This is a place where the Davids of the world can unite and develop strategies and group efforts/consortia to make this world a better place to take on the Goliaths who bully anyone they choose. Whether it is parents striving to get a decent education for their children, writers struggling to find a forum for their work, or citizens working to get their vote counted, this site belongs to you...

New Bullies Perpetuating History

More than forty years ago, racist bullies thought they would silence the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Since that time, there have certainly been gains in the civil rights movement, but there has also been stagnation.

King stated:
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.

Read about the bulling that is continuing to occur in the fields of education, law, voting, and elsewhere and then straighten your back to walk tall, speak out, and work for doing what's right.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Growing too big for quality service?

We've all seen it: Small dot com companies growing by leaps and bounds because they found an underserved niche. Amazon has grown because it is the "go to" place for finding books, including those not regularly found on small bookstore shelves due to the small audiences those books serve. However, Amazon has decided that it is big enough to push around small POD (print on demand) publishers by requiring them to use Amazon's printer, thereby cutting competition to Amazon's POD (Booksurge) and increasing profits . If Amazon is successful, those authors without connections to conventional publishers who try to publish their books through POD publishers will essentially lose their voice. Here's what Writers Weekly said

BREAKING DEVELOPMENT:

Monday, March 31, 2008: We have heard from more than one source that tomorrow, April 1, 2008, is the deadline that some POD publishers to sign the contract with Amazon/Booksurge, or risk having their buy buttons removed from Amazon.com

ATTN: AuthorHouse/iUniverse, Xlibris and Lulu - DO NOT CAVE IN!!! Join the proud and strong POD publishers who have refused to be bullied into paying Amazon to print their books! If you submit to this horrible action, you will hurt yourselves and your authors, and do a grave injustice to the entire industry!

Sunday, March 30, 2008: Somebody started an online petition to combat Amazon's actions here. Please sign it online to show your support. (Note: Donations are NOT required by that site to sign the petition.)

Saturday, March 29, 2008: Whiskey Creek Press is a traditional publisher that uses POD technology. We were alerted by one of their authors that they appear to be the latest Amazon/BookSurge "buy" button victim. We checked and it appears numerous Whiskey Creek Press print books are now only available through resellers. The Kindle versions are, of course, still for sale directly through Amazon.

Friday, March 28, 2008: As of Thursday, the "buy" buttons for the vast majority of PublishAmerica books were removed from Amazon.com. The books can now only be purchased by resellers.

PublishAmerica issued a press release today that states, "PublishAmerica will not comply with Amazon's ultimatum, and will not allow that company to dictate who will print PublishAmerica's books, and at what conditions."

~~~~~

Some Print on Demand (POD) publishers are privately screaming "Monopoly!" while others are seething with rage over startling phone conversations they're having with Amazon/BookSurge representatives. Why isn't anybody talking about it openly? Because they're afraid - very, very afraid.

Amazon.com purchased BookSurge, a small POD publisher/printer back in 2005. Amazon also lists and sells titles for the largest POD printer, Lightning Source, which is owned by Ingram (the large book distributor). According to their website, Lightning Source serves more than 4,300 publisher clients and has more than 400,000 titles in their system.

You'd think Amazon's purchase of BookSurge might have made things a bit uncomfortable between the two companies. However, they continued to work together, getting books on demand to Amazon.com's loyal customers. Things appeared to be cruising along just fine, but perhaps not anymore...

more: http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html


Take a stand against bullies! I have pulled all my book links from my two websites and blog that went to Amazon. I think this would be a great time to create a consortium of POD publishers who have their own web bookselling business, negotiates contracts with visa/paypal/ and actual printers, etc.

1 comment:

Computer Clarity © 2004 said...

This is such a thoughtful blog. Thanks for creating it. I'm also pulling all Amazon links off my site.

Readers should also be aware that Borders uses Amazon for their online store. I'm pulling that link too.

Helen Gallagher
www.releaseyourwriting.com