Just got this email from virtualbookworm (the publisher of my book):
Amazon/Booksurge Forces Publishers to Make a Decision
Hi everyone!
Hate to bug you, but we have some very important news to pass along.
As you probably know, Amazon.com purchased POD publisher/printer Booksurge a few years ago. Since then, they have contacted us from time to time about listing some titles through Booksurge. We had used Booksurge a few times in the past and were not happy with the print quality of the books. So we always politely passed on the various offers and went about our way using Lightning Source (LSI) as our printer (and having the books distributed through Ingram, owner of LSI).
Despite ownership of Booksurge, Amazon continued to order print-on-demand titles through Ingram/LSI (LSI even drop-shipped the books for Amazon). So everything worked smoothly until last week, when we received an email from Booksurge/Amazon asking for a call. Assuming it would be another pitch of their services, I picked up the phone (unaware of the slap in the face I was about to receive). This time, however, the Booksurge/Amazon rep told me they wanted us to send all of our titles to them so future Amazon orders could easily be printed and shipped through them. After a bit of prodding, the rep revealed that
only print-on-demand softcovers and color books that were printed by Booksurge would be available directly through Amazon in the future. And since they are such nice guys, they have decided to waive all setup costs for our current titles.
That alone was shocking. However, it was eventually learned that we would have to recreate all of our current titles into files that met their specs and all future titles would cost $50 to set up. Obviously, we would still need to set up each title with LSI/Ingram, so that means double the work for each new book. And all current books would have to be located in archive files and reprocessed. The time and labor involved in this task would be daunting and would practically shut down production of new titles.
This move would also force publishers to increase the retail price of books, since
Booksurge/Amazon is going to charge for the printing of the book AND take 48% of the net (although some have been told 48% of the retail)!I'm going to refrain from editorializing on this move, since any talk of a monopoly could be dangerous
Instead, I just want you to think of what this could do to your title(s) and, eventually, your pocketbook. When you let everyone know your book was available, many of them probably went to Amazon to purchase it.
If this new move (I won't say threat) goes through, the only way readers will be able to purchase POD titles that haven't also been set up through Booksurge/Amazon is through a reseller. The availability of your title will be choked, readers won't be able to take advantage of free shipping (when the requirements are met) and the retail price will skyrocket (and just do a web search on the complaints about Booksurge's quality). A number of publishers have been discussing this, and some of us have decided to release this news to the public today. Obviously it won't be released by Amazon, so we thought it would be a good idea to let the proverbial kitty out of the bag with the hope that public backlash could change Amazon's mind.
If you have a blog, an email list or just a loud voice, please let everyone know about this unfair situation. You can also write Amazon's Investor Relations via email at ir@amazon.com or at:
Amazon.com Investor Relations
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226
Thanks for your help!
Bobby Bernshausen
Virtualbookworm.com
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