Six Days Later
Six days after Amazon removed all buy buttons from all editions of Macmillan titles, and more than three days after its Kindle team whined that Macmillan had a monopoly on Macmillan titles and therefore Amazon had to capitulate…Amazon **still** hasn’t put back the buy buttons.
Readers, remember, as much as Amazon has a monopoly on the Kindle, it doesn’t have a monopoly on e-book availability. You can still purchase e-books from the publishers directly, and from Amazon’s competitors (such as B&N.com, Borders.com, Walmart.com…the list goes on). And heck, you can always walk into an actual bookstore. Or library. Looking for a local independent bookstore? Check out Indie Bound.
Author Laura Ann Gilman has pointed out that Wall Street is getting ticked off at Amazon. Go figure.
Something to think about: We’ve heard from Macmillan CEO Sargent. And we’ve heard from New Corp. CEO Murdoch (who owns HarperCollins). Why haven’t we heard from Amazon CEO Bezos?
Amazon vs…Rupert Murdoch?
You thought it was interesting when it was merely Amazon versus Macmillan? Well, hold on to your seats. According to this article, Rupert Murdoch is unhappy with the US$9.99 Kindle prices.
“We don’t like the Amazon model of selling everything at $US9.99,” Murdoch said when asked about electronic books during a conference call with analysts on Tuesday.
“They pay us the wholesale price of $US14 or whatever we charge,” he said. “But I think it really devalues books and it hurts all the retailers of the hard cover books.”
What does Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation own? Oh, you know. A teensy publisher called HarperCollins.
Can you see it now? Let’s say Amazon does the same whoops-no-HarperCollins-titles-on-Amazon thing that they did (and as of this blog post at 7:35 am Eastern on Wednesday Feb. 3, are still doing) with Macmillan titles and removes the buy buttons for all formats (including print) and drops HarperCollins books from customers’ wish lists. I call right now that the entire right-wing-leaning world would learn about this via Fox News. Yeah, they’d have to say that Fox News is owned (like most of the entire world) by News Corporation. But I’m guessing that wouldn’t bother people too much.
And then…here’s the brilliant part…you know that if Fox News would be discussing this, MSNBC, CNN and The Daily Show wouldn’t be far behind.
All right, now I’m just giddy!
So go ahead, Amazon. I dare you to pull the plug on HarperCollins titles. I double-dog dare you.
28 Days of Heart - Day 2
Here’s Day 2 of the 28 Days of Heart:
Wild Child by Shelley Munro
Contemporary / Erotica
Zoë Underwood loved Matt Cantrell from the moment her mother married his father. She definitely thinks of him as more than a big brother and even though he moved away from home the moment their parents got married, her feelings for him have grown stronger, bigger. More. No one presses her buttons like the tall, dark and gorgeous Matt. If only he can get over the eight-year age difference.
Now, Zoë is determined to snare her man. She wants one thing—Matt’s love. It’s time for her to make a move, stir things up a little and take a chance on love.
You can buy the enovella from www.AllRomance.com and www.OmniLit.com. All proceeds benefit the American Heart Association.
About the author
Shelley lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Typical New Zealanders, Shelley and her husband left home for their big OE soon after they married (translation of New Zealand speak—big overseas experience). A year-long adventure lengthened to six years of roaming the world. Enduring memories include being almost sat on by a mountain gorilla in Rwanda, lazing on white sandy beaches in India, whale watching in Alaska, searching for leprechauns in Ireland, and dealing with ghosts in an English pub. While travel is still a big attraction, these days Shelley is most likely found in front of her computer following another love—that of writing stories of romance and adventure. Other interests include watching rugby (strictly for research purposes), cycling, walking, and curling up with a good book.
Visit the author’s website at www.ShelleyMunro.com
More Than Ten Bucks For A Kindle Book? Amazon Already Does It
Poor little Amazon (take a moment to just appreciate the irony right there).
Yeah, poor mega-ginormous online retailer. No one loves you anymore. All because you proceeded to anger your supplier, your supplier’s suppliers, your supplier’s supplier’s customers, and, oh right, your own customers. Details? See John Scalzi’s fantabulous post.
Poor little etail giant, who pulled all Macmillan buy buttons — except for Macmillan’s Palgrave line (which includes both scholarly and trade titles). And hey, according to this must-read Publisher’s Lunch update: “Not only did the buy buttons stay active for the Palgrave trade titles, for those new releases with Kindle editions, Amazon was already selling the ebook versions for the “needlessly high” as they would put it price $15 in many cases.”
Take a moment. Reread that last sentence.
So all of Amazon’s kvetching about it being unreasonable to pay $14.99 for an e-book is just sound and fury. Amazon is just fine with selling ebooks for the Kindle at prices higher than $9.99.
As Publisher’s Lunch says: “As we have written many times before, while Amazon creates the impression that all new releases and hardcovers are available in ebook for $9.99 or less, about 30 percent of their offerings have consistently listed above that price point.”
Poor Amazon. No one understands you, especially when you’re caught with your pants on the ground.
28 Days of Heart Starts Today
February 2010 is all about heart.
Every day this month, a new e-novella will be available from All Romance eBooks. All proceeds will go to the American Heart Association. I’m thrilled to be part of this project. You can preorder and order all of the e-novellas at All Romance eBooks: http://www.allromanceebooks.com
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February 1, 2010:
Exchange of Hearts by By G.A. Hauser
10,906 words; Contemporary/Gay/Erotica - 4 Flames
Sometimes love hits you when you least expect it…
Exchange student Elia Gianni arrives at the Dayton airport ready to soak up everything American. When the young Italian was offered a placement with the Steele family, he knew he’d been given the chance of a lifetime. What he didn’t anticipate was the Steele’s blond, blue-eyed son, Rick. The instant Rick sets eyes on the fantastic foreigner he falls head over heels. But the big, macho athlete was used to hiding his feelings and desperately wanting things he couldn’t have. Revealing the truth would change everything and throw his family into a tailspin.
Reality, however, becomes harder to deny when Rick is forced to share his bedroom with Elia. The summer immersion experience turns out to be more than anyone was prepared for as the two young men become lost in one another,
sharing an exchange…of hearts.
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About the author
Award-winning author G.A. Hauser was born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, USA and attended university in New York City. She moved to Seattle, Washington where she worked as a patrol officer with the Seattle Police Department. In early 2000 G.A. moved to Hertfordshire, England where she began her writing in earnest and published her first book, In the Shadow of Alexander. Now a full-time writer in Ohio, G.A. has written dozens of novels, including several best-sellers of gay fiction. Visit the author’s website at www.AuthorGAHauser.com
