Beware of Amazon
By Douglas Gibson
Most readers are aware that Amazon is becoming an increasing force in the book business. Very few are aware just how dominant it is becoming. In fact, the adjective “dominating” seems appropriate here. As in “bullying”. Let me explain how this has affected me, as a Canadian author.
In February of this year Amazon was engaged in re-negotiating its terms with the IPG organisation. IPG is a North American distributor that handles scores of publishers, most of them fairly small. Among them is my own (excellent) Canadian publisher, ECW Press.
The “negotiating” consisted of Amazon stating that they wanted a markedly increased discount, which would see both the publishers involved and their authors lose close to a tenth of their revenue, including revenue from both books in print and in e-book form.
With the support of the publishers they serve, IPG protested. Then they learned about “negotiating” with Amazon. The gun-to-the-head Amazon style led to the threat that IPG had to agree to the proposed terms, or all of their e-book titles would be pulled off the Amazon site. That is precisely what happened in the middle of February. And that is the situation today.
There was general outrage in the bookselling community, with some independents in the US making a point of stocking up on the titles by the affected publishers. Some contributors to the debate in Publishers Weekly used terms like “thuggish” to describe Amazon’s behaviour.
But that, I suggest, is the whole point. Amazon, I believe, is deliberately targeting these smaller fish “pour encourager les autres”. In other words, to scare the other, bigger publishers who will in due course find themselves “negotiating “ with Amazon, and will do so in the knowledge that failure to accept the dictated terms will result in their books being de-listed.
This, I believe, is part of a pattern, which sees Amazon getting bigger and not better. Every bookseller is aware of the Amazon “show-rooming” technique, where book buyers were encouraged to use their local bookstore as just that, a showroom. Amazon made it easy for customers in stores to compare electronically the prices in the store with Amazon’s cheaper prices, with the expectation that the store would be challenged to match the lower price. A Book City manager in Toronto told me that he found himself debating this question with customers on three occasions, pointing out that he and his colleagues had jobs there, and that the store not only provided a pleasant local amenity but paid local taxes. He won the debate two times out of three. Amazon has apparently stopped its “show-rooming” program, but the aggressive intent is crystal clear.
We saw it again on April 13 when the US Justice Department sided with Amazon in their complaint that Apple had colluded with a number of major U.S. Publishers to allow them to set the price of the e-books they published, with Apple taking a set 30% distribution fee. It was a sweeping victory for Amazon, which was able to pose as the defender of little people who simply wanted to get their e-books as cheaply as possible. The New York Times quoted an industry observer as saying that if Amazon had been “the puppet-master” they could not have gotten a better result.
Speaking about this decision on behalf of American authors, Scott Turow lamented the fact that in defence of a fine theory that is intended to prevent monopolies, the Justice Department had just made a real monopoly in the world of books much likelier. He clearly was referring to the increasing, dominating power of Amazon.
It could get much worse. Amazon is acquiring editors and publishers to work for it, and, like a pizza delivery company acquiring tons of flour and cheese, this is causing much comment. A cynical publishing friend tells me not to worry about this, with a distant Canadian example. “Remember when Coles started publishing books? The distributors always get out of the business of producing books from scratch when they find out how hard it is.” We shall see.
As for me, there are many other ways of getting Stories About Storytellers in e-book form without going through Amazon. But I had a crisis of conscience when I realised that I had accepted a role as a juror in the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, administered by Quill & Quire. I fulfilled my duty as a judge (very impressed by the five novels that were finalists, with The New World by David Bezmozgis as the deserving winner). In the end I accepted the reader’s fee from Quill & Quire, but refused the offer of a further gift from Amazon. This leaves me free to write warning pieces like this.
After a 42-year career in Canadian book publishing, Douglas Gibson wrote book of memoirs, Stories About Storytellers: Publishing Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, and Others (2011) which he has turned into a very successful conference/stage show. Douglas Gibson is a former CCA board member.
Douglas Gibson’s memoirs, STORIES ABOUT STORYTELLERS: Publishing Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau and Others (October 1, 2011, ECW Press) is available at good bookstores and online retailers (Cloth edition: ISBN 978–1-77041–068-8/ePub: 978–177090-049–3). For more information check out the website www.douglasgibsonbooks.com
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCA. The CCA encourages open debate and a diversity of views.
I used to go to Amazon on a regular basis, just for the unique feature of being able to show “Others Like This Item”. Now it seems that feature is different and has gone downhill or is totally gone from the site. It’s too bad:(