Navigating the Thrilling and/or Treacherous Amazon

Sometimes you have to wonder if existing laws are making justice impossible.  Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which enabled (and arguably encouraged) George Zimmerman to murder Trayvon Martin without criminal penalty, is this week’s most dramatic example.  In the book world, we have the DOJ’s successful prosecution of Apple for price-fixing.

What did Apple do?  Conspired with the half-dozen largest book publishers (who reached separate out-of-court settlements) to stop Amazon from undercutting their e-book sales by setting its own prices under $10.  Amazon currently holds a boa-constrictor monopoly in e-book publishing; but since it’s a single corporation (for purposes of this case), it can fix prices legally.  No conspiracy involved, so no threat to consumers, right?

The publishing punditry has responded with a wide range of observations and predictions.  One enterprising commentator already has a book out on the case’s implications:
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/what-would-happen-if-apple-loses-the-ebook-case_b72736
New York Times blogger David Streitfield considers what the Amazon python has already devoured, and how that’s denuded the reading and publishing landscape:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/the-price-of-amazon/
Paul St John Mackintosh of TeleRead charts Amazon’s past acquisitions in detail, and speculates on what its next prey might be:  Staples? Radio Shack? Netflix?
http://www.teleread.com/amazon/amazon-has-acquisition-hit-list-or-not/?et_mid=627595&rid=233803968

Meanwhile, in another part of the jungle, power is eroding out from under the Big 6. Looming smaller on the media radar, but larger and larger on sales-trend charts, are the independent publishers. Boutique or niche companies such as Heyday, Polis, and Carina, are a proliferating part of this picture.  Perhaps even more significant are the myriad of authors who publish their own books (many through Amazon’s, Apple’s, Ingram’s, or some other large company’s subsidiaries). Here the prices are much lower: a reader typically pays less than half what Amazon charges for a Big-6 published title in the same genre, which might be a third of the publisher’s list price.

The financial pitfalls for an indie author-publisher are obvious:  Most self-published books reportedly sell fewer than 150 copies, and with per-copy prices ranging from around $10 to free, the author may well lose money, given the cost of editing, design, manufacturing, and publicity. Like the lottery, self-publishing thrives because it’s a kick to enter, and every budding novelist secretly hopes to be one of the lucky few who hits big.

Possibly the hottest news on this front is another conspiracy of sorts. The Canadian e-book and e-reader company Kobo has partnered with U.S. independent bookstores to offer readers (and writers) an alternative to Amazon. More details on that next time; but if you don’t want to wait, check the e-books section on your favorite local bookshop’s website.