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Why don't we have any links to Amazon?
If you've visited the Lost Genre Guild site in the past, you might remember that we had Amazon
widgets and links all over the place. So what happened to them all?
Great question.
We removed them in protest of a new marketing practice that Amazon has begun. Any person or
publisher which uses print-on-demand technology to print their books has been told that they must
use BookSurge (which is owned by Amazon) for the physical printing of their books or lose their
book's listing.
This is particularly distressing for small presses, university presses and self-publishers who prefer
another printer for reasons of quality and economy. Large publishers are not affected . . . yet.
Who is affected?
Smaller operations who use this technology so that they do not have to store large numbers of
books (or dispose of them later if they do not sell . . . from an environmental standpoint, it makes a
lot more sense to only print as many copies as are actually ordered) are being told that they do not
have a choice.
If you're a big publisher, you can use any press you wish. If not, then you must use Amazon's press--
or else.
If you've visited the Lost Genre Guild site in the past, you might remember that we had Amazon
widgets and links all over the place. So what happened to them all?
Great question.
We removed them in protest of a new marketing practice that Amazon has begun. Any person or
publisher which uses print-on-demand technology to print their books has been told that they must
use BookSurge (which is owned by Amazon) for the physical printing of their books or lose their
book's listing.
This is particularly distressing for small presses, university presses and self-publishers who prefer
another printer for reasons of quality and economy. Large publishers are not affected . . . yet.
Who is affected?
Smaller operations who use this technology so that they do not have to store large numbers of
books (or dispose of them later if they do not sell . . . from an environmental standpoint, it makes a
lot more sense to only print as many copies as are actually ordered) are being told that they do not
have a choice.
If you're a big publisher, you can use any press you wish. If not, then you must use Amazon's press--
or else.
| More information is available at: Publisher's Weekly Writer's Weekly Author Marketing Experts, Inc. Actual text of anti-trust lawsuit |
In case you didn't know,
-they also have a free shipping policy comparable to Amazon's
-plus a frequent reader program which offers discounts both online
and in their stores.
Since the Lost Genre has a particularly small market share at this time, many of our authors have
already been affected by this policy. In light of this, we would like to encourage lovers of the Lost
Genre to buy their books from retailers who do not discriminate in this way. May we recommend the
New Gold Standard of online book retailers: Barnes and Noble.
already been affected by this policy. In light of this, we would like to encourage lovers of the Lost
Genre to buy their books from retailers who do not discriminate in this way. May we recommend the
New Gold Standard of online book retailers: Barnes and Noble.
