Amazon.com. I am pretty black-and-white about this subject: Monopolies are never a good thing. Any company that begins to burgeon into a monopoly should be regarded warily. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely," to dust off that old gem. If one company becomes the company for publishing (publisher, printer, distributor, seller) then they are empowered to call all the shots. This puts everyone involved with the industry - readers, publishers, authors - at the mercy of said company (i.e. Amazon). It's that simple. Would anyone feel comfortable in that situation? Have monopolies in the past ever done anything besides benefit themselves as much as possible?
Amazon has already forced smaller POD publishers to use its BookSurge services, or their books won't be allowed to be sold on Amazon. It isn't a stretch of the imagination to think that self-published authors will be forced to do the same thing at some point. It's an overall limiting of options, a sort of dwindling biodiversity in publishing terms.
It may appear that some parties benefit in the short run-readers will have more to read (if that is even a good thing) and better deals on books; more authors will be able to print and sell their work (if that is even a good thing)-but, ultimately, we will all lose in the end if we allow one giant, and the convenience it represents, to dominate an entire industry.
It's the death of the small, independent bookstores that really bothers me. It's saddening to know that people would rather save money than support their local community. Even with the economy the way it is, people who can still afford books can probably also afford to pay a couple dollars more to buy them at the neighborhood bookstore. My hope is that Amazon's growing dominance and strong-arm tactics will cause a backlash that encourgages authors and readers to embrace other, smaller avenues.
I may be too much of an idealist...
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You're statement, "If one company becomes the company for publishing (publisher, printer, distributor, seller) then they are empowered to call all the shots. This puts everyone involved with the industry - readers, publishers, authors - at the mercy of said company (i.e. Amazon)" reminds me of something John Henley was mentioning in the BookSelling class. He talks about bookselling being "dreams of future past," that is, there are certain models the industry repeats. Ironically, the original booksellers were often publishers, printers, distributors, booksellers, and sometimes even authors, all in one. (That was before copyright came in to gum up the works.) Authors were extremely abused in that system, and I don't imagine it would benefit anyone now.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about people eventually doing more to support local businesses. In most cases, it's not clear what those businesses will look like. I haven't bought a book from Amazon in years. For books, I shop at Powell's, naturally.
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