Latest Authors United letter to Amazon Board

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by disconnected

This article I saw today talks about two-sided markets. It's from the NYT so I think it counts as one of ten free articles they allow you each month.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/15/up...abt=0002&abg=1

Interesting article - here is the last two paragraph, which I suspect is why you posted it
=====================
...

“People say, ‘I’m a user of Facebook,’ but in reality what you are is a supplier to Facebook,” Mr. Gans said. “They give you in-kind services and then use the fact that you’re there to sell their actual product to advertisers.”

But Internet users don’t tend to think of it that way, as Mr. Tirole and Mr. Rochet wrote in a 2005 paper, “Two-Sided Markets: A Progress Report”: “In contrast with the buyer of a razor, who internalizes the impact of his purchase on the demand and surplus attached to razor blades, our end-users do not internalize the impact of their purchase on the other side of the market.”

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Thanks for posting. It was well worth reading.

[Barcey]

Preston is still working away on that letter to Amazon. It's been over a month now, you'd think a professional writer could pump out a simple letter a little faster than that. I think the problem is that he keeps writing fiction and the letter is supposed to be non fiction.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/authors-...e-book-battle/

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Barcey

Preston is still working away on that letter to Amazon. It's been over a month now, you'd think a professional writer could pump out a simple letter a little faster than that. I think the problem is that he keeps writing fiction and the letter is supposed to be non fiction.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/authors-...e-book-battle/

Maybe he should get one of Patterson's ghost writers to finish the letter

[drofgnal]

Another article in usatoday about big bad Amazon...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...ness/17376253/

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

Another article in usatoday about big bad Amazon...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...ness/17376253/

That is not an article about big bad Amazon, but rather about Publishers that have long lost touch with retail. Undercutting ebooks with superior pbooks? And the publishers will freewilly cut into their profits? That is exactly the opposite of what they want to do.

[darryl]

@Duckie. Where do they find these people. I have long believed the title of World's greatest luddite was owned by former Australian communications ministers Alston and Conroy. The writer of this USA Today article is a serious and current contender. I can't think of anything which would guarantee the quick and certain demise of the BWM publishers as effectively as following the advice of this particular space cadet.

[eschwartz]

Ohmigod.

How can I possibly respect anyone who says:

Amazon not only does not see books as a product different from any other — it sees the transformation of books into electronic products, ultimately far from the nature of a book, as a unique opportunity for the advancement of its own reading device, the Kindle.

...

It wants to control e-books not least of all because they are not books. Migrating people to this medium means Amazon will own a potentially unlimited new entertainment platform — which, along the way, will have compromised the very form and meaning of a book.

...

Children, in new research, gain much less from reading (or, in the new word, accessing) books on a screen than they do reading actual books. Perhaps adults do too.

And this last gem:

[...]have to start using the physical book, the true book, to undercut e-books, these unreal books,[...]

Title says it all, really... Wolff: Real books can defeat Amazon and e-books

[eschwartz]

And an insightful comment

J. R. Tomlin
"It [Amazon] wants to control e-books not least of all because they are not books." Oh for heaven's sake! I suppose books have to be written on a scroll to be a real book. Formats change. The format is NOT what makes a book a book. Honestly, I am so tired of this Amazon Derangement Syndrome and expect better than this nonsense from USA Today.

[eschwartz]

Does Mr. Wolff realize his page has Amazon advertising? https://www.ghostery.com/en/apps/amazon_associates

[QuantumIguana]

Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to Google water, why, there are studies underway to Google salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk... ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake, children's ice cream.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to Google water, why, there are studies underway to Google salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk... ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake, children's ice cream.

Indeed, "Purity of Essence" is critical. I propose that we unleash a wing of B-52s laden with nuclear weapons to destroy Google, thereby preserving our "essence."

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by TimW

Indeed, "Purity of Essence" is critical. I propose that we unleash a wing of B-52s laden with nuclear weapons to destroy Google, thereby preserving our "essence."

Going to have to dig out my tape (yes, tape) of this movie and watch it again.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

Another article in usatoday about big bad Amazon...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...ness/17376253/

Wow, that is a truly dreadful and idiotic article on so many levels.

[Barcey]

I saw this TED Talk by Jeremy Heimans and it reminded me of the disagreement between Authors United and Indie authors which fits perfectly within his definition of Old Power versus New Power. I found it interesting because I would place Amazon about where he placed Apple and I would place the Big 5 in the bottom left so I think the actual dispute is between two old powers but Amazon is an enabler of the new power.

He makes a lot of good points such as, new power doesn't necessarily win but I think his recommendation to old power to "Occupy Yourself" is spot on and I think that Amazon has a much better viewpoint than Hachette.