The short version is that Amazon.com has made the decision that POD (Print-On-Demand) publishers will be required to sign up for printing services with BookSurge, a company owned by them. Otherwise, publishers will risk having their "Buy" buttons on the Amazon website taken down.
Writer's Weekly (Angela & Richard Hoy) have been out in front on this. You can read all about it here.
Amazon's self-serving response to our concerns is here.
It's not only that people don't like doing business with a second-rate company, and compared to Lightning Source, BookSurge most certainly is. The deal isn't nearly as good. For those of us who make our profit on books because we do a short discount of 25%, this will just about double that. There is also a sign-up fee of $50.
Will this sort of self-publishing survive? It is difficult to know.
I am now reviewing my options. They have, as yet, not contacted me. It is a huge list and it will likely take a while to get to everybody (because it appears they started with the big boys first).
Some options are:
- Point my book sales toward Barnes & Noble. They also have that free shipping.
- Stand on my own two feet, point toward PayPal, and ship myself.
- Need to think up more than two options.
I don't like being bullied. I have much less of an opinion of Amazon than I once did.
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