For industry professionals Amazon is seen as nothing more than a monster; swallowing up all our brick-and-mortar stores. Each day we are bombarded with articles expressing how bad Amazon is and the latest on the war between them and the traditional book publishers. However, is it not time to give them a break? After all, can Amazon actually have a positive influence?
At the 2013 London Book fair, the third annual great debate proposed the question of whether Amazon is a friend or foe? Eion Purcell (editor of New Island books and Irish Publishing) called Amazon the “most unfairly maligned company in the book trade at the moment…they are simply taking advantage of the natural properties of the Internet and digital change.” (Albanese, 2013). I think it is important for us to realise here that the Internet is a fast paced environment that is constantly evolving. Therefore to entirely blame one Internet retailer would be inaccurate. Purcell later goes on to express the “opportunity Amazon has seized was created by the internet…to fear Amazon is to fear the Internet and to fear change.” (Albanese, 2013). We could argue Amazon’s success is due to destroying all competition, however would it not make better sense to state Amazon’s success is actually all down to creating a concept that was going to be adapted by another online retailer sooner or later…?
This leads on to one of the main arguments against Amazon: “they are getting into predatory pricing, selling 10-20% below the purchase price, making it absolutely impossible for anyone else to compete with them over price.” (Aggarwal, 2014). I for one am not encouraging Amazon’s pricing techniques here, yet I do feel like it is time for traditional publishers to accept change and begin to be more innovative with their approach by reaching out to readers more directly.
We must remember how Amazon has somewhat helped not hindered the publishing industry, "They are the ones who created a critical mass for digital reading and made digital reading mainstream in a way that other Sony and other players before that did not." (Albanese, 2013). Not forgetting they have also developed a successful self-publishing environment. Aspiring authors can quite easily turn to Amazon to publish their own titles and make a profit. Furthermore, there have been many high-profile authors that have generally become successful from Amazon’s self-publishing programme. For example: Kerry Wilkinson sold over 250,000 eBooks in six months for his crime fiction also Amanda Hocking became very successful from her self-publishing activities. (Hall, 2013).
In conclusion, although publishers see Amazon as this huge, terrifying creature that is going from strength to strength. It is time for them to man up, take on board what Amazon are doing and create their own even better idea. As Purcell noted "Amazon simply acted in a space that was waiting to be acted in and they've been rewarded." (Albanese, 2013).
Word count ~ 483.
Bibliography:
Aggarwal, V. (2014). Publishing houses join hands to stop predatory pricing by Flipkart and Amazon. [online] The Economic Times. Available at: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-10-21/news/55279751_1_flipkart-and-amazon-ws-retail-predatory-pricing [Accessed 22 Oct. 2014].
Albanese, A. (2013). London Book Fair 2013: Is Amazon Good or Bad for the Publishing Business?. [online] PublishersWeekly.com. Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/london-book-fair/article/56824-london-book-fair-2013-is-amazon-good-or-bad-for-the-publishing-business.html [Accessed 22 Oct. 2014].
Clark, G. and Philips, A. (2008). Inside book publishing. 4th ed. London: Routledge.
Hall, F. (2013). The business of digital publishing. New York: Routledge, p.176.
Miller, L. (2013). Amazon hasn’t killed us yet!. [online] Salon.com. Available at: http://www.salon.com/2013/06/03/amazon_hasnt_killed_us_yet/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2014].
Reid, C. (2014). Is Amazon Really the Devil?. [online] PublishersWeekly.com. Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/62785-is-amazon-really-the-devil.html [Accessed 22 Oct. 2014].
Yuhas, A. (2014). Amazon vs Hachette: readers and authors take sides in publishing dispute. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/12/amazon-hachette-readers-authors-publishing-dispute [Accessed 22 Oct. 2014].
At the 2013 London Book fair, the third annual great debate proposed the question of whether Amazon is a friend or foe? Eion Purcell (editor of New Island books and Irish Publishing) called Amazon the “most unfairly maligned company in the book trade at the moment…they are simply taking advantage of the natural properties of the Internet and digital change.” (Albanese, 2013). I think it is important for us to realise here that the Internet is a fast paced environment that is constantly evolving. Therefore to entirely blame one Internet retailer would be inaccurate. Purcell later goes on to express the “opportunity Amazon has seized was created by the internet…to fear Amazon is to fear the Internet and to fear change.” (Albanese, 2013). We could argue Amazon’s success is due to destroying all competition, however would it not make better sense to state Amazon’s success is actually all down to creating a concept that was going to be adapted by another online retailer sooner or later…?
This leads on to one of the main arguments against Amazon: “they are getting into predatory pricing, selling 10-20% below the purchase price, making it absolutely impossible for anyone else to compete with them over price.” (Aggarwal, 2014). I for one am not encouraging Amazon’s pricing techniques here, yet I do feel like it is time for traditional publishers to accept change and begin to be more innovative with their approach by reaching out to readers more directly.
We must remember how Amazon has somewhat helped not hindered the publishing industry, "They are the ones who created a critical mass for digital reading and made digital reading mainstream in a way that other Sony and other players before that did not." (Albanese, 2013). Not forgetting they have also developed a successful self-publishing environment. Aspiring authors can quite easily turn to Amazon to publish their own titles and make a profit. Furthermore, there have been many high-profile authors that have generally become successful from Amazon’s self-publishing programme. For example: Kerry Wilkinson sold over 250,000 eBooks in six months for his crime fiction also Amanda Hocking became very successful from her self-publishing activities. (Hall, 2013).
In conclusion, although publishers see Amazon as this huge, terrifying creature that is going from strength to strength. It is time for them to man up, take on board what Amazon are doing and create their own even better idea. As Purcell noted "Amazon simply acted in a space that was waiting to be acted in and they've been rewarded." (Albanese, 2013).
Word count ~ 483.
Bibliography:
Aggarwal, V. (2014). Publishing houses join hands to stop predatory pricing by Flipkart and Amazon. [online] The Economic Times. Available at: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-10-21/news/55279751_1_flipkart-and-amazon-ws-retail-predatory-pricing [Accessed 22 Oct. 2014].
Albanese, A. (2013). London Book Fair 2013: Is Amazon Good or Bad for the Publishing Business?. [online] PublishersWeekly.com. Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/london-book-fair/article/56824-london-book-fair-2013-is-amazon-good-or-bad-for-the-publishing-business.html [Accessed 22 Oct. 2014].
Clark, G. and Philips, A. (2008). Inside book publishing. 4th ed. London: Routledge.
Hall, F. (2013). The business of digital publishing. New York: Routledge, p.176.
Miller, L. (2013). Amazon hasn’t killed us yet!. [online] Salon.com. Available at: http://www.salon.com/2013/06/03/amazon_hasnt_killed_us_yet/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2014].
Reid, C. (2014). Is Amazon Really the Devil?. [online] PublishersWeekly.com. Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/62785-is-amazon-really-the-devil.html [Accessed 22 Oct. 2014].
Yuhas, A. (2014). Amazon vs Hachette: readers and authors take sides in publishing dispute. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/12/amazon-hachette-readers-authors-publishing-dispute [Accessed 22 Oct. 2014].