Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Amazon vs. Big Publishing - the Biblical version


I had to laugh at Deb Amlen's very amusing take on the current dispute between Amazon and Hachette, one of the Big 5 publishing houses.  She's cast it in Biblical terms.  Here's an excerpt.

II. The Magician, Bezos of Amazon, Cometh Upon the Scene

It came to pass that the Magician, Bezos of Amazon, did come upon the world, and he began to supply the people with a goodly number of Books through a form of witchcraft called Mail Order.

The people became entranced by the speed at which Bezos of Amazon did deliver the Books forthwith; and the people rejoiced in the pricing structure, which saved them shekels hand over fist when compared with brick-and-mortar Book merchants.

But, lo, even as the people cheered the delivery speed and the One-Click Ordering that Bezos of Amazon had conjured, they cried out for more.

The people of the land did beat their chests, and gnash their teeth, and wail, “If only we had a way to have a Book in our hands the very second it occurs to us that we want to read it.”

Bezos of Amazon heard the cries of the people and he did roll his eyes and say, “Really? Overnight delivery isn’t fast enough for you? M’k.”

So the Magician brought forth the talisman known as the Kindle and, more importantly, the eBook, which did live inside the Kindle.

There's more at the link.  Good for a giggle!

Peter

3 comments:

  1. Clever premise, but she has it in for Amazon… and I can assure you, no one is forcing me to set my ebook prices where they are. Hachette isn't fighting for the author, they want better profit margins. They aren't sharing a higher price with the author, should they win against Amazon. Sigh… Amazon isn't an angel, but in this fight they aren't goliath, either.

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  2. Interesting take... And Cedar is right too!

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  3. MadRocketSci:

    I don't get it. I've ordered e-books from all sorts of retailers, converted them into kindle format, and stuck them on my kindle. I think Baen even distributes ebooks in Kindle format.

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