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Critteranne · 02-22-2010, 10:06 PM

I saw this on Teleread and was surprised no one had mentioned it here yet.

An article on io9 mentions the backlash thriller author Douglas Preston has received because of his comments about e-book pricing and windowing. He was already getting backlash from readers (such as one-star reviews on Amazon) because the e-book edition of his latest hardback Impact was delayed. But then, in an article on the Macmillan versus Amazon fight, Preston complained about the "sense of entitlement" of consumers. Since then, he has received even more angry one-star reviews, many of which mention his comments in the article.

Since the backlash, Preston has retreated somewhat. He put an open letter on readers on the front page of the Preston/Child site where he says that authors don't have the power to influence publisher issues. He also told io9 that he thought the his recent comments were "pretty stupid."

So what do you think? Is this too little, too late? Not enough? Still annoying because he is still a fan of windowing? It looks as if the one-star reviews really did have an impact (heh heh) on at least one writer. But do you think other writers will end up responding in this way, apologizing for statements they made about the issue, etc.? And what about the publisher?

Sigh. I hate it when authors bite the hand that feeds them. (Those darn readers, wanting to get bargains!) But I'm still going to buy the upcoming Agent Pendergast novel.

02-22-2010, 10:06 PM	#1
Critteranne Guru Posts: 810 Karma: 23183490 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: MD Device: Kindle, iPad	Backlash against Author Douglas Preston I saw this on Teleread and was surprised no one had mentioned it here yet. An article on io9 mentions the backlash thriller author Douglas Preston has received because of his comments about e-book pricing and windowing. He was already getting backlash from readers (such as one-star reviews on Amazon) because the e-book edition of his latest hardback Impact was delayed. But then, in an article on the Macmillan versus Amazon fight, Preston complained about the "sense of entitlement" of consumers. Since then, he has received even more angry one-star reviews, many of which mention his comments in the article. Since the backlash, Preston has retreated somewhat. He put an open letter on readers on the front page of the Preston/Child site where he says that authors don't have the power to influence publisher issues. He also told io9 that he thought the his recent comments were "pretty stupid." So what do you think? Is this too little, too late? Not enough? Still annoying because he is still a fan of windowing? It looks as if the one-star reviews really did have an impact (heh heh) on at least one writer. But do you think other writers will end up responding in this way, apologizing for statements they made about the issue, etc.? And what about the publisher? Sigh. I hate it when authors bite the hand that feeds them. (Those darn readers, wanting to get bargains!) But I'm still going to buy the upcoming Agent Pendergast novel.