Many of the arguments that are posted here against the Authors Guild position are well reasoned but poorly informed. A few points.
The Authors Guild does not oppose the sale of used books. Authors buy more books than anyone, and in the course of buying more books than anyone, they all buy used books. The Guild does oppose Amazon's increasingly aggressive promotion of its sellers marketplace. Many of the books that pass through this system are only nominally "used." Frequently, ostensibly used copies of books are put up for sale on the very first day they're released. Go to the amazon books page right now. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/28 31 55/ref%3Dtab%5Fgw%5Fb%5F1/104-3830745-7531131
On the first page there's a link to a new novel, Sea Glass by Anita Shreve. Click on the book icon, and you'll see that there are two copies of that new book for sale as "used" copies. Odds are, these used copies were distributed for promotional purposes and someone turned around and sold them without reading them. The Guild has only asked that Amazon place a moratorium on the sale of new used books so those titles can gain some traction in the marketplace.
Instead of reasonably working with authors on this matter, Amazon stepped-up the used program recently. If you buy a book from Amazon, shortly after you receive it, Amazon will send you an e-mail suggesting that you re-sell the book you just purchased through Amazon's seller's marketplace.
Many people here have said that this benefits consumers. Perhaps it does in the short run. In the long run, it will hurt them. The sale of used books does diminish the market for new books. The upshot is that the publishers will be forced to raise the retail price of new books in order to make a profit. This is why college textbooks cost so much. A text book that should cost $30 instead costs $80 or $90 new because a typical textbook is re-sold two or three times.
Publishing is a business, but it's unfair to call publishers greedy. Even the big houses just barely get by. The typical profit margin of a New York Publisher is under five percent. Most lose money regularly. The slim profit margins make publishers very cautious about what books they choose to publish. And if their profit margins get narrower, they will become even more cautious. This will, obviously, mean that they will take fewer chances on new authors and readers will have less choice in the books that they can buy, new or used.
At root, this is a legitimate business dispute. It's not a free speech issue. Amazon is making money off the sale of these books and the people who produce the books are not. Amazon is making a lot of money. Hence the heavy promotion. This could be construed as serving customers, but it's more accurate to say that it's serving Amazon. Customers would love it if Amazon gave the books away, but Amazon doesn't do that.
Which brings me to the matter of libraries. Some here think that the next step for authors is to picket libraries. This is patently ridiculous. Libraries are a reliable market for books in the United States. Many books that don't have a mass market are published solely for the library sales. Even though they let many people read a single copy of a book, libraries don't profit financially from the valuable public service they offer. Authors understand this, and they can discern the difference between Amazon and publicly funded lending libraries.
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Many of the arguments that are posted here against the Authors Guild position are well reasoned but poorly informed. A few points.
8 31 55/ref%3Dtab%5Fgw%5Fb%5F1/104-3830745-7531131
The Authors Guild does not oppose the sale of used books. Authors buy more books than anyone, and in the course of buying more books than anyone, they all buy used books. The Guild does oppose Amazon's increasingly aggressive promotion of its sellers marketplace. Many of the books that pass through this system are only nominally "used." Frequently, ostensibly used copies of books are put up for sale on the very first day they're released. Go to the amazon books page right now.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/2
On the first page there's a link to a new novel, Sea Glass by Anita Shreve. Click on the book icon, and you'll see that there are two copies of that new book for sale as "used" copies. Odds are, these used copies were distributed for promotional purposes and someone turned around and sold them without reading them. The Guild has only asked that Amazon place a moratorium on the sale of new used books so those titles can gain some traction in the marketplace.
Instead of reasonably working with authors on this matter, Amazon stepped-up the used program recently. If you buy a book from Amazon, shortly after you receive it, Amazon will send you an e-mail suggesting that you re-sell the book you just purchased through Amazon's seller's marketplace.
Many people here have said that this benefits consumers. Perhaps it does in the short run. In the long run, it will hurt them. The sale of used books does diminish the market for new books. The upshot is that the publishers will be forced to raise the retail price of new books in order to make a profit. This is why college textbooks cost so much. A text book that should cost $30 instead costs $80 or $90 new because a typical textbook is re-sold two or three times.
Publishing is a business, but it's unfair to call publishers greedy. Even the big houses just barely get by. The typical profit margin of a New York Publisher is under five percent. Most lose money regularly. The slim profit margins make publishers very cautious about what books they choose to publish. And if their profit margins get narrower, they will become even more cautious. This will, obviously, mean that they will take fewer chances on new authors and readers will have less choice in the books that they can buy, new or used.
At root, this is a legitimate business dispute. It's not a free speech issue. Amazon is making money off the sale of these books and the people who produce the books are not. Amazon is making a lot of money. Hence the heavy promotion. This could be construed as serving customers, but it's more accurate to say that it's serving Amazon. Customers would love it if Amazon gave the books away, but Amazon doesn't do that.
Which brings me to the matter of libraries. Some here think that the next step for authors is to picket libraries. This is patently ridiculous. Libraries are a reliable market for books in the United States. Many books that don't have a mass market are published solely for the library sales. Even though they let many people read a single copy of a book, libraries don't profit financially from the valuable public service they offer. Authors understand this, and they can discern the difference between Amazon and publicly funded lending libraries.