Comments | davidbcoe: Amazon Bullies Writers, Publishers, Consumers!

davidbcoe

Amazon Bullies Writers, Publishers, Consumers!

Jan 30, 2010 11:30

I'm a little late to the party with this one -- we had a storm yesterday and it knocked out our internet for a while. But in what appears to be fall-out from the iPad release and new competition between Apple and Amazon over ebook sales, Amazon has now halted direct sales of all MacMillan books, including Tor imprints, until MacMillan stops ( Read more... )

apple, publishing, tor books, amazon.com, books, technology

Comments 10

elisel January 30 2010, 18:35:19 UTC

This is so disappointing! Even with the iPad now on the market, I've enjoyed my Kindle a lot and have -- or at least, had -- every intention of continuing to use it. I was so pleased with it and with Amazon in general until I heard about this.

The company is really shooting itself in the foot with this move. Anyone who enjoys reading enough to be interested in ebooks is bound to recognize how this hurts the authors and are going to be turned off by this. (Not to mention, from a purely selfish perspective, how much a lack of general product availability is going to decrease the interest in purchasing Amazon e-readers.)

Not classy, Amazon!

davidbcoe January 30 2010, 23:39:15 UTC

Yeah, I don't think it makes much sense, but as others have said, Amazon does stuff like this periodically, takes a beating for it, and then backs down. Interesting business model....

madkestrel January 30 2010, 19:38:26 UTC

I'm hearing from quite a number of folks that preordered Macmillan titles have also disappeared from the Amazon order page.

davidbcoe January 30 2010, 23:40:23 UTC

Yes, they have. Including mine. You can still see the books on the site. You can be notified when they become available. But the "buy" and "preorder" buttons are gone.

(The comment has been removed)

davidbcoe January 30 2010, 23:41:34 UTC

Yes, all MacMillan titles, all formats, whether available now or coming available soon. Bullies suck. Stupid bullies with power REALLY suck.

hedwig_snowy January 30 2010, 22:53:57 UTC

The ole 'cutting off your nose to spite your face' concept...that's one tasty business model right there.

Fortunately, my parents pre-ordered me your book for Christmas, so I'm set, but that is a pain.

I don't know that Amazon has to be completely freaked out about the iPad, but if they were the better option would be to make less money upfront and keep people from buying the iPad in the first place. I think Nintendo did this with the Wii. Not only was it different than the PS3 and the XBox, but the hardware price point was way below either. Doesn't Wal-mart (although not for distributors but for consumers) do this as well?

Amazon does this kind of wacky thing every few months (the last was banning gay literature as porn) and they lose more and more customers every time. Idiots.

davidbcoe January 30 2010, 23:42:34 UTC

>>Fortunately, my parents pre-ordered me your book for Christmas, so I'm set....<<

Um, I don't think so....

hedwig_snowy January 31 2010, 18:02:32 UTC

Well...might have to actually go out and help out the local economy then. :-)

That sucks though....

And it might help some (meaning me, at least) start using other sites (it's available on Barnes and Noble's web site).

Guess Amazon couldn't care less...that would be a mistake.

Will drop them a line.

hedwig_snowy January 30 2010, 22:56:50 UTC

Oh my....

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Eyes-War-Three-Blood-Southlands/dp/0765316404/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_6

"Sign up to be notified when this item becomes available."

My parents (and I) aren't going to be pleased about that....

davidbcoe January 30 2010, 23:43:15 UTC

Probably couldn't hurt to tell them that you're not pleased.