Friday, June 20, 2014

Amazon is not your best friend: Why self-published authors should side with Hachette


Indie authors will benefit most if Amazon loses its war with traditional publishers

Amazon is not your best friend: Why self-published authors should side with Hachette
Jeff Bezos (Credit: AP/Mark Lennihan)

Anyone who has followed the coverage of the ongoing Amazon-Hachette dispute knows that some of the most impassioned voices on the pro-Amazon side of the argument come from self-published writers. It’s easy to understand their impulse to defend Amazon’s e-book publishing programs, given that many had tried in vain to publish their books with traditional houses before opting for, say, Kindle Direct Publishing.

However, the dispute with Hachette has nothing to do with Amazon’s publishing programs and everything to do with the way traditionally published books are retailed, a distinction that self-published authors ignore at their peril. This is one quarrel where the self-published authors would be smarter to side with Hachette and the other “Big Five” houses.
More

No comments: