Latest Authors United letter to Amazon Board

[cfrizz]

Holy crap...That's going to leave a very BIG mark! BRAVO!!!!

[fjtorres]

Any chance Colbert will invite him to his show?

Just a working stiff, writer-publisher from the Carolinas, after all...

[SteveEisenberg]

Authors Gather at Jeff Bezos' Super Secret Campfire Event

Wondering where your favorite writers are this weekend? You won't hear about it on Twitter or Instagram, but the word has finally gotten out. The movers and shakers are at the fabulous, 450 acre Bishop's Lodge Ranch Resort and Spa located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico at Jeff Bezos' super secret annual retreat called Campfire. . . .

The invitation is for an all expenses paid three day weekend. You can fly by private jet to the resort. Everything is comped. There are fabulous dinners, interesting speakers and live music performances. . . .

The Times confirmed at least one other author who signed the infamous Authors United letter who didn't get invited this year. National Medal of the Arts recipient and open letter signatory Maxine Hong Kingston has attended Campfire before, but this year she was not invited which is not surprising. Why would Bezos invite authors who are disparaging his company . . .

The conference brings to mind another secretive conference of world leaders: Bilderberg. Bezos has been a guest of Bilderberg and it seems that he has created his own literary Bilderberg, which is a pretty amazing concept.

I wonder if Bezos ever gives top Kindle Direct Publishing authors this special snowflake treatment.

[TCSimpson]

The video interview got a boggle from me.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

I wonder if Bezos ever gives top Kindle Direct Publishing authors this special snowflake treatment.

Yes. It's called 70%.

[TCSimpson]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Authors Gather at Jeff Bezos' Super Secret Campfire Event


I wonder if Bezos ever gives top Kindle Direct Publishing authors this special snowflake treatment.

Actually, from August payout (You get the check at the end of October) this is what Amazon is doing monthly. (from emails that went out last week sometime.)

The top 100 most-read KDPS authors will each be awarded the following amounts:
• Authors 1 through 10 will receive $25,000
• Authors 11 through 20 will receive $10,000
• Authors 21 through 30 will receive $5,000
• Authors 31 through 50 will receive $2,500
• Authors 51 through 100 will receive $1,000

Authors of the top 100 KDPS titles will each earn the following amounts:
• Titles 1 through 10 will receive $2,500
• Titles 11 through 50 will receive $1,000
• Titles 51 through 100 will receive $500

[TCSimpson]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Yes. It's called 70%.

See my note on this. It's actually gotten a lot better recently for the top authors in KDPS.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Well, somebody is doing more than just mocking the eminently mockable gold-plated gang.
http://watershedchronicle.wordpress....-doug-preston/

Fire-proof attire recommended.

It also links to this interview:

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/amazo...~7sjkMk4Q.html

Wow that Bloomberg interview was just sad. Did she really think that argument would work with the Bloomberg audience? The icing on the cake was when she got offended by the "special snowflake" language. So her argument is that books aren't mere consumer goods, they are "special and unique" but don't call them "special snowflakes" that's offensive.

I'm sure that the Amazon board of directors will be like deer in the headlights when they read that letter. "Is this for real? Am I being punked? Where's Ashton Kutcher hiding?"

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Barcey

So her argument is that books aren't mere consumer goods, they are "special and unique" but don't call them "special snowflakes" that's offensive.

I saw a tally.
She said "special snowflake" 7 time, the Bloomberg guy, once,
In a quote.

As I said above, all that is needed to mock these people is to quote them in proper context.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by TCSimpson

See my note on this. It's actually gotten a lot better recently for the top authors in KDPS.

Cash bonuses >> wine-n-dine.

[fjtorres]

For those who watched the Bloomberg video:

https://www.authorsguild.org/advocac...amazon-letter/

‘The broadcast became heated over the question of whether books are products like any other in the marketplace. Robinson’s tablemate on the program, Bloomberg Contributing Editor Paul Kedrosky, took issue with Robinson’s claim that “a book is not like a brick.” He proceeded to mock authors’ conceptions of themselves as “special snowflakes.” Robinson’s tablemate on the program, Bloomberg Contributing Editor Paul Kedrosky, took issue with Robinson’s claim that “a book is not like a brick.” He proceeded to mock authors’ conceptions of themselves as “special snowflakes.” Robinson took issue with the demeaning phrase, and then defended writers as “creators of serious intellectual property that support our culture and have done so for thousands of years.”

Did they forget the video is readily available on youtube?

[conan50]

Originally Posted by darryl

Excellent.

And that Author's guild president is indeed a special snowflake. One with the hide of a rhionoceros.

That was one of the most painful things I've watched in a long time, like a deer caught in the headlights of a Mack Truck.

[DaveCanRead]

Looking at the price of the new Kindle Voyage, Amazon seems to be using Hachette's pricing model.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Cash bonuses >> wine-n-dine.

Are you saying that cash bonuses do actually lead to the wine and the dine and the Dassault Falcon ride home?

If so, I did come across one example that arguably confirms it:

Hugh Howey, a self-published science fiction novelist who is one of Amazon’s most dedicated defenders, is in Santa Fe but said he had not wanted to go.

“I asked not to be invited back this year, as I want to be able to speak my mind and not have any hint of a quid pro quo,” he wrote in an email.

My view is that changing one's mind is no sin. But I wonder what jokes you guys would make if Hachette had a comparable shindig, and James Patterson said he asked not to be invited but went anyway.

[DiapDealer]

Who cares if someone wants to treat authors to a special snowflake wine 'n' dine weekend--Hachette OR Amazon/Bezos? There is no double-standard. It's OK to believe in your heart of hearts that books and authors are special--and even to treat them as such. I happen to believe the same thing myself. The point is that authors/books are not entitled to any special treatment. Especially with regard to contracts between publishers and distributors. Occasionally getting some special treatment for what you do does not entitle you to special treatment for what you do.

You write things that you need people to buy in order to support yourself by writing things you need people to buy. Like it or not, a good chunk of that process is regular 'ol consumerism, distribution contracts, and retail.