Colin Robinson, co-publisher of OR Books, has written a piece for the latest issue The Nation titled The Trouble With Amazon. In it he effectively laments the real and potential consequences for both the publisher and the reader in an Amazon-led book universe.
Remember Amazon’s early tagline “The Earth’s Biggest Bookstore”? The tagline disappeared as Amazon branched out into product markets and today books comprise about 25% of their total revenue but their stranglehold on the book world seems only to be increasing. And as they continue on their quest to give, as Jeff Bezos told his shareholders, “the customers what they want: low prices, vast selection and extreme convenience,” they are fundamentally altering how one shops for, buys, and in the case of the Kindle and e-books how one reads books.
We have all, by now, seen how Amazon’s “low price” strategy has evolved into a bookstore killing machine while upheaving the publishing industry. ‘Low’ is not necessarily ‘fair’ and until the consumer realizes the devastating consequences to our literary culture and our communities from this bargain-based mentality we will unfortunately remain on this race to the bottom roller coaster.
As for “extreme convenience” Amazon has hit a home run; there are not many publisher’s or bookstores that have yet gotten past second base.
But it is the ‘vast selection’
Here is a recent exchange with an Amazon seller that Jeremy Dibble recounts on his blog, PhiloBiblos
Me, writing to an Amazon seller: “Could you please describe the condition of your copy of [Book X]. Your description does not contain any details. Is it damaged? Is there underlining/highlighting in the text?”
Seller (in part): “Thank you for your recent inquiry about our inventory. Due to the volume of our sales, and the structure of our fulfillment process, we are unable to provide researched answers at this time. Our entire inventory is listed according to the following guidelines: Like New … Very Good … Good … Acceptable.”
Each term above is followed by a list of descriptors, i.e., for Like New “Book looks new; similar to what you’d see in a book store.”
Me: “Thanks. But your description doesn’t include any of those terms; it reads, in its entirety, ‘Our feedback rating says it all: Five star service and fast delivery! We have shipped four million items to happy customers, and have one MILLION unique items ready to ship today!’ If you can give me an indication of which of your guidelines that falls under, I’d appreciate it.”
No response.
No purchase. I’ll wait until I can get the book from a person who’s actually seen it.
*************************
As Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice, explains, “When the choice set is larger, people tend to make worse choices. They choose on the basis of what’s easiest to evaluate, rather than what’s important to evaluate…the safe, highly marketed option usually comes out on top.”