Amazon 'moving away from books'

04.09.14 | Sarah Shaffi - The Bookseller

Kevin Nguyen, a former Amazon.com books editor who has just joined US e-book subscription service Oyster as its editorial director, has said that Amazon is continuing to “move away from its core books business” and that while it is interested in maximising revenue, it does not mind where “those dollars” come from.

Nguyen worked for Amazon.com for more than three years, working on merchandising, email marketing, and running the Best Books of the Month programme.
In an outspoken blog post on Oyster’s website, Nguyen said he joined Oyster because he had “always wanted to work at a place that is passionate about books, authors, and readers”.

Talking about leaving Amazon, he said: “Leaving was one of the tougher decisions I’ve made, but the reality is that the company has changed. As Amazon grows, it continues to move away from its core books business. The company is interested in maximizing revenue and it doesn’t matter whether those dollars come from books, music, video games, or pet supplies. In fact, at Amazon, we referred to our audience as customers; at Oyster, they’re readers. It’s a subtle but powerful distinction; one that reinforces that Oyster is a company that wants to build a lasting relationship with people who care about reading.”

Nguyen will be Oyster’s first editorial director, and he said readers would see “many editorially-minded projects take off” in the coming months.
“Some of the ideas will be familiar features that embrace reading culture—reviews, interviews, and curation,” he wrote. “Others will be daring experiments in what editorial content could be for the future of reading.”