Is there a way to hack through the jungle of snarls and get a higher view on publishing’s struggle with and around Amazon?
“Those who think the ground beneath the book business is not moving violently, look away now,” writes The Bookseller’sPhilip Jones in his editorial lead for Friday.
And yeah, at ground level? Maintain a good grip. Few watching the events of the week would suggest that these developments, whether directly tied to Amazon or not, aren’t compelling.
- “After hemorrhaging money and losing market share to competitors Amazon and Apple,” writes Digital Book World’s Jeremy Greenfield, Barnes & Noble is splitting off its Nook Media division.
- “Ingram has now ‘eliminated the single-biggest standalone competition in the distribution game,” consultant Brian O’Leary echoes Mike Shatzkin in comments to me at The FutureBook about theHachette acquisition plan for Perseus Books.
- In Germany, the Publishers and Booksellers Association are complaining that “Amazon’s business conduct not only affects those publishers involved, but poses a danger to all who offer ebooks in Germany,” writes Melissa Eddy at the New York Times about the retailer’s negotiators with the German imprints of Sweden’s Bonnier.
- Add these to these the ongoing torrent of rumor and invective around Amazon’s sales-terms negotiations with Hachette in the States — and you find Juli Monroe writing at TeleRead that “it’s possible for both sides in a conflict to behave badly.”
Overall, “the direction of travel,” as Jones describes it, “is both sobering and troubling.” He’s seeing 2014 as a turning point in which Seattle is “striking out for new territory” based on its long, complex growth.
By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson
Writing on the Ether: 3 Voices In The Age Of Amazon: Tech It To The Next Level
Originally published by Thought Catalog at www.ThoughtCatalog.com