SFWA removes Amazon.com links from website

kjk · 02-04-2010, 04:56 PM

http://www.sfwa.org/2010/02/sfwa-rem...-from-website/

Quote:

Due to Amazon.com’s removal of many of our authors’ books from its ordering system, we are removing Amazon.com links from our website. Our authors depend on people buying their books and since a significant percentage of them publish through Macmillan or its subsidiaries, we would prefer to send traffic to stores where the books can actually be purchased.

To that end, our volunteers are in the process of redirecting book links to indiebound.org, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, and Borders.

Many authors are being hit hard by this, so we encourage you to seek out new places to find their books.

Edited to add: It is worth noting, that if a book is only available on Amazon, we are leaving the link in place. Our goal is to make sure that it is possible to order our members’ fiction. Hurting authors to make a point about a publishing model is bad business, for anyone.

kennyc · 02-04-2010, 04:58 PM

And it grows!

I think I need to send an email to SFWA.

mcl · 02-04-2010, 05:01 PM

Sorry, but as much as I love scifi, I'm still not going to go buy Macmillan authors elsewhere. And some of their more prominent membership throwing public temper tantrums and acting as though we the consumers owe them a living just cements my position.

I refuse to reward Macmillan's behavior with my hard-earned money. If that means some authors have to take day jobs, so be it.

("What? How can you be so cruel? Why don't you care about the poor, starving, innocent authors? They deserve your money! GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY!")

kennyc · 02-04-2010, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcl

Sorry, but as much as I love scifi, I'm still not going to go buy Macmillan authors elsewhere. And some of their more prominent membership throwing public temper tantrums and acting as though we the consumers owe them a living just cements my position.

I refuse to reward Macmillan's behavior with my hard-earned money. If that means some authors have to take day jobs, so be it.

("What? How can you be so cruel? Why don't you care about the poor, starving, innocent authors? They deserve your money! GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY!")

Exactly. I just sent an email to them as well as posting a response to that story on the front page.

It's certainly not like the authors are going to get any more $$ from it.

BillSmithBooks · 02-04-2010, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcl

I refuse to reward Macmillan's behavior with my hard-earned money. If that means some authors have to take day jobs, so be it.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

J.A. Konrath has shown that--he puts up ebook versions of his older, "the publisher didn't even want to be bothered" books at $1.99 (since he has his own ebook rights) and sells enough so that it is a substantial supplement to his income from new books.

At $2.99 and the new 70% royalty rate kicking in this coming June, he makes more from the $2.99 ebook sale than he does from the $24.95 hardcover from his publisher and if sales trends continue, he will make >$40K a year on ebook sales.

The authors make more money, the readers get better pricing...the publishers are irrelevant.

I've gotta say the <$3.00 purchase price is such an "impulse buy" sweet spot for me...I would buy tons of ebooks at that price.

At $9.99 for an ebook, considering that I don't actually have a physical book and the ebook is locked down with DRM, I'm really not all that interested. (Take away the DRM and $9.99, while not great, is tolerable, at least IMO.)

Pardoz · 02-04-2010, 08:40 PM

Hmm...so the SFWA is keen on directing people who visit their Web page to places where people can obtain copies of books written by their membership? Wonderful! I look forward to having a convenient list of links to download scanned copies of all those Tor-imprint books Macmillan refuses to allow to be released in e-book format.

fugazied · 02-04-2010, 08:46 PM

The funny thing is, by sticking up for Macmillan, the SFWA is telling us they think $15 ebooks are ok and Macmillan twisting Amazon's arm is ok. Amazon is not the bad guy here, but they were stupid to remove Macmillan books which upset author groups.

I suppose we should only expect SFWA to align themselves with the publishers rather than science fiction readers who want cheaper books.

HorridRedDog · 02-04-2010, 10:04 PM

This is soooo old that it is new again,

Baen Free Library
http://www.baen.com/library/

What's your poison" Hardback, paperback, DRM FREE ebook?

Lets check out Harry Turtledove;
http://www.baen.com/author_catalog.a...or=hturtledove

Bridge of the Separator
ISBN:1-4165-0918-6, $24.00
Hardcover (December 2005)

ISBN:1-4165-2139-9, $7.99
Paperback (July 2007)

DOI:1416509186, $6.00
eBook (December 2005)

Too much you say!

Well try David Drake;
http://www.webscription.net/s-32-dav...rerFilterID=0&

An Oblique Approach by David Drake and Eric Flint (Baen Books) FREE.

Want a male oriented romance/thriller ? Try "The Great Right Hope" for $5.99
http://www.ll-publications.com/greatrighthope.html

There ARE other options, but $15 for a drm book that YOU DO NOT EVEN OWN is not one of them.

No thank you Macmillan and SFWA. I am spending less on a lot more books now.

Greg Anos · 02-04-2010, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HorridRedDog

This is soooo old that it is new again,

Baen Free Library
http://www.baen.com/library/

What's your poison" Hardback, paperback, DRM FREE ebook?

Lets check out Harry Turtledove;
http://www.baen.com/author_catalog.a...or=hturtledove

Bridge of the Separator
ISBN:1-4165-0918-6, $24.00
Hardcover (December 2005)

ISBN:1-4165-2139-9, $7.99
Paperback (July 2007)

DOI:1416509186, $6.00
eBook (December 2005)

Too much you say!

Well try David Drake;
http://www.webscription.net/s-32-dav...rerFilterID=0&

An Oblique Approach by David Drake and Eric Flint (Baen Books) FREE.

Want a male oriented romance/thriller ? Try "The Great Right Hope" for $5.99
http://www.ll-publications.com/greatrighthope.html

There ARE other options, but $15 for a drm book that YOU DO NOT EVEN OWN is not one of them.

No thank you Macmillan and SFWA. I am spending less on a lot more books now.

And Poul Anderson, Robert A Heinlein, Murray Leinster, Cordwainer Smith....

DawnFalcon · 02-04-2010, 11:22 PM

Baen's move on some of scifi's best back catalogue was bluntly inspired.

And *blinks* Mission of Honour. Crap, was going to bed...now er...

Connallmac · 02-04-2010, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Baen's move on some of scifi's best back catalogue was bluntly inspired.

Quoted For Truth!

SaraD · 02-05-2010, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillSmithBooks

But it doesn't have to be that way.

J.A. Konrath has shown that--he puts up ebook versions of his older, "the publisher didn't even want to be bothered" books at $1.99 (since he has his own ebook rights) and sells enough so that it is a substantial supplement to his income from new books.

Do you happen to know the website he uses to do that? I would be interested in taking a look. Thanks!

mbovenka · 02-05-2010, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaraD

Do you happen to know the website he uses to do that? I would be interested in taking a look. Thanks!

Tsk tsk.

http://www.jakonrath.com

sony_fox · 02-05-2010, 06:32 AM

CJ Cherryh has done a similar thing http://www.closed-circle.net/WhereItsAt/?page_id=11

Fairly new so not that many books available yet, but she's working on getting more there. A case in point that it isn't completely easy to release old books as ebook versions. A lot of work needs to be done before they're ready.

kennyc · 02-05-2010, 06:45 AM

I got a response to my SFWA email from Mary Kowal, Secretary SFWA:

Quote:

Dear Mr. Chaffin,

On the issue of pricing, people have differing opinions on whether Amazon or Macmillan is pursuing the correct strategy. What we’re responding to is Amazon removing links to our members’ works. Amazon is in its rights to remove those links, but we prefer to send our links to stores where readers can find our members’ work.

To use an oversimplified analogy, if someone needed to buy a widget, would you send them to a store which doesn't carry that widget?

Yours,
Mary

02-04-2010, 10:04 PM	#8
HorridRedDog Addict Posts: 322 Karma: 1592 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: PRS-600 EB-1150	ATTENTION BOOK AUTHORS This is soooo old that it is new again, Baen Free Library http://www.baen.com/library/ What's your poison" Hardback, paperback, DRM FREE ebook? Lets check out Harry Turtledove; http://www.baen.com/author_catalog.a...or=hturtledove Bridge of the Separator ISBN:1-4165-0918-6, $24.00 Hardcover (December 2005) ISBN:1-4165-2139-9, $7.99 Paperback (July 2007) DOI:1416509186, $6.00 eBook (December 2005) Too much you say! Well try David Drake; http://www.webscription.net/s-32-dav...rerFilterID=0& An Oblique Approach by David Drake and Eric Flint (Baen Books) FREE. Want a male oriented romance/thriller ? Try "The Great Right Hope" for $5.99 http://www.ll-publications.com/greatrighthope.html There ARE other options, but $15 for a drm book that YOU DO NOT EVEN OWN is not one of them. No thank you Macmillan and SFWA. I am spending less on a lot more books now. Last edited by HorridRedDog; 02-04-2010 at 10:07 PM.

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02-04-2010, 04:58 PM	#2
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,930 Karma: 119747553 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2 & PW, Onyx Boox Go6	And it grows! I think I need to send an email to SFWA.

02-04-2010, 05:01 PM	#3
mcl Connoisseur Posts: 99 Karma: 608 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle K2i	Sorry, but as much as I love scifi, I'm still not going to go buy Macmillan authors elsewhere. And some of their more prominent membership throwing public temper tantrums and acting as though we the consumers owe them a living just cements my position. I refuse to reward Macmillan's behavior with my hard-earned money. If that means some authors have to take day jobs, so be it. ("What? How can you be so cruel? Why don't you care about the poor, starving, innocent authors? They deserve your money! GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY!")

02-04-2010, 08:40 PM	#6
Pardoz Which side are you on? Posts: 370 Karma: 1964 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Variable, currently Czestochowa, Poland. Device: Kindle 2 Int'l	Hmm...so the SFWA is keen on directing people who visit their Web page to places where people can obtain copies of books written by their membership? Wonderful! I look forward to having a convenient list of links to download scanned copies of all those Tor-imprint books Macmillan refuses to allow to be released in e-book format.

02-04-2010, 08:46 PM	#7
fugazied Wizard Posts: 1,305 Karma: 1958 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: iPod Touch	The funny thing is, by sticking up for Macmillan, the SFWA is telling us they think $15 ebooks are ok and Macmillan twisting Amazon's arm is ok. Amazon is not the bad guy here, but they were stupid to remove Macmillan books which upset author groups. I suppose we should only expect SFWA to align themselves with the publishers rather than science fiction readers who want cheaper books.

02-04-2010, 11:22 PM	#10
DawnFalcon Banned Posts: 2,094 Karma: 2682 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: N/A	Baen's move on some of scifi's best back catalogue was bluntly inspired. And blinks Mission of Honour. Crap, was going to bed...now er...

02-05-2010, 06:32 AM	#14
sony_fox Zealot Posts: 109 Karma: 84 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Manchester Device: Kobo Auroa H2O	CJ Cherryh has done a similar thing http://www.closed-circle.net/WhereItsAt/?page_id=11 Fairly new so not that many books available yet, but she's working on getting more there. A case in point that it isn't completely easy to release old books as ebook versions. A lot of work needs to be done before they're ready.