Monopsony, Amazon, Colbert, and you.

Oh, Amazonia... :/

Amazon closes a contract with one major book publisher (not that one, though) via Melville House.  (Storystream of the Hachette-Amazon battle at the Verge.)

Do I believe the worst of Amazon?  Yep.  I know I'm not alone.

So does Stephen Colbert.  No, really.  Back in June, he replied to them on his show:  Amazon vs. Hachette and with Sherman Alexie (see the Verge).  Because Stephen's a Hachette author.


Paul Krugman explains in Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K. at the NYT.

Of the many great links Paul has in his op-ed, there is the New Republic's Amazon Must Be Stopped: It's too big. It's cannibalizing the economy. It's time for a radical plan.

Which tells you a lot right there.  But you read it to see all the scary bits yourself.



Do you feel like Big Companies are greedily turning the clock back a century?  Yep.  Dear darling Amazonia has that attitude as well.  Funny about that -- it's only twenty years old, y'know.  The lip service is all about "serving customers' needs" but it's really about money.  Your money, my money, the money that authors and editors -- and yes, publishers -- don't get.

I want readers to buy books so authors keep writing.  That author is the face the reader sees.  Sometimes the only face.  Behind every publisher, there are legions of people making that book.

I'm one of those people too... helping to make the book.