http://readersunited.com

I just…

I…

Um…

Okay. Lots of people say smart things and do thorough takedowns of this wtfery. I will leave it to John Scalzi, Chuck Wendig, and Matt Wallace.  The New York Times covers the bizarre Orwell bit as well. Because, I mean, even if you AGREE with Amazon, these tactics are just…I don’t even.

I will say, I’ve seen a lot of “I don’t have a dog in this fight.” The thing is, I do. I do as a reader who buys Hachette published works–sure, I’d love ebooks to be cheaper, because I’m a poor bitch with little money.

Except that THE MARKET decides what ebooks should cost. I don’t need Amazon fighting that fight, thank you–CONSUMERS ALREADY DO THIS. Price an ebook at $14.99. Some people will pay that, Some people won’t. If lots of people won’t, the price will shift. If lots of people do, hey, bonus for the writer, editors, artists, marketing teams, and everyone else–it gives the publisher more money to pay people and invest in new books. If it means I have to wait a few months or a year for the price to come down (like I do with video games! and DVDs!) or buy a mass market paperback instead, or watch for sales, then I will. Duh.

Further, I have a dog in this fight as a writer. A chunk of my income comes from Amazon–I can’t change that, as readers like to buy there and I’m happy they have that option. I have absolutely no leverage if they decide to screw with KDP terms; I either give up 80% of my income of just accept what they do. Now, they might fuck with my terms eventually anyway, but you know what? I like that Hachette hasn’t backed down. There is a lot more going on here than just ebook pricing terms, but it also comes down to who gets to decide how to price things: the people who make the content or the retailer. I will be quite concerned if Hachette gives and the precedent is set here.

So. Go read what smart people have to say, if you care. Or shake your head at the absurdity if you don’t.

I’m going to go feed my cats now.

As a reminder, all of my work (some exclusive, like 9 Crimes) are available for sale by me directly right here.  All formats. DRM-free. No middleman.

*cough*

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ETA:  I’ve been chatting on Twitter. My personal opinion? The absurd letter is noise, a distraction. It’s riling up their base and getting the rest of us talking (like I did here!)–the purpose wasn’t to change minds, because if it was, it would be worded with nuance and less inflammatory. Yeah, it could be a PR fuck-up, but this has happened over and over with Amazon–you’d think they’d hire a new PR team. At this point, it’s deliberate. It’s impossible to say what the noise is distracting people from, but I’d watch the company very closely. Not conspiracy theorizing here–this is just pretty basic politics. Which I’d find quite fascinating if it was occurring in an industry I don’t work in.