August 06, 2008

August 6th, 2008: Boycott Amazon

 

altimage I’ve long ago committed to buying a majority of my books at independent bookstores and I’ve mostly stopped linking to Amazon here in favor of linking directly to publishers even though that takes a bit more time (in fact I have mostly used Amazon lately just for its wishlist feature or publication information). I love the prices but after a while I realized that those discounts come at a cost: partly the value of selection of independent bookstore owners – I know when I walk into BookCourt or Three Lives that someone there has chosen interesting things that I might want to know about – but also the influence that Amazon wields in the book trade in general.

Dennis Loy Johnson, founder of Melville House Publishing first explained to me about the difficulties of dealing with the Amazonians several years ago, but it seems their dirty dealings never end. According to The Bookseller.com Amazon is fighting with Hachette Livre to extract more discounts from the publisher and has REMOVED THE BUY BUTTON from their titles on the site (this is, I understand, on the UK Website). Can you imagine walking into your favorite bookstore, picking up a title and heading to the cash register and being told “No. We won’t sell you that book. The publisher hasn’t given us a big enough discount.” I would walk out and never come back.

An article at The Society of Authors sums it up:

In order to bring pressure to bear on Hachette, Amazon has been removing the ‘buy button’ from some books and also taking some titles out of promotional positions. Authors are very concerned that they will be losing sales as a result of the hostile action by Amazon.

Tim Hely Hutchinson made a persuasive case for standing firm. Discounts to booksellers have been increasing by 1% per year over the last 10 years and this has had a major impact on authors’ royalties.

As seems to be company policy, Amazon has been remarkably uncommunicative, so it is impossible to assess the merits of its arguments (which presumably are linked to the much larger discounts available to supermarkets).

From what I can tell (see more at this International Herald Tribune article) this is common practice and I don’t see how on earth it benefits readers or writers. So that’s it. Unless I see something from Amazon proving that this is somehow justified I hereby boycott Amazon.com and suggest you do to.

p.s. If you want to read about Amazon’s early days, check out the memoir by my friend James Marcus, Amazonia.

Comments

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Yes, I felt much the same way after the POD shenanigans and the news I heard after about how they treat publishers—small ones in particular—permanently turned me off. If I get anything online I use book depository and I’m lucky enough to have a strong selection of local bookstores.

    – imani (08/06 02:03 PM)



Frown?  What happened to boycott?

    – Mat (08/06 06:18 PM)



I was trying to play off the image, but it did seem tepid. you’re right - I changed it back.

    – Bud Parr (08/06 09:43 PM)



You make a good point.  In spite of the fact that I just bought one of Amazon’s Kindle things.  I wrote a webblog post about it earlier today—the link to my webpage shows it.  I live in Georgetown, and can walk within minutes to a number of independent bookstores.  Ordering from Amazon is just laziness—bring it to my door because I am a lazy f**ker.  Put me on your list and count me in.

    – Donigan (08/19 06:46 PM)


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"August 6th, 2008: Boycott Amazon" was posted August 06, 2008 and written by Bud Parr.

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Recent Comments

Hi Bud,

This is so bittersweet to read. I wish U of Penn more than luck in tackling the collection and making an exhibit for the books. I can’t wait to see the store again. I used to work at Gotham (all too) briefly, from the summer of 2001 to the fall of 2002 when I was 19 and in school for illustration. The building, the books, and especially the people (I had amazing co-workers, plus some really lovely customers) have a special place in my heart. I’m was hoping the link would mention Andreas (Andy) Brown, the last owner of GBM, but no such luck.

I was going to venture a guess that if the old man you met at the store was a GBM employee it might have been Phillip Lyman, but my understanding was Mr. Lyman was notoriously well-read (and had substantial library himself) so I suppose he would not have been reading Dante for the first time when you met him. More likely it was one of our splendid customers. It happened more than once that one customer on the floor would ask me about an author or title and I would meet them with my perfectly hopeless stare ‘n stammer—until another customer that had overheard the plea would effortlessly proffer the desired answer or suggestion. I learned so much working there, from everyone, but was a pretty useless specimen while the learning percolated. One of the more useful employees (our resident poetry expert) recently got a shout-out over at the New Yorker’s book blog after being made famous at the splendiferous Kwik Meal #1 cart:

New Yorker Link

One more book nerdy bit before I cut off the nostalgia trip. The above-mentioned Marc was the first person to Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino in my hands; I read it up in the 2nd floor gallery on my lunch breaks (lunch from Kwik Meal #1, of course), surrounded by art books and Edward Gorey paraphernalia. That book took (and takes, I’ve re-read it many times) me so many places, but when I’m lucky it takes me back to Gotham’s gallery, by the 2nd floor window where the constant refrain of the gold and diamond sellers coming in through the window mingled with the dulcet tones of NPR from a radio bigger than a microwave and the smell of old paper—all unchanged almost more than a decade later. At least in my mind. It’s still one of my favorite books (and authors), ever. Marc also blessed me with recommendations of Wallace Stevens’ Palm At The End of the Mind, Moby Dick with the Rockwell Kent illustrations, and my first ever NYC apartment: a little studio over in Astoria, Queens. Everyone at that store was overflowing and generous with knowledge, stories and history.

Places like Gotham do more than provide fodder for sentimental blog comment drivel though; I hope the lessons learned from the ongoing troubles are shaping a new generation of booksellers and customers that can find ways to thrive. Bookstores don’t belong in museums. Wise men fish there.

– (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
on “Well That's That”


Best wishes for the holidays, Bud.

I used to work in the Pan Am/Met Life Building in Manhattan.  I would walk over to Gotham at lunch and browse, browse, browse.  Books were the only thing I ever bought on that stree.  It’s a shame it’s gone.  Thanks for the update for those of us no longer living in NYC.  Atlanta is not so much a book haven.

Best,
Jim H.

– Jim H.
on “Well That's That”


Yeah, for all of our technology - which is great - I mean you and I are talking about this from two ends of the country - but there’s nothing like being there.

– Bud Parr
on “Well That's That”