Quote:
Originally Posted by khalleron
Amazon sells more books than anyone else on the planet, so they must be an enemy of literacy, right?
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Amazon sells more books than Xinhua, the dominant bookstore chain in China? Do you have statistics on this?
Also, Le Guin doesn't claim Amazon is against literacy. And I'm sure Xinhua is also for literacy, so long it isn't used to read books critical of the regime.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bgalbrecht
Does anyone have any anecdotes showing that Amazon exerts pressure on the publishers based on content?
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The best known anecdote concerns special treatment of a book by a powerful American political figure:
http://www.mhpbooks.com/why-does-ama...uglas-preston/
I also see content implications in Amazon's attempt to get all eBooks sold for $9.99 or less except for
a small number of specialized titles. This favors content that can be quickly written as opposed to books requiring multiple years of research.