According to the Writer’s Weekly, IT’S NOT OVER! Amazon Tells Publishers, Pay Us To Print Your Books…Or Else, Amazon is not backing down and it appears two major POD publishers have caved under the pressure.
Angela does a wonderful job of outlining the problem in her Writer’s Weekly article, so I won’t rehash her words here.
Instead, I’ll tell you WHY authors prefer to use Amazon to sell their books over Barnes and Noble.
Earlier in the series, Angela explained that authors promotion efforts are the single biggest source books’ sales. One author working hard to promote her book is Dr. Denise Punger.
Dr. Punger wrote Permission to Mother: Going Beyond the Standard-of-Care to Nurture Our Children . Not only is Dr. Punger using her own blog “Permission to Mother” to promote her book, she is also using Amazon’s online marketing resources as well. Dr. Punger is using her Amazon blog to promote her book… her blog includes listings of upcoming book signings.
See, Amazon offers a lot of features for authors to interact with readers that Barnes and Noble does not. Authors can connect with readers personally using Amazon’s “social networking” tools. They can communicate with readers by establishing a blog where the book buyers are. All of these are features that Barnes and Nobles doesn’t offer. Barnes and Nobles doesn’t HAVE to offer these services because you can always get in your car and drive to your nearest Barnes and Nobles bookstore.
So if you’re wondering WHY so many authors are upset over Amazon’s move, this is the reason. Amazon has provided a rich set of tools that authors can use to promote their work. Before you begin viewing Amazon as a selfless philanthropist, remember… the books these authors are promoting are selling VIA AMAZON. Amazon is making money selling the books the authors are promoting which means providing these promotional tools makes good business sense.
Which is why it’s puzzling that Amazon is not backing down off of this… because the whole thing just doesn’t make good business sense.
Wonderful blog! I truly love how it’s uncomplicated on my eyes and the details