As deadline is extended for Google objections, today's pot and kettle award goes to Amazon.com

As the deadline for objections to the proposed Google settlement is extended by a few days to Tuesday 8th September, today's pot and kettle award goes to Amazon.com.

In a 50 page legal document filed on September 1st, Amazon said the agreement was "unfair"to rights holders as it gave Google "an effective monopoly" over scanned works that would create "a cartel of authors and publishers". It also questioned the legitimacy of the "class action" and warned the court that it was being asked "to exercise powers that it does not have" stating that the agreement "restrains competition in ways that ought not be sanctioned by this court".

I detect a large slice of mirroring in relation to Amazon's own actions last year when they effectively forced US print on demand publishers to use their own printers or have their buy buttons removed.

Amazon state in relation to the proposed settlement:

"It is anti-competitive and violates anti trust laws because it provides Google an effective monopoly in the scanning and exploitation of millions of works whose copyright holders cannot be located or choose not to involve themselves in this class action."

"It also creates a cartel of authors and publishers - the Books Rights Registry - operating with virtually no restrictions on its actions, with the potential to raise book prices and reduce output to the detriment of consumers and new authors or publishers who would compete with the cartel members."

In Amazon's favour, it is true that they have only scanned books where permission has been obtained from the rights holders, but I cannot help feel that these are empty words from a retailer that bemoans others from basically doing what they have done themselves - what the hell they feel like! I am not the only one to notice this, since the Authors Guild in the US have published a letter online accusing the retailer of what they term as "breathtaking hypocrisy".

Amazon denied right to dismiss anti-trust law suit

Amazon may have been in the news recently regarding charges levied against publishers for 'rejected deliveries' and the launch of the Kindle electronic reading device in Europe, but one story that seems to have escaped the British publishing press which pays little heed to most stories that affect then print on demand sector, is that in a 26 page order on August 26th, Chief US District Judge John Woodcock Jnr has denied Amazon's right to dismiss an anti-trust lawsuit brought against them by US print on demand publisher Booklocker. What this means is that the case against them can now go ahead.

This is a monumental victory for the little man against the mighty giant, and although there is still a long way to go, this is the first step towards what will hopefully be a victory for common sense, which sends a strong signal that what has been popularly regarded as bully boy tactics will not be tolerated.

The full report can be read here (PDF).

My own initial post regarding this can be read here

Amazon demands an extra 2 percent for early payment

As Amazon close 3 of their US based distribution centres, with the possible loss of over 200 jobs, in the UK they seem intent on introducing new terms that as usual, from where independent publishers are sitting, seem to benefit no one other than themselves.

Catherine Neilan reports that Amazon.co.uk is offering publishers who participate in the Advantage programme an "early payment" option of 15 days, in exchange for an extra 2 percent discount. (I must make a mental note to find the name of their bankers, since I am not aware of anyone who pays such a high rate of interest - my own bank certainly doesn't). The only alternative is for publishers to trade with Amazon on "standard terms" of payment within 60 days. What this effectively means is that a publisher who sells a book through Amazon for arguments sake today, will not be paid until the end of May, as opposed to on the revised 15 day terms, the middle of April.

Publishers have understandably hit out at these new terms. One said this early payment option, which becomes effective from 1st April (sadly this is not an April Fool), is "more or less what they pay us on now". He added: "At the moment, if you sell in February, you get the report at the start of March and payment at the end—which is in effect what they are saying will happen here (not quite, as it depends upon when in February you actually sell the books - if sold at the beginning of the month you are still waiting almost 60 days). If you don’t give the extra discount, payment would be sometime in April." He continued: "[Amazon is] trying to take an extra month . . . In these tough times, it’s absolutely outrageous picking on small guys." In business, this seems to be par for the course.

At the moment, Amazon Advantage Members pay Amazon.co.uk a yearly fee of £23.50 and offer a 60% discount in return for the retailer keeping copies of their books "in stock". They are in effect a retailer asking for wholesaler terms. No wonder the bricks and mortar stores cannot compete.

Predictably Amazon responded by stating that they are constantly looking at different ways in which they can lower prices and increase selection for the benefit of their customers.

The problem is that most bricks and mortar stores either cannot or will not stock many of the books published by the independent and small presses. It may be that they are niche titles with limited demand, it may be that they are local interest books, or it may be that the publishers are unable to offer the deep discounts and contribution for "marketing costs" and many of the chains at least demand. Either way, they have little option but to play ball and give in to Amazon's demands, if they want their books to be available in the market place.

According to one book seller whose comments can be seen on The Bookseller website, what the article doesn't state is that Amazon payments have been gradually getting later and later, so that in many cases, publishers are already on the "new" payment model. This seems to me a bit like the old British Rail. In the dim and distant past when I used to get the train to work, I observed it coming later and later each day until it settled into a routine of being 10 minutes late each day. BR then announced a new timetable ...

On the other hand, is 60 days unreasonable? Wholesaler terms are as far as I am aware, a standard 90 days, and I have been waiting well over 60 days to be paid by a certain "new age" shop in London, despite my making it clear to them that my own terms are 28 days. It is such a small amount that it does not seem worth making a big fuss over, but that is not the point, they have had my book since May of last year. Like I say though, it is par for the course. I won't be supplying them again, and in future, they can order from the aforementioned wholesaler.

Amazon accused of shoddy working practices

I have been trying to talk to my boss since Friday regarding a discrepancy in my last pay slip, but she has not been there on the same days that I have been. I am not sure how it happened, but I seem to have been paid for only 30 hours a week since I started at this new store rather than the 32 which I am contracted to do, and have worked. It is true that Sunday is a shorter day of 6 rather than 8 hours, but I was told that we were paid for a full day. Even if they have averaged these Sundays over the month (I work every other one) I should have been paid for 31 hours and not 32.

Neither has the increase from £5.73 to £5.90 an hour that I believed I was due in October materialised. I spoke to her about this last week, and was told that I had made a mistake, and I was not eligible for this, since I had not another review. This did not sound right to me, so I went home and re-read the letter I was sent in July detailing how the increase worked.

It was awarded to all those who received a good score on their annual review of which I did, in two stages. The first stage took place in August when our salary was increased from £5.53 to £5.73 an hour. When the minimum wage increased to that same rate (£5.73) in October, qualifying staff, so the letter states, would be awarded a further increase to £5.90 an hour (in other words, another 3 percent on top of the minimum wage). In order to qualify, you needed to have had six months service (which I have) and to have successfully completed the new training scheme (which I have also done). The rise though has not been forthcoming, and I need to know why.

The good news is that my Manager is in tomorrow, so I should be able to speak to her then. If I get no joy, then I shall just have to ring the Payroll Department myself and query things.

Despite these hiccups, compared to Amazon employees I am relatively well off. An article in The Times today details the truly awful conditions that these people have to work under. Many of them are Eastern Europeans, who are sadly all too easy to exploit. The most shocking thing of all is that none of this is actually illegal, although in my opinion, Amazon are sailing pretty close to the wind, especially with their insistence that staff work a compulsory night shift after doing a full weeks work.

The gist of the article is that despite global profits exceeding £2.2 billion, Amazon insist that their staff work seven days in row and threatens them for taking time off sick.

An undercover reporter spent a week working at Amazon's distribution centre in Bedfordshire and found:

That the company refuses to allow sick leave, even if the worker has a legitimate doctor’s note. Taking a day off sick, even with a note, results in a penalty point. A worker with six points faces dismissal.

Employees are made to work a compulsory 10.5 hour overnight shift at the end of a five day week. The overnight shift, which runs from Saturday evening to 5am on Sunday, means they have to work every day of the week.

That employees are set quotas for the number of items to be picked or packed in an hour that even a Manager described as “ridiculous”. Those packing heavy X-box games consoles (and they are heavy - I have trouble lifting them) had to pack 140 an hour to reach their target.

That employees are set against each other with a bonus scheme that penalises staff if any other member of their group fails to hit the quota.

That staff have to walk anything up to 14 miles during their shift to collect items for packing.

That staff get one break of 15 minutes and another of 20 minutes per eight hour shift and have to ask permission to go to the toilet.

The reporter spent seven working days at Amazon’s warehouse in Bedfordshire as a packer after signing up with Quest Employment, an agency based in Northampton that supplies it with temporary staff. She was told that the hourly rate for a day shift was £6.30, 57p more than the minimum wage (which is incidentally 57p more than I get). She worked on an evening shift until midnight, earning £6.80 an hour, but was told that she would have to pay £8.50 a day to use a communal bus laid on by Quest unless she could arrange her own travel to Amazon’s warehouse.

Of course Amazon are playing things down and eating humble pie in copious amounts, as one would expect. It is all an exercise in PR, and in the scheme of things pretty meaningless. The most shocking thing about all of this is the fact that none of it is actually illegal.

The Working Time Directive states that staff are entitled to a 20 minute rest break if they work 6 hours or more, and Amazon employees actually get a lot more than this. The Directive also states that staff are entitled to a 24 hour uninterrupted rest break every 7 days, which they also get - assuming they finish work before 6.30pm on a Friday and do not start again until 5am on Monday, they actually get twice that. Technically they do work seven days a week, as that night shift starts on the Saturday and finishes on Sunday, but they do get the rest to which they are entitled and this is not outside the law.

The one possible area for concern would be the pressurising of staff to work that extra night shift, which may push them over the 48 hour working week that the Directive states should not be exceeded. While staff can opt out of this and agree to work more, they cannot be pressured into doing so, or disciplined if they refuse. Since I do not have detailed information about the exact number of hours worked during the week, and whether this exceeds the 37.5 that would be necessary to push them over this 48 hour limit, I cannot comment either way.

Not surprisingly this had led to a flurry of protests against the company on The Bookseller and other sites with many vowing never to buy from the company again. The trouble is that as one poster commented, in a few months time when we see something at reduced price on their site that we really want (and persuade ourselves that we need), we will forget all of this and order it anyway. The public are nothing else if not fickle.

Should criminals profit through books?

Readers of this blog will have noticed in recent weeks a pattern has emerged, whereby I post very little for several days, and then when I get days off, post several times a day. I receive several email bulletins with news from around the book world, and read other sites such as The Bookseller on a regular basis, adding comments as I feel necessary, but save the blogging for when I have time to write much more in depth.

Today is one of those days - my first post was about the credit crunch which is affecting EUK and more specifically Bertrams, but my second post for today will detail the various stories that I have found particularly interesting, which have circulated around the book world this week.

Two have particularly caught my eye, the first of which comes from The Guardian. This concerns a Government decision to introduce legislation preventing criminals from profiting from the sale of their stories through books. This has caused a furor within the book world, where publishers pay handsomely for such rights, with many citing this as unworkable and an attack on free speech.

The plan, which is part of the Coroners and Justice Bill announced as part of the Queen's speech, is likely to involve the introduction of a UK-wide civil scheme for the recovery of profits from criminal memoirs. A spokesperson from the Ministry of Justice said it was too early to provide more details, but that the scheme would be unlikely to attempt to retrieve profits retrospectively. The scheme, which is designed to prevent criminals from profiting from their crimes, would not include accounts of prison life such as written by Jeffrey Archer (politicians know how to look after its own), books about other people's crimes, or fictional accounts of crime.

On the surface this sounds all well and good, but (and there is always a but), as Peter Walsh, publisher at true crime specialist Milo Books said "practicality is a different argument from ethics." Walsh went on point out that writing about their experiences is for many criminals part of their rehabilitation, and can often lead to new and successful careers where they make a real contribution to society (which includes paying taxes). In some ways this is no worse than celebrities who write about their struggle with drink and drugs, as many argue that in both cases, these books glorify the writers previous activities and encourage those at the bottom of the pile, who look up to such individuals, to follow their example. I have heard some comment that the admission that one has such a problem seems to be worn as a badge of honour.

The second point that Simon Juden, Chief Executive of the Publishers Association pointed out is that much of the most potentially offensive stuff wouldn't come from people convicted of crimes. For example, Nelson Mandela couldn't publish stuff because he was convicted of a crime, but OJ Simpson could, because he wasn't (that has since changed). This scheme is therefore targetting the wrong people.

The second story which comes from Publishers Weekly, is that Amazon boss Jeff Bezoz has been voted as Publishers Person of the Year. My own views on his company are well known to anyone who has read this blog, but love him or loathe him, he is a force to reckoned with, and one that has changed the face of publishing in the 14 years since Amazon was launched.

Bezoz claims in an interview at the company's Seattle headquarters that those at his company see themselves as explorers. He goes on to say “It’s much more interesting looking at unexplored terrain” and, because of the Internet, “there is boundless unexplored terrain.” This makes him sound like a character from Star Trek, going where no man has gone before.

His strategies of allowing negative reviews and the sale of used and second hand books prompted strong criticism from the book world, yet you have to admire his vision. As he also points out "To succeed in new businesses you have to be willing to experiment and to accept possible failure."

That is the hard part, compared to that, starting a business is easy.

A victory for common sense

I have been considering of late whether to publish this blog (omitting the personal and work related stuff) but since it is not likely to be that commercially viable, and on the recommendation of various writing friends, will probably do this via Lulu rather than Authors OnLine, who although very good, are not cheap. At this stage in my life I do not have the funds to publish another book, yet reading through some of the older posts on here, from when I first started this blog (at the beginning of 2006), they are rather good, and have the potential I think, to help a lot of others who may be considering this route. I also considered (and will get around to at some point) writing a more detailed book about print on demand in the UK, and publishing through Lulu may be a useful experience to write about. It will be useful to have tried this route, and have more than one angle to write about (doing it yourself as opposed to through a POD provider who oversee all the formatting and so on for you).

To this end, last weekend I bought one of the those new netbook computers. I have been considering one of these for a while, since my old laptop is rather heavy and bulky for travelling with, especially on the winter helicopter service, where there is a strict weight limit and not much room for hand luggage in the cabin. The one I chose, the Acer Aspire One, has a nine inch screen and 8 GB flash drive, with a Linux operating system. It will be more than adequate for my needs, and a useful and versatile travelling companion.

Not much has been happening in the book world these past few weeks, now that I have got to the bottom of what is going with Amazon and the introduction of their own print on demand service in the UK. The court case with Booklocker must be due quite soon, but there has been no more news. I expect it will appear on the Bookseller in due course, and I will no doubt hear about it from the various writing sites that I post on, as well as from Angela Hoy (the plaintiff) and the Long Riders Guild, whom I am in touch with from time to time.

Now that Oprah Winfrey has endorsed the Kindle, I expect that Amazon shall be selling a few more of these devices. It is not expected to be launched in the UK until the spring, so for the moment we will have to content ourselves with other means, such as the Sony E-Reader, which I expect Waterstones will also sell a few of over the coming festive season.

It will be a tough one this year for all retailers, not just book sellers, with Amazon predicting a sharp downturn in sales. Shares in the company are reported to have plunged by 14 percent in after-hours trading, as Amazon lowered its revenue target for the final three months of the year to between $6 billion (£3.67 billion) and $7 billion, against the $7.2 billion previously forecast. Jeff Bezos is still a lot richer than I am, so I don't think he has anything to worry about quite yet.

I see that Google have also agreed to provisionally (what this means is anyone's guess) pay $125m (£80m) to settle a long-running legal dispute between it and US publishers over its controversial book scanning programme, Google Books.

According to a statement released today, the settlement, which is subject to court approval, will expand online access to millions of in-copyright books, and other documents, in the United States from the collections of participating libraries.

Google Book Search allows users to browse millions of books online and, in the case of out-of-copyright titles (or titles that the author chooses to upload to the site, as I have done), read an extract or sometimes (depending on the permission granted) the entire text. The settlement resolves two lawsuits filed in the United States just over three years ago, one of which involved the Authors’ Guild and the other of which involved McGraw-Hill, Pearson, John Wiley and Simon and Schuster. The lawsuits objected to Google’s plans to digitise, search and display extracts of in-copyright books and share them online without the explicit permission of the copyright holder - I should think so too.

Under the terms of the provisional settlement, users will be able to search and preview millions of additional titles, including out-of-print books, online. Users will also be able to buy titles online via the Book Search site (thank goodness for small mercies). US academic institutions will be able to subscribe to the online collections of libraries from around the world, and students will be able to access millions of out-of-print titles from designated computers in public and university libraries.

In addition to resolving these claims, a portion of the $125 million potential settlement will go towards helping to establish the Books Rights Registry. This will be an independent, non profit organisation will pay the rights holders earnings from institutional subscriptions, book sales, advertising revenue and other potential revenue streams (similar to Public Lending Rights by the sound of it, but online). The registry will also be the method for authors to request inclusion or exclusion from the Google Book Search programme. I must remember to look at this myself then, once it is all set up, since it affects not only US based authors, but anyone whose work is distributed within that territory.

This is a victory not just for common sense, but also for both readers and authors, who will now get paid for the use of their work. I mustn't write too soon though, as how much we will get paid remains to be seen. If it is similar to the public lending rights system, where only a sample of libraries are used each year from which to calculate earnings, then this will not be much good at all, since the libraries that my own books is stocked in have so far not been included in this sample, meaning that even though I know they are being borrowed, I am still not paid. The real winner is then the reader, who will have access to a wealth of knowledge that these books contain.

Further information for authors affected by this decision can be obtained here and here.

A storm in a tea cup

Following some comments posted on here by one Aaron Shepard a week or so ago, regarding Amazon.co.uk and their plans to implement their own POD service, some interesting things have happened.

Aaron posted on here to say that both Bertrams and Gardners had stopped stocking Lightning Source titles, and that they were only available through what he referred to as 'back order'. This he said, had allowed Amazon.co.uk along with their other sites outside the US, to start listing LSI titles as 'out of stock' or to stop taking orders for them at all.

I was puzzled by these comments, since neither Bertrams or Gardners routinely stock any POD titles, no matter who they are printed by (my own book, which is stocked by Gardners, is very much the exception). Most POD books are available via special order only, which is what Aaron refers to as 'back order'. What this means is that rather than Gardners etc keeping the books in stock, they are printed to order as and when needed. This is the norm for most POD titles, and the reason why they are not normally returnable, hence the fact that the majority of retailers do not keep in stock.

Having said this, no retailer in their right mind would refuse to obtain a book that a customer had specifically requested, for to do so would be commercial suicide. If the customer requests this book, and pays for it upfront, which they would be expected to do so, then the sale is guaranteed, so what has the retailer got to lose? It is money for old rope.

It is true that Amazon.co.uk was showing such titles as out of stock, but when you looked at the details for these books, Amazon also said that they would let customers know when the books were available (expected within 6 to 9 days) and not take their money until then. There is nothing sinister in this at all, so I don't understand what Aaron was so upset about.

I emailed Richard to see what he knew and received the following reply:

"It would appear that Amazon managed to inadvertently route all Lighting Source books to the US printing works thus putting every POD book in Britain 'Temporarily Out of Stock' - and Gardners have not changed their policy, procedure or systems - if you start looking on Amazon now, you will see that they are all beginning to come back to normal. So a bit of a speculative storm in a tea cup - my info is from the President of Lightning Source who is a long standing business friend of mine, so I usually eventually get to the bottom of things."

He is as usual right. The majority of books are now showing as available within 24 hours - so back to business as usual.

I noticed that Paul has also posted some comments on The Bookseller stating that he spoke to I Damien Peachey from the Amazon press office. Damian assured him that although Amazon would prefer to print in house via Booksurge, publishers not signing up will be able to carry on exactly as they have been, with no problems at all. Titles will be available exactly the same as they always have.

I spoke to Paul in person the other night, and he relayed this tale in somewhat more detail. He also stated that he had spoken to the Business Development Manager of a large print on demand company based in both the UK and US, and he has received a letter from Amazon, confirming that printing with Booksurge is not compulsory, and things will continue as normal for all who do not sign up. So now we have it, in black and white, no one is forcing anyone to change printers.

All is well then that ends well. As Richard said all along, it is all a storm in a tea cup.

Borders hit by Icelandic banking crisis

As print on demand company Lulu make 24 people redundant at the UK site, due to the credit crunch, Amazon seem (unfortunately) to be going from strength to strength with their profits going up with each successive quarter. This has by all accounts, been a highly successful year for them - with the acquisition of social networking site Shelfari, and the launch in the United States, of the Kindle e-reading device. I see now that they have now been awarded a US patent for "creating an incentive to author useful item reviews."

The patent describes a method of "rewarding the authors of reviews found to be useful by their readers, such as by prominently displaying their names and ranks as authors of useful reviews prominently on the web merchant's web site." In practise this means giving customers badges for writing product reviews based on whether or not others found their submission useful. This is I suppose, Amazon's way of saying thank you (pity they didn't think to thank all us authors for writing the books that they sell at such ridiculous discounts and screwing us out of the opportunity to sell them at cheaper than they do - see the Booksurge contract in yesterday's post).

The funny thing is that back in 2000, Jeff Bezos called for "fewer patents, of higher average quality." Exactly what his definition of average is, is obviously different to the rest of us ... Why anyone is surprised by this backtrack is beyond me, for like politicians, it is all he seems to do. He stated not that long ago that Amazon had no plans to implement their POD "service" in the UK, but we all took that with a pinch of salt, and quite rightly so, given my two posts of yesterday. Some time ago, in an interview with the New York Times, he declared that books were like horses, as both were perfect things that were difficult to improve upon. It seems to me that he spends most of his time talking out of that same thing that horses s*** through.

Things may be good for Amazon, but they are far from good for troubled book chain, Borders, which has found itself emboiled in the Icelandic banking crisis. The retailer - which secured a £23 million asset-based loan from Landsbanki Island earlier this year, also has an overdraft facility with the bank, which has been taken over by Iceland's Financial Services Authority. Its links with Landsbanki could have long term implications for Borders UK's access to working capital, although the impact is as yet unclear.

The chain could find their working capital severely restricted during the most critical trading period of the year, while the Icelandic Government decides what to do with the banks international operations. Speculation is rife, with one suggesiton that Borders may be asked to pay back some of the £23 million loan. The problem is that this is secured by the stock that is held in both the company's stores, and its distribution centre (recently closed) in Truro.

At the time that this loan was announced, in February, Mark Raban, who was Borders' Finance Director, said: "Landsbanki were able to offer flexibility and complete the deal quickly. We are confident the deal puts us on a strong footing for future success." I bet he is eating those words now.

While I would hate to see the demise of the chain, and the resultant loss of jobs, it would in many ways be not unexpected. Borders seem to have lost something in recent years - they used to be a good company to deal with and to shop with, but the stores now seem tatty and out of date, with the shelves stocked full of books that no one wants to buy. Whether the closure of the Truro centre will make a difference is difficult to tell, in theory it should, for the smaller presses and self publishers at least, since the staff will no longer be able to fob you off by stating that they only buy stock centrally through Head Office. Some titles no doubt are, but they will no longer be able to use this as an excuse to get rid of the savvy self publishers like me, who will challenge them on this, by pointing out that this is not the case, the stock can and is, also obtained from wholesalers, with deliveries direct to stores.

It is once again a case of wait and see. I hope that they can manage to dig their way out, but I fear that this time, their number may be up, leaving just two major book chains in the UK - WH Smiths and Waterstones.

Amazon UK launches POD service

Around the end of March this year, stories began to circulate around the Internet that Amazon.com were contacting US based print on demand publishers by telephone and telling them that from now on, if they wished their books to be listed directly (i.e have buy now buttons) on Amazon.com, then they would have be printed by Booksurge, Amazon's own printer. This understandably caused a flurry of protests, for various reasons, which I blogged extensively about at the time, and which I will talk more about later on. It culminated in Angela Hoy, proprietor of Booklocker.com together with her husband Richard, filing an anti-trust suit against Amazon, which is due in court at any time.

Everyone in the UK breathed a sigh of relief when Amazon confirmed that we were safe - for the moment, but sadly it seems that this moment has passed, for earlier this week The Bookseller ran an article written by Graeme Neill entitled Amazon UK launches POD service.

The article states that Amazon has launched a print on demand programme in the UK, which means that they can rapidly print and ship individual books following a customer order. The service will allow them to bring previously unavailable titles, such as out of print books or foreign language editions, into print in the UK. Publishers who have joined the programme are listed as Faber, John Wiley and Sons, HarperCollins UK, Cambridge University Press and Allen and Unwin Australia. Amazon state that they will be able to print books in both colour and black and white, and that the books will be 'virtually' indistinguishable from traditionally printed (lithographic) titles.

The article goes on to state that for a limited time, Amazon.co.uk will be offering free set up for publishers with POD ready print on demand files. The service will it seems be offered from Amazon's fulfilment centre in Milton Keynes, the exact same town where POD printer Lightning Source are also based.

The more I read this article the more confused I got, as what the article describes is the exact service that Amazon already have through their partnership, if that is the right word to use, with Lightning Source. The similarities are so similar, that I began to wonder if they had come to an agreement with Lightning Source to print books with their name on in their own fulfilment centre - especially since Cambridge University Press are so I am told, Lightning Source' biggest customer by far.

Somewhat suspiciously, Christopher North, Vice President of media at Amazon.co.uk says that "Amazon will be consulting with its US POD company Booksurge for their 'expertise and experience'". He went on to say that Amazon.co.uk would not require publishers to use its POD service exclusively, adding that "We are offering titles that are being produced by other print on demand providers".

The funny thing is that they said the exact same thing in the States, but this turned out to mean that publishers who refused to print with Booksurge would have to join the inappropriately named Amazon Advantage programme instead, which requires publishers to give Amazon 55 percent off the list price (the same terms that wholesalers demand, when they are not a wholesaler), and pay Amazon $29.95 a year, plus all shipping costs to send the books to Amazon. These terms are even worse than the Booksurge contract, and that is saying something.

If this is what Amazon are proposing to bring into the UK then we should all be concerned, as it will cause ripples that will impact across the book industry for years to come.

This will be a lesson for all of us in unity consciousness - what publishers, large and small will need to do is band together and pool their resources, standing up and saying NO, we will not allow you to do this.

Although I reacted with fury to begin with, now that I have had a chance to think, the threat is a bit overplayed. The laws are different in this country, and the Monoplies and Mergers Commission would never let them get away with this. The court case in America with BookLocker is yet to be decided also, and to push ahead with this prior to the verdict would be stupid in the extreme. The fact is that no one, not even Amazon can force anyone to do anything that they don't want to - people like to think otherwise as thay way they can kid themselves that they don't have a choice, and then don't have to take responsibility.

Amazon do not buy books published by the smaller companies and the self publishing outfits direct from them, but through wholesalers. I know this for a fact, as I been told it many times by many different people. It makes sense for them to obtain my book in this way, since it is stocked by Gardners, who give them a far better deal (and higher discount) than Richard would. All books that have both an ISBN and distribution through either Bertrams or Gardners, the UK's two largest wholesalers (all major POD companies have accounts with both) are automatically fed to Amazon's site by the ISBN agency, and there is nothing that Amazon can do to prevent this. It is how the system works. They can in theory remove any book that they like from their site (and I am sure that they would find a way - they did with Hachette Livre) if they really wanted to, but this would entail an awful lot of work, too much even for the mighty Amazon. I mean think about it for a moment, would they really go to the time and trouble of wading through all those books from all those publishers and removing them from their site - of course not, and more to the point, would they really alienate themselves from companies that provide their most lucrative source of income - no - they know which side their bread is buttered.

I don't think we have reason to panic then quite yet.

The End of Book Publishing as we know it?

My next installment for today features several other articles sent to me via the lovely people at Book2Book. The first of these is a rather long article published in New York magazine entitled The End of Book Publishing as we Know It? The article is too long to detail in its entirety but it basically bemoans the state of the industry, and poses the question, is this the end of publishing as we know it, and can and will it evolve into something better? What that something better is is open to debate, and depends as always on your point of view.

From the authors point of view, it cannot really get much worse, but that depends again on who you are. If you are one of the select few who is guaranteed large advances and healthy sales for every book that you write, then you may not have much to worry about, since you have made your money, but for the majority who struggle to get a foothold at all, then serious changed need to be made, changes that will I hope benefit all, and not just those who actually sell the books.

In its heyday, whenever that was, publishing was a good industry to be working in, the author has a large variety of different houses to choose from, both large and small, and many different outlets for their work. Today things are somewhat different - most of those smaller publishers have since been swallowed up the large conglomerates - the big five publishers who collectively control around 75 percent of the market - in the UK as well as the US. It is the same with book sellers, with independents being forced out of business by the aggressive marketing of the chains and Internet retailers, most notably Amazon. The industry is no longer driven by talent, but by profit, and market forces - in other words, the book buying public, who demand higher and higher discounts. It is an endless and self perpetuating cycle - the more they get used to discounted book prices, the more they demand them, until it gets to the point that nothing is bought at full price. What this means to both author and publisher is less money in the coffers to a) promote new talent and b) spend on producing good quality books. No one is a winner, least of all the public themselves.

The biggest threat comes from the Internet, without a doubt. E-books and print on demand also play a role. Amazon has been busy expanding their share of the market and capitalising on these new trends, by buying up not just Booksurge, a large print on demand company, but also Shelfari, a social networking site, where members are encouraged to upload their book shelves and make recommendations to others. They also launched the Kindle reading device (in the United States only, although I am sure that will change) earlier this year. Editors and retailers fear with good reason that they bent on building an an inclusive publishing business where they control every aspect from sales to publication, with no middle men in sight. The first step began at the end of March when they announced that from now on, any print on demand companies based in the United States would have to use their own printer Booksurge, in order to be listed directly on Amazon.com. This is the first step towards cutting out the middle men, and sceptics say in time, controlling the entire print on demand sector, which is increasingly used by not just self publishers, but also the larger houses to maintain their back lists, what is commonly referred to as the 'long tail'. Control this and you control the entire market. It is the same with the Kindle, why bother with HarperCollins, Borders Books etc when you can sell direct to the public via Amazon and have your books preloaded onto such a device? Certain books now are going straight to Kindle long before they are published as paper copies.

Amazon are also playing hard ball over terms with publishers. When Hachette Livre, the UK's largest publishing group refused to give into their demands for higher discounts, Amazon removed the BUY NEW button from its listings for all the company’s key books. Hachette’s CEO responded with an open letter, saying “Amazon seems each year to go from one publisher to another making increasing demands in order to achieve richer terms at our expense and sometimes at yours.” I know they feel, and the cynic in me says what the hell do they expect, for their have allowed other book sellers to get away with similar behaviour, demanding extortionate fees for prime placement and promotions) for far, far too long, at the expense of the small presses and self publishers who simply cannot compete.

The ultimate fear is that the Kindle could be a Trojan horse. At the moment, Amazon makes little or nothing at all on Kindle books. Pay $359 for the device and you can get e-books for $9.99. Publishers list those same e-books for $17.99, and as with paper copies, charge Amazon around half that price for the privilege. This means that Amazon make around $5 for each book, while the publishers make $9 (before overheads are taken off or taken into account).

The fear is that Amazon are doing what the supermarkets also do - offering a sweet deal now in order to undercut publishers later on. If they succeed in making e-books the dominant medium (and the signs are encouraging), then they will be in a position to pay publishers whatever they feel like, the same as they already trying to do with print on demand through the Booksurge debacle (see my posts about this on the archives from April of this year).

While some are playing a game of watch and wait, others are attempting to take matters into their own hands. HarperStudio and a few others are making ambitious plans. In February of this year, Bob Miller and Jane Friedman met at the bar of the Omni Berkshire hotel for one of their freewheeling chats. “How would you do it differently if you could start all over again,” Jane asked. Bob said that he’d try to reduce advances and returns, put out only a few books, and focus on cheap Internet marketing. “Why don’t you do that?” Jane asked, and within a week they had a deal.

Miller has worked out separate contracts with booksellers and authors - capping advances at $100,000 and reducing returns. Authors will contribute to their own pre-publication marketing.
Miller doesn’t wait for agent submissions, instead accosting writers at conferences, telling them how much more a writer can make under 50-50 profit-sharing. Of course the cynic in me says that all of this, noble as it sounds is really just another term for subsidy publishing, and why the hell shouldn't an author contribute to marketing - after all, whose book is it? When the contract is offered by a small unknown publisher is is subsidy or even worse, vanity publishing, but when the published in question is a large and respected one, then it is profit sharing ...

One unnamed indie publisher has gone a step further, expanding into print on demand, online subscriptions, and even considering a “salon” for loyal readers. He envisions a transition period of print on demand, followed by an era in which most books will be published electronically for next to nothing. High-priced, creatively designed hardcovers become will become limited edition collectors item - the vinyl of the future.

The transition will be hard - some publishers will transform, some will muddle through, and some will simply die. One things for sure; gone are the days when authors were paid in the millions, or even printed in the millions. The industry has to find a new way of being if it is survive.

Perhaps if we really want to turn things around we should listen to Sam Leith from The Telegraph, who states that reading makes you rich and better in bed.

Fingers and toes crossed

I have just spoken to Paul, the amateur publicist for works on behalf of Richard's authors, and boy do I wish I had gone to that Winchester Book Festival. It seems that there were representatives there from Amazon, Booksurge and Authorhouse and Paul ruffled the feathers of all three - which is probably not difficult to do! When Amazon admitted that they are planning to implement their controversial Booksurge policy in the UK, Paul's words were "over my dead body", or words to that effect and promised them one hell of a fight (he has a lot of contacts in the media that he would not hesitate to use). He compared the quality of Booksurge books to one of his own, printed by Lightning Source and was able to prove that the LS, which is five years old and has been handled by well over 100 different people, is far better quality, since unlike the Booksurge one, the pages are all intact and not coming away from the spine.

As for Authorhouse, well my opinion of them is well known. It seems that Authors OnLine have a growing reputation within the POD world for turning out good quality books, which is making them a wee bit jealous. Authors OnLine as a company are really going places, with their X-Books website, and many other innovative ideas that are helping to raise their profile. They have had several major successes this year, including I am proud to say, my own work.

Paul's new book has just been published and is making inroads in Waterstones stores. He has 4 book signings already lined up, and is trying to work out a deal with Waterstones to get the book into more of their stores. Peter North, the new independent author advisor at Waterstones Head Office, has looked at Richard's site, and from what Paul says, he is very impressed with the range and quality of titles. He tells me that they are looking at stocking (this will be core stock, buying direct from Richard) several of Richard's titles, including my own, which is of course already stocked and selling well in almost 90 of their stores.

I always knew that it was only a matter of time before this book began to get noticed, and it seems that it may finally be about to happen. Fingers, toes and everything else then crossed to see what transpires.

News from the publishing world this week

There are several interesting stories circulating around the publishing world at the moment, not least of all that concerning the Amazon versus Hachette Livre dispute. The Times reports that the dispute is showing no signs of diminishing, and looks likely to drag on til at least Christmas, if not longer.

None of this is really news at all, since we all saw this happening a long time ago. It started with the abolition of the net book price agreement in 1995, and has got steadily worse since. Those within the industry warned at the time that this would bring nothing but disaster, so I am told (this was long before I began to write), but as per usual, no one listened.

The Times reports that back in the 1980's, a man with a background in the grocery business told a group of publishers: “In the trade I come from, if the retailer says, ‘Jump’, the supplier asks, ‘How high?’,” and the audience looked at him as if he were talking rubbish. Twenty years later, they know exactly what he meant.

Publishers admit that they should never have allowed discounts to get so high, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The fact is that when an order from a retailer makes the difference between hitting and not hitting targets, and the consequences of rejecting that order is to see the business go elsewhere, then it is very hard to so no, even on such unfavourable terms.

This situation is not confined to publishing, as we see it throughout the retail trade - especially with the supermarkets and the shameful way in which they treat their suppliers - some of whom are forced to sell at a loss. Still, it is heartening to see such support from authors, across the board, it is in our interests really though, as the lower discounts become, the more money there is to pay us with.

It is as usual all about market forces - and what consumers are prepared to pay. It is the same old story, that the public want good quality goods and good service, but are not prepared to pay for it. I see this in my own job on an almost daily basis; it is why my company were forced to equalise shop and Internet prices earlier this month. The result of this has been that there is now so little profit on certain items, that it is hardly worth selling them at all without at least 2 add ons.

It is we are told business, and nothing personal. Tell that though to the members of staff at branches such as mine, who are being forced to close because they are no longer viable. Tell that to the children and dependents of those who work there. The Times states that any negotiator wants to screw out of the market as much as the market can take, but the fact that this happens does not mean that it is morally or ethically right, as everyone has the right to earn a living and maintain a certain lifestyle, where at least their basic needs are met (and beer and cigarettes are not basic needs). Book selling, in fact, publishing in general, makes very little money - Waterstones made a profit, so The Times says, last year, of 2.9 percent, while Hachette’s profit margin was 11.2 per cent. Are they then in a position to negotiate and dictate terms? Maybe not. I do know though that if we do not stop this slide, in retail in general, and not just publishing, then we will be hearing more about Amazon in the months to come, and it will not be long until they drive us all out of business.

Against this backdrop, it is somewhat depressing to read that Amazon has almost doubled its net profits over the last three months (ending June 2008) to $158 million. Sales of books, CDs and DVDs rose 31 percent, while electronics and general merchandise sales were up by 58 percent. City analysts report that the company are benefitting from high fuel prices, since consumers have less money for shopping trips and prefer instead to shop from home. Those consumers should try living here in good old blighty, where our petrol costs almost twice what theirs does!

On a happier note, it seems that the Espresso printing machines, which I mentioned on here some time ago, are finally set to arrive in the British Isles, being rolled out to larger Blackwells stores in the autumn. The machines - nicknamed the ATM for books, are capable of printing and binding books, while customers wait, in a matter of minutes, with a choice of over 1 million titles, many of which are rare or otherwise out of print.

The Espresso Book Machine’s backers claim that it combines the virtually unlimited choice of the Internet with the packaging of a conventional book, which has the potential to make the most obscure of titles easy to buy.

Many readers, especially students, and remember that Blackwells is the leading academic chain, complain that book stores are top heavy with piles of heavily hyped best sellers and celebrity dross from the big publishers, while the independent and small presses,including self publishers do not get a look in. This then will help to equalise things as never before, and can only be a good thing, for both authors and book buyers alike.

The machines, which are 9 feet long and 5 feet high (as I am also- high that is!), allow customers to type in any title that they want, and after seven minutes out pops the book, neatly trimmed and bound, for the same price as the equivalent book off the shelves.

The finished product is like any conventional paperback, although critics say that the illustrations are poor quality, and the books have a rubbery feel. As time goes on, I am sure these problems will be ironed out, and I am also sure that customers will be more than happy with the speed and convenience that these machines afford.

Other chains are less circumspect, stating that they will wait to see how the technology develops and improves, and how popular it proves to be with Blackwells customers.

Good news indeed, and one to watch. I for one will eagerly anticipate the arrival of the first machines, and if I find one near me, will willingly pay for a copy of my own work just to see how it does work, and what these books are like. I will report back on what I find.

Amazon in meltdown?

The great Amazon debate has at long last made it on the pages of one of our national dailies, in this instance, The Daily Telegraph. An article on the online edition, written by Nick Allen says the online retailer could be facing a strike by authors and publishers as it becomes embroiled in an increasingly bitter dispute with publisher Hachette Livre.

All the groups titles have seen their buy buttons removed in a dispute over terms. These books are still available via Amazon marketplace through re-sellers and third parties, but as the article states, the publisher does not earn a bean from these sales.

Actually this is not strictly true. It is true that they earn nothing from the sale of second hand books, but not true when it comes to third party sellers, since these have to buy the books from somewhere, and it is not other retailers. No, they get their stock direct from the publisher, or through the usual wholesalers, whose terms are just as high as Amazon's. Amazon has been singled out not because of what they have done, but because of the dishonest way in which they have done it, by going from one publisher to the next, lying about the terms negotiated with rival publishers and using this as a battering ram to get others to comply. This is not something that wholesalers do, as their terms are equal across the board and totally transparent.

This move then is aimed at forcing Hachette to sell to Amazon on terms which are simply put, unacceptable. As CEO Tim Hely Hutchinson said: "In Britain the terms publishers give to retailers are the highest in the world and more than half of the price of a book goes to the retailer. We have collectively been too soft in our negotiations and we are trying to make a stand. "Amazon put pressure on us and took the 'buy' button off a number of prominent authors' books on their website. We don't like it and our authors don't like it."

As Amazon continues to grow, Mr Hely Hutchinson warned that independent book sellers, as well as authors, would be the victims. Given their current state of growth, it is entirely possible that within five years readers outside the major city centres may face the prospect of having no choice but to either buy online, or obtain books from supermarkets, which do not exactly carry deep range.

While it is true that Amazon has helped authors, in particularly the self published and independent ones whose books are not stocked by the larger chains, this dispute has the potential to seriously undermine their sales and credibility.

To punish the authors, without whom Amazon would have no business, is seriously not on, and they would be wise to remember that without us to write the books, there would be no business. There is after all, only so much we can and will take, and Amazon have pushed just that little too far. It is heartening then to see such support for Hachette, with authors standing firm alongside and backing them all the way, even if it does affect their sales.

Of course none of this is really new though, since like I have said, so many times on this blog, the British publishing trade does sell their wares at much higher discount than any other country in the world. I never have thought it fair or reasonable that 40 percent of the cover price from my own book goes to the retailers who sell it, when all they do is press a few buttons and place it on the shelves. In contrast to this, in return for my five years of work writing this book, I earn the princely sum of £1.39 per copy. This is why I had to return to work, and this is why I am no longer around to help promote it, by telephoning book stores and being there to drive business. This is also why in February, those 71 books arrived back on my doorstep from Gardners.

That though is hopefully about to change, as at the time of writing they have just 18 copies in stock. Since they re-order when the level drops to 15, I am hoping and praying for 3 more orders before Thursday, so that I can despatch the 40 remaining copies that are still in my loft on to them before I depart for Lundy on Friday morning. So, if you wish to buy a copy then you know what to do - get down to your nearest friendly bookstore (or Amazon if you really must) and get ordering!

This will be an incredibly busy week for me, since I also have a missing parcel to track down, which was inadvertently sent to our old address (don't ask me how), and the village newsletter to finish. In between all of this I have to work every day between Monday and Thursday, go to the gym, get all my laundry done ready for the off, back up my computer files, fill up the car with petrol, check my tyres, lights, oil and water, pack my bags and collapse in a heap of exhaustion. It is just as well that I am owed five hours from work, as at least it means (with any luck) that I can go home early some days and make a start on all this 'stuff'. By the time I do get the island, at this rate, I will be fit to drop. Still, it will be worth it when I see her sailing into view.

I am so looking forward to this holiday, as it has been one hell of a stressful year. A year that has seen my hopes and dreams come crumbling down, as I have finally had to concede that despite my best efforts, I will probably never achieve the level of success of which I have dreamt. Still, I have achieved an awful lot, far more perhaps than most POD authors, since the books are stocked in an increasingly high number of Waterstones stores and independents, where they are selling very well indeed. Somehow though it has never felt enough, and so this year, I have had to learn to be happy with what I have got and stop beating myself up quite so hard.

This has entailed facing many demons and destructive belief systems, but with Corans help and support, and some good books written by some very talented authors, I am getting there.

What do horses and Amazon have in common?

The Hachette Livre versus Amazon debate continues apace, with it featured on the Radio Four programme Today earlier on, from what I have been told. I did not hear the progamme myself, since I only listen to local radio, but I will try and find the link later on on the BBC website, since it is bound to still be there.

The author and agent community appears to be backing Hachette's stance, no doubt to the chagrin of Amazon, with leading agents leading the backlash against the online retailer.

It was reported earlier this week that Hachette CEO Tim Hely Hutchinson had sent a letter to authors affected by the dispute, whose books have been removed from Amazon's site, asking for their patience and understanding. According to The Bookseller online, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. In his letter, Hely Hutchinson said that he would stand firm against conceding any additional trading terms, adding that Amazon's sanctions were creating a breach of trust between the online retailer and its customers, which could prove to be a catalyst for them starting to lose their popularity with book buyers.

Despite advantageous terms, far better than most chain stores get (when buying direct from publishers anyway), Amazon seems to go from one publisher to the next year on year, making increasingly high demands in order to get rich at everyone else's expense.

Of course the cynic in me says that all retailers do this, and this is not confined to the publishing industry. Amazon though are by far the worst example of this that I have come across, and from what I have seen and heard in recent months, will stop at nothing to gain almost total control of the marketplace until they are the dominant book retailer and traditional book stores are driven out of business. This is then the thin end of a very long wedge, and is exactly why the publishing industry needs to make a stand. If we are not careful then given its current rate of growth, Amazon could become the largest bookseller in Britain within the next three years, and if they are not stopped now, then they will be able to dictate any terms that they like.

Curtis Brown MD Jonathan Lloyd commented that the entire industry is 100 percent behind what Hachette are doing, and that someone somewhere has to draw the line as using authors as what he terms 'a financial football' is disgraceful.

Clare Alexander of Aitken Alexander added that 'this is a disturbing glimpse of the iron in Amazon’s soul. I think its ruthlessness in bargaining is extremely disturbing'.

The MD of a unnamed rival publication said that removing buy buttons is akin to walking into a High Street bookstore and asking to buy a book, only to be told no. The irony of course is that until quite recently, this is exactly what did happen with some POD books, since inexperienced booksellers were unaware of how the system works. When they saw that the POD book was not in stock at the wholesaler from where they obtained their stock, they assumed that it was not available at all, unaware that there was such a thing as special orders. This though is changing, as the publishing industry wises up to what POD is about and how it works.

An spokesperson for Amazon said that they continue to be committed to offering the broadest range of titles possible, through both their own retail offering and re-sellers (Amazon Marketplace - where Hachette titles are still available). Amazon.co.uk is also committed to ensuring we offer our customers the lowest possible prices.

What they fail to understand is that by making this move, and alienating the largest book publishing group in the UK, they are failing to honour those principals and cutting off their nose to spite their face, as they are not offering the broadest range possible at all. All that will happen is that readers wishing to buy these books will go elsewhere to bricks and mortar stores, or to other online retailers such as Play.com, Book Depository or Bookrabbit.

The online community upon which Amazon's business is built will turn against them, and ultimately prove to be their undoing. This is I think, the beginning of the end, and one never knows, the backlash against discounting and ever increasing terms may also be applied to traditional book stores as well, with firm sale, on back list titles at least, becoming the norm. How this would affect the indepedent and print on demand author is very much open to debate.

In the meantime, if we are not careful, then in the US at least, Amazon may soon be invading the High Street as well. Associated Press reports that Pershing Capital Management's William Ackerman, a major stakeholder in Borders Group in the US, said that the troubled book chain should consider approaching Amazon about a possible acquisition.

Borders, which was put up for sale in March has around 500 stores throughout the US. One possible incentive to Amazon to buy the Borders stores may be the some 18 states are considering the introduction of sales tax to online businesses. Once Amazon lose this tax advantage, then they may be keen to move into bricks and mortar book selling.

In an interview with the Wallstreet Journal earlier this week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos compared books to horses, stating that the industry faced the challenge of improving something which like the horse, had been around for many years and was difficult if not impossible to improve. From my perspective, there is one more thing that Amazon and horses have in common - their ability to produce s*** in copious quantities !

The bigger you are, the harder you fall

The Bookseller online edition reported about 2 weeks ago that the now infamous Amazon had removed the buy buttons on books published by the UK's largest publishing group, Hachette Livre, and now it seems that Hachette CEO Tim Hely Hutchinson has upped the ante by sending a strongly worded letter to authors affected by the embargo.

Amazon are reported to be doing to Hachette what they have been doing for some months now to print on demand publishers in America, namely demanding extortionate terms, and when the publisher refuses to give in, using Peter to rob Paul by going to the next publisher, and claiming that the first has given in, in order to make sure that the second one follows suit. Their plan has though been rumbled, as in publishing news travels fast, and it is if nothing else an industry built on communications, communications which I feel will ultimately prove to be Amazon's undoing.

Hely Hutchinson's letter, a copy of which has been sent to the Bookseller (although not published on their site) explains Hachette's position in regard to this dispute, which has seen Amazon remove the buy buttons from key front and back list titles published by Hachette, including Kate Mosse's Labyrinth, Stephen King's Duma Key and James Patterson's The Sixth Target.

The letter reportedly tells authors that Amazon's actions could "prove to be a catalyst for Amazon starting to lose its popularity with the public" because it is reducing its range and service to customers. It goes on to say that despite advantageous terms, "Amazon seems each year to go from one publisher to another making increasing demands in order to achieve richer terms at our expense and sometimes at yours", before affirming Hachette's intention to stand firm against these bullies.

The response from Amazon was predictably lukewarm with them refusing to comment and insisting as always, that they are committed to offering the broadest range possible to their customers at the lowest possible price, through a range of outlets, both direct on their own site and through re-sellers.

Agents are also expressing their angst, since this affects the careers of many of their authors, whose careers they oversee. It also of course affects their own income, since they take a proportion of what their authors earn. Anthony Harwood, who represents Chris Manby, said his client has been dealt a "double whammy", as both her new hardback Spa Wars and her first book written under the name of Olivia Darling, were affected. Anthony said "It's incredibly frustrating; the author suffers while these disputes rumble on."

The Economist, which has had some interesting articles on publishing in recent weeks, pulls no punches when it says that those in the publishing industry are running scared because of the rise in new technology brought about by the Internet, but also through the rise in print on demand and electronic publishing (e-books). Amazon is of course also at the forefront of this, in America at least, with the Kindle e-book reading device and their attempt to control the print on demand sector through demanding that print on demand books be printed by their own printing arm, Booksurge in order to be listed directly on Amazon's site.

From the outside, to the author at least, book publishing seems like a closed shop, which is impossible to penetrate. The author has to jump through many hoops and pass through many gate keepers on their journey to publication, and on the way, most of them do not pass go and do not collect £200. 411,000 new titles were published in America last year, and more than 3 billion books sold. The industry saw a growth rate of 4.3 percent in the adult sector, yet reading as in other westernised countries, is actually down. Since 1985, books' share of entertainment spending has fallen by some seven percent.

Paper book sales may well be in decline, but sales of e-books are reported to have tripled since 2005. Some say that they may eventually surpass printed copies, although personally apart from academic titles, I cannot see this happening. There are though advantages to this method, especially to the author, least of all, the removal of all the middle men who are all too keen to take a slice of our hard earned cash. E-books after all are a direct route to customers that have the potential to bypass both traditional book stores and online ones, as the author can publish them for relatively low cost and sell direct to the public via either their publishers website, or their own, as indeed I do. All books published by Authors OnLine are also available as e-books; that is why they chose the name Authors OnLine, as that is how their business began. The paper copies came later, after the introduction of print on demand into the UK 10 years ago.

It is in my opinion, print on demand that has the potential to change the industry much more than e-books could ever do, for not only does it enable authors to publish their own works at low cost, circumnavigating the gate keepers, but the costs also continue to come down. The cost of paper and shipping has gone up so much in recent months that it is now cheaper to print 1200 books via print on demand that it is by traditional means.

The article in the Economist wisely says that publishing has only two indispensable participants: authors and readers. Like the music industry, any technology that brings these two groups closer makes the whole industry more efficient, but hurts those who benefit from the distance between them. Those that stand to gain the most are therefore the small players traditionally left out of the loop by practises that prevent their books from being stocked on the same terms as those issued by the larger publishing houses. Those that stand to lose the most are those who have helped to support a system that encourages this to happen, which seems to include just about everyone except the independent authors and publishers themselves. Our time it seems has finally come, as the big boys are now learning that what goes around does come around, and what you do to others does have an effect that comes back to you in hard lessons to be learnt. Whether they will see this and understand remains to be seen. For what it is worth, the response from Hachette does seem to be encouraging, and I applaud them for taking the stand that they are. I just hope that it doesn't come back to haunt them, as the bigger you are, the harder you fall. Amazon would be wise to remember this.

Booklocker files class action lawsuit against Amazon.com

As I mentioned last night, Booklocker.com, the print on demand company that started the whole Amazon thing off by bringing it to the awareness of others within the industry, has filed a class A suit against Amazon. The following article is re-printed with permission and in its entirety from the Booklocker website.

"BookLocker.com has filed a class action lawsuit against Amazon.com in response to Amazon’s recent attempts to force all publishers using Print on Demand (POD) technology to pay Amazon to print their books. You can read the complaint here.

Amazon began their clandestine effort earlier this year by phone (nobody there seemed to want to put anything in writing), approaching POD publishers, and telling them they must pay Amazon to print their books or their active “buy” buttons would be turned off at the Amazon.com website. What this means is Amazon customers won’t be able to purchase those books directly from Amazon.com (and would not qualify for free shipping), but only through third-party resellers on the site.

Under the Amazon/BookSurge contract, Amazon:

* Controls the printing price of the POD books - The prices can change at anytime, at Amazon’s discretion, with 30 days notice.

* Controls the retail price of the POD books across the board - Publishers would not be able to sell their books for a lower price through “any other channel” (including other bookstores), and would not even be able to sell their books for less to their own customers under any circumstances.

* Controls the wholesale price of the POD books - Amazon’s new contract demands a 48%-52% discount (different contracts have been sent to different publishers). Many small, independent publishers can’t afford to offer this discount to bookstores and would be forced to raise their book prices, which will ultimately hurt book buyers.

* Controls the digital setup and scanning fees for each POD title - After the initial dump of current books, publishers would be charged approximately $50 per title (again, different publishers are receiving different contracts) in setup fees and/or varying scanning fees payable to Amazon/BookSurge. These fees can change at anytime, at Amazon’s discretion, with 30 days notice.

* Controls the formatting specifications - Many publishers can’t absorb the massive number of man-hours required to reformat every single book interior and cover file in their inventory to match Amazon’s specifications.

* Controls the quality of the books - Refer to THIS ARTICLE for details and links. It’s no secret that BookSurge has a poor reputation for quality, including complaints about pages falling out of books, upside-down pages, and more. If a publisher pays Amazon to print their books, their reputation could suffer due to any possible BookSurge quality problems with that publisher’s books.

* Attempts to control the public’s knowledge of who has signed the Amazon/BookSurge contract, along with the details of that contract, through a confidentiality clause, so that publishers signing it may feel they can’t talk about it at all.

* And, Amazon controls the golden nugget - that coveted “buy” button that book buyers want (so their order can qualify for free shipping).

In a public statement, Amazon offered only one alternative to publishers, which is their “Advantage Program.” However, they did not divulge in the public statement that the terms of the Advantage Program are even worse than their printing contract. The Advantage Program requires POD publishers to give Amazon 55% of the list price, pay them $29.95/year, and pay the shipping costs for books going to Amazon.

STRONG DISSENT FROM INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVESThe Author’s Guild, the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), The Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN), YouWriteOn.com (the U.K.’s leading writer’s website) and the National Writer’s Union have all issued strong statements denouncing Amazon’s attempted power grab of the industry.

OUR STORY After hearing rumors of Amazon’s alleged activities, we spoke to an Amazon/Booksurge representative by phone on March 26th. You can read what transpired that day HERE.

After reviewing all the materials presented to us, and after talking on- and off-the-record with publishers, authors and industry representatives at all levels of this controversy, it is our opinion that Amazon may be positioning itself to directly print and control every book it sells. By forcing publishers to sign their extraordinarily oppressive contract, Amazon gains the power to charge publishers whatever printing and distribution costs it desires, as well as controlling the retail, discount and wholesale prices of the books it prints, and, through this contract, automatically positions itself to control the market.

We cannot say for certain if what Amazon is doing is legal or not at this point; that is for the Federal courts to decide. However, in our opinion, the seemingly covert manner in which Amazon has conducted itself in this matter seems to make their actions highly suspicious.

WHAT’S NEXT? Amazon has already taken control of publishers’ ebook sales on the Amazon.com website by requiring ebooks to be available for their ebook reader, the Kindle. Now, Amazon is attempting to take control of the printing of all POD books. We wonder if traditionally published books are next. Some are speculating that Amazon won’t stop until they are being paid to print every book they sell.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION You can read more information about this situation HERE, including a time-line of the events that have transpired. You can comment on this situation HERE.

ARE YOU AFFECTED? According to Amazon’s public statement, ALL POD books will be affected. If you are a POD publisher (this includes self-published authors who publish their own POD books through a printer), or a traditional publisher using POD technology for some or all your books, and would like more information, please contact:
Angela Hoy, PublisherBookLocker.comangela@booklocker.com"

Most of what Angela says is unfortunately from what I can tell, is pretty much true, apart from the obvious anomaly, that Amazon cannot remove books from their site without a lot of hard work on their side ! Titles are fed to their site via a direct feed from the ISBN agency, and the only way to remove a book and its buy button from the site, is to completely withdraw it from the distribution network, or for someone at Amazon to go through and systemically remove all POD books from their site - I cannot see this happening.

There is also one more exception. It does NOT affect all print on demand books - just those whose publisher originates in the United States. For the moment at least, overseas authors (that is to say, authors whose publisher is not based within the United States) are safe - one more good reason to keep the business in our country, and support the British book industry !

Positives and Negatives

I had been planning to write a little more about Amazon tonight, as I see from the Bookseller, that Angela Hoy of Booklooker in the United States, has now lodged a complaint against them in the US courts. Her website goes into much more detail than I could regarding the ins and outs and the whys and wherefores. It is not much that has not been said many times before, and I wish her well in her endeavours. I think it may be a while before this is over yet.

Several things have happened for me in the last few days - mostly concerning the imminent release of the new Indiana Jones film - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. My book, Genesis of Man began life as a thesis on crystal skulls, and Coran and I are still guardians of around 20 of these wonderful objects, which we work with from time to time, perhaps not as consciously as we might. A lot of the skull material has since been taken out, but I kept it carefully filed away for future reference, and I am glad that I did, as it has enabled me to begin using this new film as a springboard to increase both interest in and sales of my own book.

I got the ball rolling by sending an email out to everyone on my own mailing list. One of these is a man called Cris, whom I met around six years at a conference on the Knights Templar. Cris and I got talking and exchanged contact details, and have been in touch by email ever since. He is an interesting man, as he happens to be a personal friend of the late Anna Mitchell Hedges, who was of course the adopted daughter of real life Indiana Jones, FA Mitchell Hedges, and the discover and guardian until her death in 2007, of the Mitchell Hedges crystal skull. Cris has bought a copy of my book, which Coran posted me for today, and has hinted that he may be willing to put a link on the Mitchell Hedges site to my own website. He also informs me that the skull is due to visit the UK in June, and has promised to send me the details as soon as the dates are announced.

I have experienced the skull many times during meditation, but it would be truly wonderful to have the chance to see this fantastic object in the flesh, and also of course, to meet up with Cris again after all these years.

Out of this came a new crystal skull section on my website, followed by an amendment to the email to those on my mailing list, and the circulation of said email to every Waterstones in the country. This was rapidly followed by the posting of some press releases on various free PR sites, and this morning an email to all Blackwells stores.

A copy of the email was sent to both Richard and Paul, and Richard has replied to say that he loves what I have written, and will try and see if the journalist who picked up the news feed on the Shakespeare book that Richard had such success with, is interested enough to get in touch, and if I am lucky, and God is willing, take this to the next level.

The emails seem to have having some success, since on Sunday night when I sent them around, Gardners had 36 copies in stock, and tonight, 2 days later, they have 28. This means that 8 copies have gone out in the last 2 days, which is more than I have had for a while. It will be interesting to see over the weekend, once they arrive in store, which branches of Waterstones I can now add to my list of stockists.