World Class Poetry Blog

POD Publishers Mad At Amazon
31 March 2008, the poet @ 5:18 pm

Some print-on-demand publishers are upset with an Amazon.com policy that will require them to use BookSurge, owned by Amazon.com, as their printer or lose the privilege of selling through the online reseller. That sucks!

The issue isn’t so much that these publishers won’t be able to do business through Amazon.com. They will be. But they will have to jump through hoops to do it and there may be some missed opportunities along the way. That doesn’t bode well for the POD market because most POD publishers are self-publishing authors or small publishing houses. That effectively makes Amazon.com a bully.

Now, as an economic conservative, I believe Amazon.com has a right to run its business anyway it wants, and I’m sure Bezos and Gang believe that this policy will mean more business for BookSurge. The truth is, it may lead to more business for the online printer, but it likely will also lead to more resentment among POD publishers and that will lead to the niche market players seeking healthy alternatives. Will they be able to find them?

Many poets and small presses operate through POD. That means, if they want to sell through Amazon.com then they will have to play the Amazon.com game. Otherwise, they’ll be left out in the cold. Since Amazon.com is the largest online bookseller (and the most successful to date), that makes it a rather difficult decision. It’s no wonder POD publishers feel as if their hands are being tied. That’s because they are.

POD publishers will still be allowed, under the policy, to sell their books through the Amazon.com Advantage program, which is for third-party sellers. You offer your book for sell, Amazon takes the order but never touches the product. Instead, they notify you of the sell and you ship directly to the customer. Not bad, but having Amazon handle the full process can be a satisfaction in itself for publishers who do it on their own.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out in the long run - for Amazon and for POD publishers. Personally, I’m cheering for the small guys.

1 Comment a “POD Publishers Mad At Amazon”

1. Virginia Cody — June 11, 2008 @ 10:30 pm
   

   Seems to me that Amazon is working on becoming a POD monopoly. I think there’s a law against that….maybe somebody will have the wherewithall to file some complaint with the Department of Justice.

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