MacKenzie Bezos and Brad Stone Debate Accuracy of Everything Store -- Online, Naturally

Publishers Lunch

Novelist MacKenzie Bezos (wife of Jeff) posted her first book review on Amazon.com since 2001, saying she "wanted to like" Brad Stone's The Everything Store, but she didn't. "Everywhere I can fact check from personal knowledge, I find way too many inaccuracies, and unfortunately that casts doubt over every episode in the book." But her larger issue is "techniques which stretch the boundaries of non-fiction, and the result is a lopsided and misleading portrait of the people and culture at Amazon." Particularly a misleading portrait of the ceo.

She writes: "One of the biggest challenges in non-fiction writing is the risk that a truthfully balanced narration of the facts will be boring, and this presents an author with some difficult choices. It may be that another telling of the Amazon story—for example, that people at Amazon have no secret agenda they’ve been able to keep hidden for 19 years, really do believe in the mission they keep repeating, and are working hard and of their own free will to realize it —would strike readers as less exciting than the version offered here. I sympathize with this challenge."

After Bezos's review went viral on Monday, Amazon spokesperson Craig Berman provided a brief statement to Business Insider (in which Jeff Bezos is an investor): "Over the course of the author's reporting, Amazon facilitated meetings for him with more than half a dozen senior Amazon executives, during which he had every opportunity to inquire about or fact-check claims made by former employees. He chose not to. I met in person with him on at least three occasions and exchanged dozens of emails where he only checked a few specific quotes. He had every opportunity to thoroughly fact check and bring a more balanced viewpoint to his narrative, but he was very secretive about the book and simply chose not to."

Stone replied to the publication, "I exhaustively fact checked the work with my sources. Amazon declined to make Jeff Bezos available for fact checking." Then Stone followed with a more nuanced response to Bezos's review at Bloomberg Businessweek. "Bezos said that he married MacKenzie after searching for someone tenacious enough to break him out of a Third World prison. By that standard, I got off easy. Mrs. Bezos mostly took me to task for what she perceived were subtle biases in my story. I’ll own up to that, though my slant is hardly political or personal. No matter how hard we strive for objectivity, writers are biased toward tension—those moments in which character is forged and revealed."

Stone admits to "the obvious: there are details of this story that only Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos can know. If they point to errors, I'll gladly correct them. But I'd also proudly note that no one has taken issue with the major revelations in my book.... Nevertheless, I’m grateful to MacKenzie and to every other thoughtful reviewer who shares their perspectives on my book and on this remarkable story. It’s the kind of dialogue that helps readers—and writers—and it’s a big reason why I got into the business."

Meanwhile the attention is likely helping to lift sales. At least at Amazon.com, where the book rose from about No. 150 yesterday into the top 100 today (at the same time, however, it's sales rank has dropped at BN.com).