Why should readers care what Amazon is doing?

With the great accessibility to purchasing almost any book online that Amazon seems to be providing, why should the buying public care whether a small POD publisher or a monolithic Amazon provides the book?

I am a citizen who tries to advocate for doing "the right thing;" I am a parent who has to advocate for my children when we face convoluted bureaucratic decisions that affect my children's ability to benefit from their public education; I am a psychologist/technology expert who advocates for disabled students on a daily basis; and I am an author who chose to use a small POD publisher (VirtualBookWorm.com) so that I could quickly get my message to families about how to find and utilize the necessary technology to learn and be productive in school.

If I think of the hours I spent writing and editing my book, I will probably never see a a profitable return on those unbilled hours, yet the profit I have already seen is in the thank yous from the families who were able to use information in my book to advocate for their technology.

My book is not the type of book that big book publishers would probably ever pick up, because I don't have a big name and it is not a riveting read for a diverse audience like best sellers tend to be. Instead, I wrote it to be a tool, a sharing of information, a voice from a fellow parent to help families through the bureaucratic mazes.

Without POD publishers, my kind of book would never be available for families. If Amazon succeeds in their monopolistic takeover of POD publishing, every little person who had a belief that his or her book might make a difference in the world would be shut out.

So, even if you are not part of the publishing world except as a reader, please speak up to stand united against this latest bully in town.

What can you do? Find out the name of the publisher of the book you want to buy, and go to the publisher's website to purchase it directly from the publisher. The author benefits, the publisher benefits, and you've supported a process that has given regular citizens a voice. If you're thinking about ordering something from Amazon, consider whether there are other ways to find the book you want. Local independent bookstores are a great place to find passionate readers who love to share their favorite books, and they will also gladly order almost any book still in print.

For an update on the Amazon situation (because it's not over yet), please read (including the comments) http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-amazon-does-damage-control-on-its-print-on-demand-demands/

jb