Is Amazon Shutting Out POD Books?

That is what the rumors would have you believe. The websites and blogs reporting on this are many and growing. Even Content Producers on Associated Content have picked it up. If the rumors are true, then it is a real story indeed!

As is now common knowledge, Amazon.com recently bought the print-on-demand service called BookSurge. This was not a surprise given the industry shift in favor of this kind of publishing. Although it is still rather frowned upon within the more traditional circles, there are now more books published as print-on-demand releases (POD) than by the traditional houses. The quality of these books improves everyday, both in their contents in terms of the caliber of the authors and in their presentation. It is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish a POD book simply by looking at it. Of course, Amazon would surely want to have a stake in this shift.

But according to some, April 1, 2008 is a doomsday of sorts. Amazon.com will no longer directly sale POD books which are not printed through BookSurge. They are turning off the "buy" buttons on the existing pages. It has been said that PublishAmerica's books have already been turned off in this way, and on April 1^st Amazon will turn off the rest.

This is a matter of concern because Amazon is routinely one of the best online sources for books. The mega website accounts for the majority of POD sales, which rely heavily on online sales. Some are screaming "Monopoly!" Others say that if POD authors are aware then this should cause little damage to their sales. These ones point out that POD books are rarely (though they are sometimes) found by random browses on any sites and that Amazon does very little to promote individual authors unless they are J.K. Rowling or John Grisham. Hence, most who buy the books from Amazon do so because they have been sent there by the authors. Therefore, some POD companies are urging their authors to change all links- whether on their websites, their printed promotional material, or their email and forum signatures- to Barnes & Noble and thus avoid any loss of possible readers or revenue.

I am a POD author myself, so I contacted Amazon for a statement as to whether all this was true. As of this writing, the company has not returned an answer. It is interesting that I can no longer locate an Amazon community member's post on the Amazon site against this action that the company may be taking.

I also contacted my POD service, Xlibris. This is the answer I received:

"As of the moment, we refuse to comment about this matter. So far, all our books are still accepted by Amazon and they have not sent us any notice yet. Should there be any notice of this, we will inform you about it and we will have a solution to this problem if any of this problem will arise. However, rest assured; we still do not have this case yet."

A check of my book's page on Amazon showed that as of 12:23 a.m. on April 1st, the "buy" button was still working. You can be certain I will be checking it in the future!

But there is still the principle of the thing, you may say. You can protest this at an online petition found here.

Sources for this article:

Angela Hoy, http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html "Amazon.com Telling POD Publishers- Let BookSurge Print Your Books or Else...", Writer's Weekly.

Linda Rosencrance, http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9073198 "Amazon Changes Rules for Print-on-Demand Publishers", Computerworld.

Jeffery A. Trachtenberg, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120667525724970997.html "Amazon Tightens Grip on Printing", Wall Street Journal.

Duncan Riley, http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/27/amazon-muscles-print-on-demand-services/ "Amazon Muscles Print-on-Demand Services", Tech Crunch.

Library Thing, http://www.librarything.com/thingology/ "Amazon Deletes Competition", Thingology (Library Things ideas blog).

jcorn, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/684383/do_writers_or_publishers_of_print_on.html?cat=3 "Do Writers or Publishers of Print on Demand Books Have to Use BookSurge or Face Amazon's Refusal to Sell Their POD Books There?", Associated Content.