Amazon hides books from Hachette
The largest online bookstore on the Internet, Amazon, has increased pressure on the book publisher Hachette. The task is to get an even greater percentage of sales of e-books. The methods that Amazon uses are highly questionable.
By negotiating e-books, Amazon has been hindering the sale of Hachette’s paper books for several months: canceling personal customer discounts, delaying sending books for several weeks, offering other books with the “best rating” to customers , and using other dirty tricks.
Now, Amazon has begun to aggravate the conflict: since Thursday, many Hatchette books are generally not available for order in the paper version, including the new book by JK Rowling (a detective written under a pseudonym). They can be bought only in electronic or audio versions.
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In fact, the authors were made hostages in order to put pressure on the publisher. After all, almost the only income of the author is a percentage of book sales. Probably, Amazon hopes to embroil successful authors with the "disgraced" publisher. But so far, the calculation is not justified.
For example, one of the victims is James Patterson, a popular writer in the United States. His novels are due out in summer and autumn, but now it’s impossible to pre-order them. On his Facebook page, he writes that “now bookstores, libraries, writers, and books themselves have fallen into the epicenter of economic warfare.” Given the important role of literature for society, this situation must be corrected immediately, if necessary, with the help of legislation, the writer said.
Hachette is the fourth largest book publisher in the United States. The rest cautiously look at what is happening. Amazon can start the same war against them. Some have called for government intervention, calling the Amazon a monopolist.
Fears are well founded. Amazon has already used similar tactics in Germany against the local publisher Bonnier Media Group. “Of course, it’s very convenient for buyers to have the opportunity to order a book 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” said Alexander Skipis, president of the German Association of Publishers and Booksellers. “But this [monopoly] online position, which Amazon is seeking, is destroying the book market that has been forming for decades and centuries.”
Some supporters of market relations consider what is happening quite normal. Like, similar to the "war" leads any retail chain in retail with its suppliers, demanding better conditions, and Amazon’s 30% share in the book market cannot be considered a monopoly. However, none of the offline retailers have a close share of 30% on the market, and when Amazon hides or makes it difficult to search for certain books in the store, there is no equivalent in the physical world.
Unfortunately, nothing can be done in this situation. Thanks to sales volumes, Amazon offers the lowest prices, and it’s hard to find an alternative to this store.
There is some irony in the fact that one of the books affected by the “blockade” by Amazon is the biography of Jeff Bezos himself , with his quote that Amazon should pursue vulnerable publishers “just like a cheetah is pursuing a weak gazelle”.
Amazon first used tactics against weak gazelles four years ago when it removed the “Buy” button from all of Macmillian’s books.
By negotiating e-books, Amazon has been hindering the sale of Hachette’s paper books for several months: canceling personal customer discounts, delaying sending books for several weeks, offering other books with the “best rating” to customers , and using other dirty tricks.
Now, Amazon has begun to aggravate the conflict: since Thursday, many Hatchette books are generally not available for order in the paper version, including the new book by JK Rowling (a detective written under a pseudonym). They can be bought only in electronic or audio versions.
')
In fact, the authors were made hostages in order to put pressure on the publisher. After all, almost the only income of the author is a percentage of book sales. Probably, Amazon hopes to embroil successful authors with the "disgraced" publisher. But so far, the calculation is not justified.
For example, one of the victims is James Patterson, a popular writer in the United States. His novels are due out in summer and autumn, but now it’s impossible to pre-order them. On his Facebook page, he writes that “now bookstores, libraries, writers, and books themselves have fallen into the epicenter of economic warfare.” Given the important role of literature for society, this situation must be corrected immediately, if necessary, with the help of legislation, the writer said.
Hachette is the fourth largest book publisher in the United States. The rest cautiously look at what is happening. Amazon can start the same war against them. Some have called for government intervention, calling the Amazon a monopolist.
Fears are well founded. Amazon has already used similar tactics in Germany against the local publisher Bonnier Media Group. “Of course, it’s very convenient for buyers to have the opportunity to order a book 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” said Alexander Skipis, president of the German Association of Publishers and Booksellers. “But this [monopoly] online position, which Amazon is seeking, is destroying the book market that has been forming for decades and centuries.”
Some supporters of market relations consider what is happening quite normal. Like, similar to the "war" leads any retail chain in retail with its suppliers, demanding better conditions, and Amazon’s 30% share in the book market cannot be considered a monopoly. However, none of the offline retailers have a close share of 30% on the market, and when Amazon hides or makes it difficult to search for certain books in the store, there is no equivalent in the physical world.
Unfortunately, nothing can be done in this situation. Thanks to sales volumes, Amazon offers the lowest prices, and it’s hard to find an alternative to this store.
There is some irony in the fact that one of the books affected by the “blockade” by Amazon is the biography of Jeff Bezos himself , with his quote that Amazon should pursue vulnerable publishers “just like a cheetah is pursuing a weak gazelle”.
Amazon first used tactics against weak gazelles four years ago when it removed the “Buy” button from all of Macmillian’s books.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/224079/
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