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Originally Posted by rhadin
I appreciate that a lot of people love Amazon and think that Amazon can do no wrong -- it being God's gift to humankind and all. However, the reality is that Amazon is not a fair player in the ebook market -- never has been and probably never will be.
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What does "fair" even mean in this context?
Amazon has the choice of screwing the consumers or screwing the publishers. I'm not a publisher, so I don't really have a problem with that. Publishers want to screw retailers and consumers. As a consumer, I object. And as a consumer, I want to screw retailers and publishers. In fact, I want great books for free. I understand that retailers and publishers might object, though.
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Amazon dictates the terms of the contract to indie authors. There is no negotiation. Either Amazon's way or the highway. This is also true in regards to small presses. I worked with a small press in trying to negotiate a change in certain terms to the contract and Amazon point blank told the publisher to sign on the dotted line or go away.
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So what? There is *no way* that Amazon could afford to negotiate separate contracts with thousands of indie authors, many of whom will sell less than 100 books, total. I don't get to negotiate the price I'm paying for books with Amazon, either. If I don't like their price, I'll look elsewhere.
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The only publishers with any clout at all with Amazon are the BPHs and they have clout only because of the volume of books they publish and because Apple gave them an alternative method.
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Well, yeah, that's how people get clout. Most indie authors can't negotiate their terms with Amazon. But J.A. Konrath did - because he brought something Amazon wanted to the table.
That's how business (all business) works. If an indie author turns into the next JK Rowlings, Amazon will negotiate with her, too.
I don't see a problem with any of this. Amazon is not a charity. And neither are publishers, and neither are indie authors.
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I am not now nor ever will be in favor of any one retailer dominating the ebook market to such an extent that it can dictate everything -- something that Amazon appears to be working hard to achieve. Monopoly is not good for anyone except the monopolist.
As to whether you value my opinions, it is your right to ignore them, value them, or curse them.
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In three years, the US e-book market has gone from way less than 1% of books sold to about 9% of books sold. This is almost entirely due to the Amazon Kindle. They've come by their almost 80% market share fairly, and by taking care of consumers like me. So I'll keep patronizing them...until I get a better offer.