News From the Author

Talk, talk, talk. Everyone wants the deals on Amazon, the search inside, the author pages, the reviews, the free shipping, the affordable e-book prices, yet they don’t want readers, the brain and muscle of the book industry, to be allowed to choose what it wants to eat.

I’m an author in Virginia, with a small press, writing awards and great reviews. Sales on Amazon for me mean people in Alaska choose my books, know who I am as a writer. As long as the ‘big six’ insist on advancing huge sums for ‘potential best sellers’ and their editors spend money on fancy lunches to bid on books and big book stores only order from one national distributor, I’ll side with Amazon. Let the ‘big six’ bemoan the state of book selling. They’re using the wrong model and eventually they’ll see the light. Amazon sells over 65 % of the books in this country, hard back, trade paper or e-books. They started Amazon Encore to vertically integrate the market, and publish their own authors. I don’t have a business degree, but I’d take 65 over 35 % of anything anywhere anytime.