com in the past six months. Multiply that by the number of authors this will affect...authors who, like me, have a multitude of websites to choose from when doing their shopping online.

In addition, authors participate in the Amazon experience, via blogs on the website, by posting reviews about other books, and more, activities that help to continually make Amazon bigger and better. Authors are a loyal bunch! For years, they've been faithfully sending their readers to Amazon.com, again and again, even when they earned lower royalties for doing so.

It's not inconceivable to think that this group, if shoved against a wall like this, won't simply pledge their allegiance elsewhere. Let's face it, BarnesandNoble.com offers free shipping on orders of $25 or more, too. Authors can change the links to their book pages on their websites, in their ezines and press releases, and even in their email signatures to their book's page at BarnesandNoble.com. Authors can spend their own money elsewhere as well (as I plan to do). I imagine BarnesandNoble.com will be very happy to process the extra book sales that could result from all of this.

Amazon.com might also upset countless companies that have Amazon Affiliate bookstores on their websites (many authors have these, too!). If Amazon/BookSurge were to follow through with turning off the "buy" buttons for thousands of POD titles, customers following those links from other websites could be confused and annoyed. After clicking on a link, they would find no easy way to purchase the book directly from Amazon, and no way to obtain free shipping on that book, even if they're willing to buy more products to meet the $25 free shipping threshold. One would think Amazon must know the free shipping strategy works to upsell customers on additional products. That's why they offer it. Without it, these customers could have no incentive to buy more products because the product they surfed in to buy does not qualify.

One has to wonder if traditional publishers will be next? Will Amazon eventually require all books sold through Amazon.com to be printed by BookSurge?

Let's all hope and pray this situation is one huge, misguided idea from some mid-level management person and not corporate policy being dictated from the office of Jeff Bezos.

What can you do? Let Amazon know what you think about this "offer" by Amazon/BookSurge.

The names of their Officers and Directors are here: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p;=irol-govManage

Amazon's Investor Relations Team email address appears near the bottom of this page: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p;=irol-faq

Their address is:

Amazon.com, Inc.
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226

Next, tell your author friends, your book buyers, your website visitors, your ezine subscribers and everyone else about this situation. Amazon.com was built on books. Books are written by authors. Unfortunately, it appears authors may ultimately be the innocent pawns in this power struggle.

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COMMENTS BY READERS ARE WELCOME! Please email your comments to Angela and she will post them right here. Please let her know in your email if you do NOT want your name published. Email angela@writersweekly.com OR angela@booklocker.com.

COMMENTS ARE STREAMING IN! THEY APPEAR AT THE END OF THIS PAGE.

Angela Hoy is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, which offers free job listings and paying markets for freelance writers every Wednesday. Subscribe at WritersWeekly.com. She is also the publisher at BookLocker, which offers full-service, affordable print on demand publishing and free ebook publishing.

~~PERSONAL POSTSCRIPT TO AUTHORS FROM ANGELA~~

There is no reason to panic. Not having an active "buy" button on Amazon.com is not the end of the world.

After selling print books for eight years, it has been our experience that "chance purchases" of self-published books on Amazon.com are not the norm. Authors slap books up on Amazon.com all the time, don't market them, and sell zero copies. For most self-published authors, sales are almost always author-driven, meaning the bookstore link you use in YOUR marketing efforts is what's driving your sales, not just simply having your book listed on Amazon.com.

We know from experience that the customer is going to buy your book from where you tell them to buy your book. If you want your customers to qualify for free shipping, you can send them to BarnesandNoble.com, and tell them their order might qualify for free shipping (many people don't know BarnesandNoble.com offers free shipping!).

THESE ARE THE ACTION ITEMS WE ARE GIVING TO OUR BOOKLOCKER.COM AUTHORS:

1. Remove all Amazon.com links from your marketing materials - website, ezine, blog, email signature, press releases, articles -- everything.

2. Change those links to your book's page on BarnesandNoble.com. To obtain that link, search for your book's title at http://www.bn.com. All Booklocker.com print books are on their website.

3. If/when the booklocker.com "buy" buttons are turned off on Amazon.com and you feel your button absolutely must be on, please contact Angela to discuss how we can help you participate in their Advantage program.

4. Don't forget to contact Amazon to tell them what you're doing in response to their horrible actions!

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READER COMMENTS
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Just when the publishing world has, according to several experts, finally opened up to the little guy who wants to write and publish, it is almost unreal that Amazon would even think about doing this.

I know they want to make money, all businesses do, but this certainly can't be the best way to go about it. Besides it being a bad idea, it's also inexcusable that they haven't come out and let people know about this
directly. If they can't look authors in the eye and explain the program, what does that tell you?

I also agree, I'm sure there are other companies, B & N included, who'd be more than happy to accept business from buyers and sellers alike.

I hope you pass on all of your collected responses. Keep up the good work, Angela.

Cheryl Pickett
http://www.publishinganswers.com

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Amazon? WOW!

This is huge, Ang!

They could hurt the whole POD industry.

I see lawsuits over this move.

Mike

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Dear Angela,

As always, you are on target and on the leading edge. Thank you.

As a journeyman freelance journalist with a dozen books to my credit published by major houses such as Simon & Schuster--but also as a former editor for Prentice Hall--I decided my way past the current publishing situation was to put both my writing and editing skills to use, and simply publish my own--and others'--books via LightningSource. I have also owned an advertising agency, and was a marketing consultant to the State Theatre of Virginia. I had it all to operate such a business except buckets of money. So, LightningSource and admission to the monolith that is Amazon seemed the way to deal with the current climate; I refer, specifically, to the fact that to sell non-fiction books to mainstream publishers these days, one has to have either killed someone or to have masqueraded as something one is not, preferably wildly NOT. I have done neither. Nor do I intend to.

I am dismayed; it seems the homogenization of America is now consuming its intellectual product, in addition to the intellectual diversity and freedom it has been gobbling at least since the current imperial presidency aimed its sights at the Constitution. Nonetheless, I shall forge ahead; at some point, I thought I would be able to cease being a 1960s-style activist and act my age (which is 60: I actually WAS a 1960s activist!) Apparently not. So, I shall write to those individuals whose contact information you thoughtfully and helpfully provided. I shall ramp up my website for the books; I shall do more promotion of fewer titles. I shall attempt to forge an alternative downstream market access point. I shall continue my activism on all fronts. And maybe someday, like our forebears, I shall get to move to France and enjoy some fruits of freelancing, some way, somehow. I do think the current generation of writers working at it day in and day out are, instead of Hemingway and friends, the true Lost Generation.

Thanks again for your courageous stand and impeccable journalism.

Sincerely,

Laura Harrison McBride
http://www.lauraharrisonmcbride.net

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Hello, Ang.

Thanks for the heads up on this. Unfortunately, it wouldn't surprise me to find Amazon has suddenly gone greedy. I will write them, however.

Personally, I don't care. I already have a great deal--with you. Amazon for me is, in a manner of speaking, just a premiere show window, like having your book in the front window of the book store on Times Square in NYC. But if someone asks me where to buy online, I send them to you.

Amazon and the others can jump in the lake, as far as I'm concerned. Thank God for the Hoys and for Booklocker!

Patch Rose
Columnist and Freelance Writer
Read Patch's award-winning writing at http://www.patchrose.com

Author, One Year To Live? A Nobody's Guide To Surviving Cancer
http://www.booklocker.com/books/3131.html

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I am a POD author and I am very disappointed that Amazon would even consider such aggressive plans with BookSurge. If any aspect of what they are proposing comes to pass, it will hurt authors, POD publishers, and printers. Too many conglomerates have come along and “gulped” up the marginal profits of small businesses, forcing them to shut down, in this country already.

Janice A. Stork, Sacramento, California
http://www.janicestork.com

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Angie:

Thanks for bringing the Amazon/BookSurge "machine" to the attention of WritersWeekly readers. Shame on Amazon!

Once again, you're providing a valuable service to your audience.

You can be sure I will share the article with ASJA, NWU, the Maryland Writers' Association, and every other editor and author I can think of.

All best,

Beth Rubin
http://www.onthewritepage.com

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Hi Angela,

I, for one, don't like Amazon in the first place and feel that it would be time for everyone to boycott every company that deems to be linked with them. There are many drop shipping facilities around if you look for them. I will most likely get my own printer to print my books. Amazon has always made more money than everyone else on books and they do not lift a finger to do any of the work. The point of POD publishers is to get away from greedy people like the bookstores, and thus it would cost an author less to bring their books into a physical store than letting amazon hold all of your files. Time for amazon to sink with Atlantis.

George Arnold Hall
President / CEO IS5000 Publications and Technological Services Canada Inc.
http://www.is5000.com
Author of Ancient Black Objects
Creator of New Camelot, Knights of the Round, Immortals of Scar Current Projects: Sinister Circuits, Koryu Gannen (novels, first on back burner, latter in process)

Angela:

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Great article on Amazon/Booksurge. You are right to call all authors and POD publishers to action. If we don't make our thoughts known to Amazon, they will follow through on their plan to strong arm authors into "submission". Thanks for the call to action.

Patti
http://www.bookbargainsandpreviews.com

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Thank you for the article about the Amazon/Booksurge deal. If this goes into effect it would be a sad day for any author and publisher. While Amazon is a huge resource, if this goes through I would find other resources to purchase books that I am interested in buying. There is too much competition in the industry and people can buy from the authors, their publishers or other sites that lists books for sale. Like other comments mentioned I can see lawsuits and court injunctions to prevent this type of action. While I am not a lawyer I feel that it may also violate some anti-trust laws. Hopefully, like you stated in your article, Amazon/Booksurge will come to their senses and cancel this tactic.

Thanks again for a great article and I am glad to see that actions have been indicated in other responses to involve other organizations and publishers in an effort to convince Amazon/Booksurge that this is not the way to do business.

Hopefully they will listen.

Dennis

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Dear Angela:

Thanks for your article on the Amazon/BookSurge issue. Well done.

As the author of four POD novels, with number 5 and 6 in the works, there is no way that I am going to give up LSI printing or Ingram distribution because of Amazon's power play.

Amazon is not the only game in town, and I expect that if they continue with this crazy scheme, someone will come along and take their place.

I suspect this arrangement will run afoul of anti-trust laws, but we'll see. The lawyers must be rubbing their hands together already.

So, goodbye Amazon, hello B&N; or whatever.

Ron Peters
Author of the Dun Wheeling PI series
http://www.ronpeters.net

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Hi Ang,

Thanks for informing us authors - and readers - about Amazon's shameful attempt to reap even greater profits for all OUR hard work! Isn't their cut already big enough? Sheesh! It amazes me the extent some companies will go for a buck, at the same time shutting down our opportunities. It seems that Amazon IS going for a monopoly and IS looking for a way to control what is sold...or not sold. I can tell you that if they remove the purchase buttons from "unsanctioned" POD books, their stock will be worth nothing in just a short time. It'll be "good-bye, Amazon.com." We will go elsewhere to sell AND purchase.

Tina Field Howe
Author of "Alysa of the Fields" and "Snailsworth, a slow little story." published through BookLocker.com
http://www.tinafieldhowe.com/Alysa/

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What are they smoking over at Amazon?

This has got to be a joke. Seriously, whoever the idiot is who made this decision should be canned. This is like being five years old and finding out there’s no Santa Claus. Really, this must be a joke because it’s sooo ridiculous to think they could be that stupid. Hello, knock, knock, anyone home??? Amazon will totally go under if they do this. It’s a joke, right?

Please keep us updated on the joke!

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Angela, Thank you for throwing some light on yet another example of a big company that has decided to roll over small companies.

Here¹s a copy of the letter I sent:

I simply have to register my dismay over the apparent effort by Amazon's BookSurge division to obtain a monopoly on printing and distributing Publish-on-Demand (POD) books. Those POD publishers who refuse to change over to your system have their Buy Button shut down. This is a serious threat to authors' livelihoods. I am an author, and I have both bought and sold many books over Amazon. I'll be looking at whether your policy changes in the future, but until that time, I'll be doing business with Barnes & Noble instead.

Shelley

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Angela,

An author friend of mine (we're writing two books together) gave me this information and it's simply dreadful. I don't understand why they need to do this outside of lining someone's pockets with extra jingle. My own book will end up suffering as well. But like someone else said in a comment to you, they're not the only game in town.

Thanks for the great article. I brought it to the attention of another small press and they truly appreciate it.

Thanks again,

PatM

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Dear Angela,

It's taken me years to consider self-publishing. I found a small POD publisher right in my little town that provides everything including listing with Ingram at a super affordable price. So, I was seriously considering moving forward. I was so excited. Now, I'm wondering if I have to go back to waiting for a traditional publisher to pick me up. If I still want to be listed in Ingram, which, of course, I do, the amount of work and expense that will be required makes self-publishing no longer an option for me.

I work with a lot of writers. I'm a freelance editor, consultant and writing coach as well as an author myself. I'm involved with the San Francisco Writers Conference, know a few literary agents and have a sense of what goes on in the publishing industry. This feels like a huge step backward for the industry as a whole. It shackles not only POD publishers and authors but everyone along the publishing chain.

I have a hard time believing that someone won't cry, 'Foul!" Don't you think lawsuits are sure to follow?

Sincerely,

Nina Amir

Nina Amir
Author, journalist, book and article editor, writing coach, consultant,
speaker
CopyWright Communications
http://www.copywrightcommunications.com
http://www.purespiritcreations.com

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Angela

As an Amazon:

1. Customer

2. Shareholder
3. Affiliate

4. Supplier (via Lightning Source)

I am completely disgusted by this latest news, my shares will be sold today as there is a lot of negative press around this already.

1, 3 and 4 will be following very quickly if this news is true.

Eric Locken
http://www.InterviewBooks.com

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Thanks for the updates on the Amazon situation. I've changed my links, dropping a link to Amazon and now emphasizing Booklocker and B&N.; -Jerry

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Angela-

I have written over 25 books on paranormal topics that I have sold by myself through my web page or smaller publishers specializing in this sort of thing. In 2006 I won an award for a romance novel I wrote. Not wanting to put up with the usual BS from publishers, I self-published and put it on Amazon. BIG MISTAKE! I sold not ONE copy! Now I am trying to find someone who can promote it as well. Amazon is absolutely worthless! I don't know who they think they are and then when I tired to remove it, they refused and said they still had to make it available! Can you believe it?

No name

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I wonder whether Amazon's attempt to force print on demand publishers to use Book Surge is related to its continuing move away from books, and even retail in general.

Not only do they now sell a lot of other things, but they are spending a lot of money moving into "cloud computing" and logistics/fulfillment services (look at http://aws.amazon.com if you want to know more about it). The books business may now (in their eyes) be most important as a cash cow to fund all this.

Then there is Kindle: pressuring people to move to Book Surge may eventually prove to be a way to move them to Kindle.

There is also the arrogance that comes of being an industry leader, that makes some businesses think "everyone would be happier if they just used our wonderful product/services instead of going to our inferior competitors". Microsoft is another example of this.

Graeme Pietersz
http://pietersz.co.uk/
http://moneyterms.co.uk/

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I was appalled to read of Amazon's bullyboy tactics on your WritersWeekly web site. I have been a keen supporter and frequent buyer on their web site since they first appeared, and spend hundreds of dollars every year -- not just on books, music, and DVDs for myself, but on birthday presents for my sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, and friends.

The actions you describe in your article bring to mind the bullying way that Microsoft came to dominate the world of personal computing, which I have always resented and resisted until it was no longer possible. The prospect that Amazon will control the whole world of publishing in the same way is intolerable to me as an avid reader since the age of 4.

I have decided that, from today, I will take my business elsewhere, and that I will tell everyone I know that I am doing so and why.

Perhaps publishers and/or booksellers could set up some sort of co-operative operation in opposition to Amazon. Someone has to do it.

Mary Monks

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Angela: Fantastic article on this important breaking news. Since Ingram and Amazon have been in bed together for so long, it’s puzzling that Amazon would jeopardize that relationship in this way. Which causes the conspiracy theorist in me to wonder: Could Ingram somehow benefit from this situation? Ingram’s Digital Group has a publisher solution called “CoreSource” which will function (for publishers who can afford it) as a repository of digital content and as a converter of that content into needed versions for POD and other digital and ebook applications. Voila: Ingram benefits from publishers being forced to convert to two formats, each of which has different specs.

Please sign me “anonymous”!

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Hi Angela

I read your blog on Booksurge with interest. We sell books on line - including Lightning Source as well as being LS publishers (Echo Library).

We process between 2.5 and 3 million orders a year and distribute these to 200 countries world wide daily.

We pack and despatch in Chicago; here in the UK in Madrid and Frankfurt.

We have been Amazon Marketplace sellers since 1999 and if not the largest marketplace seller for books we are certainly in the top 3. We have 2 marketplace shops on .com (and 5 on .co.uk, 2 on fr, 2 on .de, 2 on .co.jp and 1 on .ca)

I cannot believe that Amazon are condoning the antics of the Booksurge salespeople you report - but if Amazon are supporting this strategy then it is time for us to offer our resources to a) get it stopped and b) support an alternative marketing strategy.

Lightning Source produce books to order within 24 hrs from a catalogue of over 500,000 titles - we sell thousands a week - this is only possible thanks to the extraordinary investment in printing hardware and knowhow by LS under the direction of John Ingram - for Booksurge to suggest they can offer the same solution is at best a joke - at worst if they bullied a signifigant percentage of LS publishers into transfering to Booksurge they would simply not be able to produce the books.

At the end of the day Amazon own their own site and can do pretty well what they want - whilst if we all jump up and down they may back off in the short term - in the long term POD is the future for the book industry and LS publishers should realise that now is the time to have a greater say in how it will work.

LS publishers should have their own web-site to sell LS books world wide - distribution is the key and we already have that solution.

I would welcome the chance to discuss this further.

Regards
Dan Cherrington
paperbackshop.co.uk

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Dear Angela,

I just read your very good piece on Amazon's campaign to get pod publishers to use Booksurge. I work at a medium-sized university press, where most of our titles are conventionally printed via offset. However, Amazon called our director about two weeks ago, telling him that soon we would be required to use Booksurge, and promising to follow through with an email explaining their terms. As of this writing, we haven't received the email.

All best,
Laura Waldron
Marketing Director
University of Pennsylvania Press

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Thanks for calling attention to Amazon's power play, Angela. They will spend years cleaning up after this public relations debacle. I just blogged about it, and since my blog is automatically tied into the Amazon Daily system, in about twenty minutes my posting will be mirrored at the bottom of the half-dozen Amazon purchase pages on which my books appear.

Name not published on request

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Dear Angela,
A few weeks ago I had the experience of having the "Buy Button" turned off at Amazon UK and had not been able to get a sensible response from Lightning Source, and now I read your article and understand what's going on. I am absolutely furious.

As it happens I am about to open a POD publishing company similar to Blurb or Lulu, with very aggressive i.e. good for authors) prices, and for this to happen with Amazon is about the worst thing imaginable.
I will be making formal complaints to the UK Monopolies Commission, raising it with my M.P., and complaining to any relevant trade body I can think of.

Frankly the best thing we can all do is to boycott Amazon - just don't buy from them any more. Shop with their competition instead, at least until they change their stupid minds. And raise publicity against them, too. Complain to the press. I certainly will spend the rest of today doing nothing else. I'm going to remove the buy links to Amazon from my Web sites.

ACTION NOW, AUTHORS and POD PUBLISHERS!

Clive Warner
Citiria Publishing and Citiria Books.
http://www.citiria.com

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Well, I have yet to sell a book through Amazon, so their attempt at bullying isn't going to bother me any. In fact, it just guarantees that I'll never buy another product from them. I've only bought a few things and have had the last two purchases go wrong - at my cost and there is never any attempt to answer my concerns. Seals it for me.

Lynn Allen
Author of Life Out Here from Cheraw Publishing, LLC

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I quit buying books from Amazon when they began making small presses pay extra co-op fees. My online affiliate is through Powells, and if I can't obtain a book from my local indie store here in town, that's where I order it from.

I haven't suggested anyone use Amazon for more than basic research in years, and I'm not about to change that now.

Susan Helene Gottfried
http://westofmars.com
http://westofmars.blogspot.com

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Amazon's new action sure rings of antitrust. What's next? When Amazon decides to go into traditional publishing, will they lock out S&S; and all the other biggies? Just my thoughts for whatever they're worth.

Susan Wingate, Writer
http://www.susanwingate.com

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PublishAmerica Responds Publicly to Amazon/Booksurge

Dear Mr. Clifford:

This is to let you know that, as far as PublishAmerica is concerned, your company's recent strong-arming tactics are having the opposite effect.

Quite some time ago, sir, long before you were born, American soldiers fought the Battle of the Bulge in Europe. When the 101st Airborne Division found itself surrounded by the enemy, the Germans presented U.S. general McAuliffe with a piece of paper that demanded his surrender.

McAuliffe looked at it, borrowed a soldier's pen, wrote in caps, "NUTS!", then proceeded to win the battle.

There's our answer, sir. Couldn't have said it any better.

We'll be happy to work with your company again, as soon as you are ready for business as usual. Meanwhile we will continue to make our almost 30,000 titles available to Amazon as we always have, in ways that have always worked just fine. But PublishAmerica will not surrender to your bullying and your ultimatum.

When Amazon comes to its senses again, please let us know.

Enjoy your weekend.
For PublishAmerica, Inc., --willem meiners

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I was shocked by many this morning when I checked on my book on Amazon and found that the BUY ME button is gone on my book. I am with publish america and now have one more challenge in promoting my book.

They do have a comment that tells customers that they can buy from "Other" sellers listed. It is certainly a slap in the face to people like me who have spent thousands of dollars in advertising my book and utilizing Amazon as the servicing supplier. That certainly will all be shifted to B&N.com.;

One more time where big business just isn't big enough and grows off the sweat and heartache of the small guy.

Thanks for all your efforts.

Brenda Munday Gifford
Author

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Amazon is a retailer, and yet they have long demanded (and received) wholesaler discounts on the products they sell giving them a non-competitive (and if anyone would really take a look at the fair trade laws on pricing, most likely illegal) advantage that has certainly contributed to the demise of independent bookstores. Whether much of the book-publishing world has subscribed to their business model through short-sighted financial desires (or in the case of self-published authors, ego as well) - the chickens have come home to roost. To produce a horrible mixed metaphor: everyone made their beds, so sleep in them. If you don't want to, you are going to have to take a rather long-term hit for a longer-term good - something Americans seem culturally incapable of every actually acting on.

Submitted by owner of a small publisher and specialty wholesale distributor

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