Publishing Power Play

As some of you know, I've published several books (memoirs and poetry among others) with an interesting print-on-demand publisher, Virtual Bookworm. I've been happy that VBW posts my books on Amazon.com, even though most sales come through my own efforts. Now VBW and other POD publishers are calling the attention of their authors to a power play by Amazon, which would in essence require the PODs to have their books printed by Booksurge, an Amazon affiliate, in order to be listed on Amazon. This would drastically increase the cost of such books, since Amazon/Booksurge will both charge for the printing and take 48 percent of sales (either net or retail, that point seems still unclear). That's far more than any bookstore in which I've placed books on consignment.

One reason I've been happy with VBW is the high quality of its printing. Today's memo from VBW notes that it has tried Booksurge in the past and not been happy about its quality.

I'm not affected much personally by this, since I love marketing my own books, giving readings, visiting bookstores, etc. But for some POD authors, Amazon is the only game in town as far as broadcasting their efforts to a wide audience. That Amazon is throwing its weight around to crush the little guys bothers me a lot.

Any of you with contacts among authors and publishers might like to pass this on. Meanwhile, I gotta go write my Congressional representatives. Since this is an editing web site, can you spell J-U-S-T-I-C-E D-E-P-A-R-T-M-E-N-T?

Bill