Comments on: Amazon to the Brits – Digitize your books! http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/amazon-to-the-brits-digitize-your-books/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:55:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: An Independent Writer http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/amazon-to-the-brits-digitize-your-books/comment-page-1/#comment-1019850 An Independent Writer Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:06:18 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/?p=18529#comment-1019850 As reported, those are strange remarks, remarks that perhaps reflect just how self-obsessed Amazon's upper management is becoming. Amazon's Kunst assumes that UK publishers want both Amazon and Kindle to be a success. Many would probably be happy to see both fail. The UK doesn't have the 1930s-era laws we have in the US that keep large booksellers from bullying publishers into giving them special pricing. Amazon is reportedly already taking advantage of that, demanding below-wholesale pricing from publishers who dare to compete with Amazon by selling their own books online at a discount. And, rightly or wrongly, many publishers are dubious about ebooks, particularly proprietary schemes like Amazon's that might lock them into having only one outlet for their ebooks, with Amazon dictating what their share will be. Note especially this remark: +++++ In conversation with The Bookseller after the event, she said: “In general, UK publishers should be digitising content. The most important thing is making sure we have the best customer offering possible, and the best user experience. +++++ This Amazon exec assumes that "the most important thing" is that others, in this case independent UK publishers, shape their businesses to suit Seattle-based Amazon, ensuring that, "we have the best customer offering possible, and the best user experience." It is really necessary to point out that publishers have their own businesses, that they're not mere extensions of Amazon? I believe narcissistic is the term psychologists use for people who think the world revolves around them. Amazon seems to be developing a culture of corporate narcissism. As reported, those are strange remarks, remarks that perhaps reflect just how self-obsessed Amazon’s upper management is becoming.

Amazon’s Kunst assumes that UK publishers want both Amazon and Kindle to be a success. Many would probably be happy to see both fail. The UK doesn’t have the 1930s-era laws we have in the US that keep large booksellers from bullying publishers into giving them special pricing. Amazon is reportedly already taking advantage of that, demanding below-wholesale pricing from publishers who dare to compete with Amazon by selling their own books online at a discount.

And, rightly or wrongly, many publishers are dubious about ebooks, particularly proprietary schemes like Amazon’s that might lock them into having only one outlet for their ebooks, with Amazon dictating what their share will be. Note especially this remark:

+++++
In conversation with The Bookseller after the event, she said: “In general, UK publishers should be digitising content. The most important thing is making sure we have the best customer offering possible, and the best user experience.
+++++

This Amazon exec assumes that “the most important thing” is that others, in this case independent UK publishers, shape their businesses to suit Seattle-based Amazon, ensuring that, “we have the best customer offering possible, and the best user experience.” It is really necessary to point out that publishers have their own businesses, that they’re not mere extensions of Amazon?

I believe narcissistic is the term psychologists use for people who think the world revolves around them. Amazon seems to be developing a culture of corporate narcissism.

]]>