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| Shipping books at amazon.com. |
"The nuclear option was exercised for only a few days, a mere flexing of
Amazon’s muscles. But imagine what would have happened if it had
continued. With a major publisher out of the market for new manuscripts,
authors would receive less money. And less money would mean fewer
authors, and fewer books. (Nor are self-published authors safe from the
power of a monopsony: While a traditional publisher like Macmillan needs
an author’s consent to change the terms of his or her publishing
agreement, Amazon reserves the right to change any provision of its
agreement with any author at any time for any reason.) ...
"Perhaps the best solution would be an online marketplace controlled by
the publishers — with the 30 percent commission being split 50-50 with
the authors in addition to the author’s royalty."
--Lawyer Bob Kohn, writing in
today's NYTimes about the dispute between Amazon and Hatchett/Little Brown (publisher of a couple of big books by local authors Roland Lazenby and Beth Macy, both of which are new).
(Photo: star.com)
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