The Cockeyed Pessimist: "Who's afraid of Amazon.com?"
Publisher Martin Shepard weighs in on the hot Amazon debate, in his latest editorial on his blog "The Cockeyed Pessimist"
"On May 24, The New York Times ran a page one story “As Publishers Fight Amazon, Books Vanish.” In their alarmist zeal reporters David Streitfeld and Melissa Eddy conjure the dreadful threat that Amazon has inflicted upon the “literary world,” causing a kerfuffle of rage and fear as exemplified by a dispute between the electronic superstore and one of the most robust publishers in the Western World. Their first paragraph states “Amazon’s power over the publishing and bookselling industries is unrivaled in the modern era. Now it has started wielding its might in a more brazen way than ever before.” Their second paragraph states that “The literary community is fearful and outraged—and practically begging for government intervention.” They then cite three publishers, none of which I would consider great examples of the “literary” community—or even the larger community of book publishers to prove their thesis. As far as this literary publisher is concerned this article is poppycock..."
Read the full editorial here.
