Lee Child - BBC Newsnight interview and discussion on The Passive Voice.

[kacir]

Nate at The-Digital-reader reports [in his typical blunt manner] that there is a BBC Newsnight interview with Lee Child (author of highly successful Jack Reacher series) and an interesting discussion on http://www.thepassivevoice.com/08/20...ild-on-amazon/

In the interview Lee Child talks about his views concerning the Amazon-Hachette dispute and the "the open letter / $100K add in Sunday Times" that was signed by 909 authors, including him.

Mr. Lee Child (or somebody who uses his name) has responded to many of comments on The passive voice blog / forum.
VERY interesting discussion.
Lee Child has earned my highest respect. Not for his views, but for the fact that he is not afraid to come out and defend his views and facts. Go and read his comments.

[fjtorres]

...of course, it might help his cause a bit more if he actually understood consumer attitudes and economic reality.

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0.../#.U-yfZurD_MI


Or if he had given any thought to how at least some readers would react to him so visibly aligning himself to Mr Preston, the man who, as the illegal 2010 price-fixing conspiracy kicked in, raising prices to $15, said this:

“The sense of entitlement of the American consumer is absolutely astonishing,” said Douglas Preston, whose novel “Impact” reached as high as No. 4 on The New York Times’s hardcover fiction best-seller list earlier this month. “It’s the Wal-Mart mentality, which in my view is very unhealthy for our country. It’s this notion of not wanting to pay the real price of something.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/te...ader.html?_r=0

If you're a country club millionaire, $5 is probably the smallest bill you would deign to burn to light your cigar, but out in the real world, a fiver is worth at least a latte.

Gotta say, at least by signing that letter those guys have saved a lot of us the trouble of compiling a s**tlist.

I wonder if they've noticed that Hachette sakes--their titles--are down at Nook, too.

(Back to the fallout shelter, now.)

[jersysman]

Seems to me to be another elitist view of consumers and economics in general.

[Barty]

Anyone else feels his Jack Reacher books of late are not as good as the earlier ones?

Anyway, I'm sure Lee child thinks he's only fighting for all writers to get paid. I don't fault him for being successful or looking out for his lot. I do try to avoid learning about authors' personal lives and views lest it will interfere with my enjoyment of their books.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Barty

Anyone else feels his Jack Reacher books of late are not as good as the earlier ones?

Anyway, I'm sure Lee child thinks he's only fighting for all writers to get paid. I don't fault him for being successful or looking out for his lot. I do try to avoid learning about authors' personal lives and views lest it will interfere with my enjoyment of their books.

I don't either, but I do fault him for being stupid.

[harriska2]

I will not be purchasing another Jack Reacher book (Lee Child). His loss.

[dickloraine]

Originally Posted by harriska2

I will not be purchasing another Jack Reacher book (Lee Child). His loss.

I just have to ask, since comments like this seem to pop up quite alot: Do you realy mean this or is this some exaggeration? I mean do you really do not read anything from anybody who has another opinion than you? If we would be talking about some crime or extrem political views, I could understand it. But not reading a book because an author has a different opinion about a contract dispute between two big companies?

[din155]

Originally Posted by dickloraine

I just have to ask, since comments like this seem to pop up quite alot: Do you realy mean this or is this some exaggeration? I mean do you really do not read anything from anybody who has another opinion than you? If we would be talking about some crime or extrem political views, I could understand it. But not reading a book because an author has a different opinion about a contract dispute between two big companies?

What's wrong with his/her opinion and decision of not buying Lee Child's book after this advertisement and interview? Aren't these authors sending the message that we don't want customers who won’t pay $14 or more for our books?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by dickloraine

I just have to ask, since comments like this seem to pop up quite alot: Do you realy mean this or is this some exaggeration? I mean do you really do not read anything from anybody who has another opinion than you? If we would be talking about some crime or extrem political views, I could understand it. But not reading a book because an author has a different opinion about a contract dispute between two big companies?

Many authors have a different opinion about this contract dispute. Most of them do not carefully insult their own readers in the process. As well as insulting all readers to top it off.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by dickloraine

If we would be talking about some crime or extrem political views, I could understand it.

Some consider his position to be an extreme political position. Others do not. That is how the world works.

[eschwartz]

Oh, it is certainly a political position:

relations or conduct in a particular area of experience especially as seen or dealt with from a political point of view

The question is, whether it is extreme or not. And extreme is a very subjective idea, especially when one side thinks something is totally, utterly normal to do. Like buying a full-page $104,000 ad in the New York Times as a method of "take them aside and you have a quiet word with them". I mean, that's totally normal, right?

[Dazrin]

Thanks for the heads up, I had seen the original post, but didn't realize Mr. Child actually commented on it.

While I don't agree with most of his positions he at least had the courage to stand up for them which I really respect. Hopefully the hostile reaction he received from some there won't stop him or others from engaging like this in the future.

[Fluribus]

Childs says that the publishers sell to the people prepared to pay $15, then they sell to the people prepared to pay $10. The problem is that while I might be prepared to pay $10 now, I'm unlikely to be prepared to pay $10 a year from now. I might not even be willing to pay $5.

Most books, games, and movies have a narrow window of opportunity. Unless something is astonishingly brilliant, verging on timeless, it tends to get squeezed out as more content is added. Even if it is timeless, it might get squeezed out before I have the opportunity to find out that it is.

[kacir]

I have even downloaded the page with the discussion and formatted it for my reader.

I do disagree with some things that he said (and I understand others, even if I do not like them), I also admire him for standing up to the angry crowd. And I find his insights very interesting. You also have to keep in mind that it was a 4 minutes TV interview with relatively hostile journalist and he had no time to explain subtleties or do a careful analysis of what is being said. It is easy to sit down and spend 30 minutes analyzing implications of all the things he said, AFTER the fact.

Lee Child seems to have two full time employees that do nothing else but audit sales records for his books. He has also worked with Amazon since the time most of us had no idea they are preparing Project Fiona - that came to be known as Amazon Kindle. He is the fifth person to have broken million sold e-books on Amazon.
Also, HIS readers are different from a mid-list or rookie authors readers. People that read a couple of books a year are much more likely to pick up his book in a supermarket or at airport newsstand. I find his numbers - that 2012 was the peak number for Kindle sales for him - fascinating.

[eschwartz]

It is also entirely likely that his readers will pick up the book on their smartphone/tablet through the Kindle app, while passing through the airport.