Books as Business, or Why I'll Never Buy a Book from Amazon, Again
I am not often scared of the internet. Despite it's dark corners and tendency to bring out people's worst selves in anonymous comment sections, I generally feel like the internet is a good place, a completely revolutionary tool. I am, in one form or another, using the internet the majority of my waking hours. But when major corporations use the internet for self-serving, greedy purposes, I do get scared. Like the recent news that Comcast is trying to evade net neutrality. (One surely good thing about leaving San Francisco is no longer having to get internet through Comcast. I have a total of zero positive interactions with that company, including frequent loss of service and erroneous charges. Sign the petition for net neutrality, here.)
It also freaks me out when it comes to Amazon.
Onnesha Roychoudhuri has a MUST READ article in the Boston Review this month on what Amazon has meant for the publishing game and the impact it will continue to have. By the end it left me feeling like Jeff Bezos is nothing better than a bully with a huge, influential, powerful pulpit that he is not afraid to use.
"What happens when an industry concerned with the production of culture is beholden to a company with the sole goal of underselling competitors? Amazon is indisputably the king of books, but the issue remains, as Charlie Winton, CEO of the independent publisher Counterpoint Press puts it, what kind of king they re going to be. A vital publishing industry must be able take chances with new authors and with books that don t have obvious mass-market appeal. When mega-retailers have all the power in the industry, consumers benefit from low prices, but the effect on the future of literature on what books can be published successfully is far more in doubt."
I used to be an Amazon devotee. Or, at least, a generally happy and consistent customer. I've bought books on the site, and I've also bought other things, including both a point-and-shoot and a digital SLR camera (at different times). I think I may have bought jeans once, in college, but I don't think it turned out well. I even bought my first semester's worth of books for my MFA program on Amazon. I didn't think anything of it. It was the cheapest option. Though I'm still as broke as I was, then, and probably even more so, I won't choose Amazon again. If I can't afford to buy the book, I go to the library. If I can afford it, I'll choose my local bookstore or find a retailer through IndieBound. Or, more likely than not, choose Powell's, an online experience just as good as Amazon's.
So, what changed me?
It was, of course, the internet. In the last two years both my blog reader and Twitter stream have increasingly been taken over by literary types. MFA students and writers, authors still breaking into publishing and authors with two, three, four books. I read literary news blogs and a couple agent blogs and follow my favorite small presses on Twitter as they talk up the exciting new books in their catalogues. Inevitably, then, I've heard a lot about Amazon. Like when Amazon erased purchased copies of 1984 from users' Kindles. Or when Amazon dropped the rankings of novels with GLBTQ themes. There is also, quite notably, the issue of Amazon removing the "buy button" from the titles of publishers that push back, as Roychoudhuri details in her piece. Not to mention what I think is at the heart of the Amazon issue, for me: book people.
"Jeffrey Lependorf, Executive Director of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses and of Small Press Distribution, suggests that the difference between Amazon and brick-and-mortar bookstores is most evident in how they market books: I think even people at Amazon would say that it s essentially a widget seller that happens to have begun by focusing on books. Many people, like me, will say you can t sell a book the same way you sell a can of soup.
At the heart of the soup-can analogy are the algorithms that Amazon uses to recommend books to customers. Most customers aren t aware that the personalized book recommendations they receive are a result of paid promotions, not just purchase-derived data. This is frustrating for publishers who want their books to be judged on their merits. I think their twisted algorithms that point you toward bestsellers instead of books that you might actually like [are] a shame, Gavin Grant, cofounder of Small Beer Press, laments."
More than anything else in the last few years, I've started paying attention to a lot of book people. There isn't a day that goes by, now, when I don't check in online and listen in as people talk about books. Books they are reading, books they are writing, literary magazines they subscribing to, manuscripts they are knee deep in as they edit or scribble or write encouraging margin notes to their workshop friends and, of course, the books they are buying, they are selling and recommending to others. Every great book I've read this year has been one recommended to me by someone who loves books, not a website's algorithm.
As Isak acknowledges in her response to the article, there are reasons to appreciate Amazon. I don't think Amazon is evil, and not all of its influence is bad. I do, however, want to push back against its stance as the go-to marketplace and standard-bearer for books. She notes, "But frankly, a book culture that doesn't have Amazon as the controlling force appeals to me even more" (than artificially low prices). Amen.
Please, give Books After Amazon a read. It's a thoughtful and thought-provoking piece. And as one book person to (I hope!) another, buy your books Indie and local, your friends need your dollars more than Jeff Bezos.
margosita
Two more things I came across today.
A Tumblr called Against Amazon, devoted to detailing the trouble with book buyin from Amazon. A good reference point, anyway, in the larger conversation.
And pretty soon we're going to be talking about another Internet Giant's influence on reading. Google is preparing to lauch Good Editions, which is their foray into the e-reader market.
"Google Editions hopes to upend the existing e-book market by offering an open, "read anywhere" model that is different from many competitors. Users will be able to buy books directly from Google or from multiple online retailers—including independent bookstores—and add them to an online library tied to a Google account. They will be able to access their Google accounts on most devices with a Web browser, including personal computers, smartphones and tablets."
I'm excited for this developpment. If anyone can challege Amazon's stranglehold on the oneline (and e-reader) book business, I think it's Google. It also gives me hope for independent booksellers and small presses, who may be able to begin making money off digital versions of the books they are selling.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 7:59PM | margosita | 5 Comments | Share Article tagged amazon, book buying, indiebound in publishing
Reader Comments (5)
I'll have to take time to read the Amazon articles later, but I just had to say that I too have NEVER had a positive experience with Comcast. I hate them with a passion. They are all we have in Memphis, so if I decide I need cable TV, I'm getting a satellite, and I have internet through Sprint, just to keep from giving Comcast my business.
I've stopped using Amazon, as well, but sometimes my alternative choice feels like the same thing -- Barnes & Noble online. (I actually just ordered some Christmas presents through B&N that were cheaper than even Amazon.) I also order from Powell's. Sadly, a lot of the independent bookstores around here are either already gone, preparing to close, or are very small. Even so, I try to frequent them...and this is just another reminder to head out this weekend and buy some books from the local indies.
Allison, good for you! Comcast is awful, so any work-around to avoid giving them money is awesome.
Laura, somehow I don't object as much to B&N. Mostly because I think Amazon is the bigger bully, though certainly chain stores laid out a business plan that Amazon capitalized on.
Would you know of alternative online sites to buy books?
Chickster, my personal preference is Powell's. They have a really dedicated staff who know and love books, fabulous recommendations and a long history of supporting writers. But there are lots of other independent bookstores that you can order from online, such as River Run Bookstore in New Hampshire, Common Good Books in St. Paul, Minnesota or City Lights in San Francisco.
Of course, there are rarely cheap cheap deals on independent bookstore sites like there are on Amazon. So it has to be a conscious choice, and you have to be willing to spend the extra dollars.
I'm pretty hard on Amazon in this post, but I don't think buying books from Amazon is always bad. I just think buying books EXCLUSIVELY from Amazon hurts the book business and book people. There are ways in which Amazon is a great resource, and ways in which Amazon acts like a bully. It's important to know that and discuss it and the result is that I won't buy books from Amazon. Others will continue to, but I hope they do so after thinking about it and understanding that choice.