Amazon is redefining publishing

i occasionally look over to the book publishing world of Amazon and booksellers and I wonder if their struggle with the new digital economy will have an impact on ours.

Publishers and authors are being warned, beware of Amazon. I’m trying to feel sorry for the commercial press, but really, their experience of negotiating with Amazon is like many an author’s negotiations with publishers. “The “ negotiating” consisted of Amazon stating that they wanted a markedly increased discount, which would see both the publishers involved and their authors lose close to a tenth of their revenue, including revenue from both books in print and in e-book form… Then they learned about “ negotiating” with Amazon. The gun-to-the-head Amazon style led to the threat that IPG had to agree to the proposed terms, or all of their e-book titles would be pulled off the Amazon site. That is precisely what happened in the middle of February. And that is the situation today.”