My take on the Amazon-Hachette dispute, which involves a lot of friends on both sides: 1. Since we dont know the numbers, nobody can draw any credible conclusions about whether or not Amazon is trying to bully Hachette into terms it cant handle and still stay viable. Citing past staredowns with publishers (in which we also didnt know all the numbers) as evidence that Amazon is a bully doesnt really cut it as a credible argument. Use all the confirmation bias you want, cite all the loose anecdotal detritus you want, but the bottom line is that we dont know whos being unfair. Hachette is part of a major, deep-pocketed conglomerate; its not Joes Publisher & Grill. So viewing it as a victim of Amazon without being able to cite direct supporting evidence doesnt really fly. So ask yourself: Do you want facts, or do you just want backup for your biases? 2. The real victims here are Hachette authors, and their readers. And thats where Amazon is absolutely at fault. From Jeff Bezos on down, Amazon has asserted that customer service is at the core of its mission. And that doesnt square well with its refusal to sell, or ship in a timely fashion, products that it either has in stock or could have in stock ASAP if it wanted to. Amazon is wrong in letting the face of its website be the public face of the battle. Since Amazon wont talk, all that does is give ammunition, fairly or unfairly, to its critics. And maybe Amazon thinks its so big that it can ignore the criticism and still prevail, but Im not so sure. I shop a lot at Amazon, but Ill say this: I pre-ordered from Amazon a Hachette book — Michael Korytas thriller, THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD — before this imbroglio. And if it doesnt arrive on June 3, its release day, I will get the book elsewhere. And probably start getting books Id otherwise buy on Amazon elsewhere. Because my trust has been broken. And I imagine Im not alone in saying that such trust will be slow to heal. They say in business that you get only one chance to make a good impression, and to that I would add that you get only zero chances to make a BAD impression. Ive been a fan of Amazon, but Im no loyalist — that implies something knee-jerk and absent of thought. And believe me, Im doing some hard thinking now. Because in the end, I want what Amazon claims to want to provide — a good customer experience. Removing buy buttons from books I want and it can provide, if it wants, doesnt seem like a good customer experience to me. (BTW, how awesome is it that my friend, Seattle childrens author Nina Laden, got to be the national voice of this outrage in todays New York Times?)
Posted on: Fri, 23 May 2014 16:40:05 +0000