Amazon V Macmillan: Support the Authors

As many of you know by now, Amazon and Macmillan are duking it out over the price of ebooks.  A lot has been blogged about this already, and I've been too busy reading everyone else's posts to post one of my own.  Suffice it to say that while I see flaws in Macmillan's adherance to hardcover sales as the core of their profitability, and I take real issue with their measly 20% ebook royalty rate, I do support their wish to set their own prices for their products.  And Amazon is being a big douche.  They seem to like to throw their weight around, and use the buy button as a stick to beat anyone who disagrees with them into submission.  For those of you who may have forgotten, this has happened before.

So, while I'm glad overall that Macmillan is standing up to Amazon, I am also all too aware of the situation that I and all the other Macmillan authors find ourselves in. Though supposedly Amazon has capitulated, in a display of great maturity, they are still withholding the buy buttons for Macmillan titles, and no one seems to know when they will be restored. Particularly affected are those authors whose books are launching right now. Will their sales suffer? Yes. Did they have fuck-all to do with this dispute?  No.  Can we do anything about it?  You bet!

It's simple: buy a Macmillan author's book from another source.  My friend David Coe's book, The Horseman's Gambit, is out in paperback today, and Doranna Durgin's The Reckoners is also out.  And here's the Macmillan site for many, many more.  Including by the way, my other project, though I consider myself one of the lucky ones, having my eggs in more than one basket.

More online booksellers:

Barnes&Noble

Powell's

IndieBound

Borders

And I bet you can find even more.  Or go to a brick and mortar store. I know, Friskbiskit pimping print books and meatspace commerce.  What is the world coming to?

Comments

[David B. Coe]

Many thanks for the post!

[Beth]

I never used Amazon and never will. I buy ebook directly from the publishers(whenever possible) and buy my print books from a physical store(to avoid the wait and any possible shipping costs).

[Kathe]

Watching the whole affair with great interest, as these are very interesting times.