Amazon's Book Discounting: How Much Is Too Much?

As I mentioned yesterday, J.A. Konrath's blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, has given me lots of hope that an "Indie" writer (meaning self-published) has all the tools at their disposal to build their own writing career. They don't necessarily have to wait years for the New York publishing establishment to "choose" them. Not anymore. I was even inspired to rant optimistically on the topic after attending the Self-Publishing Book Expo in New York in October: Self-Publishing? Thumbs Up or Down?

One of the reasons Indie writers have such a shot is because of Amazon. Bookstores mainly ignore Indies, which used to be a problem because that used to be where most buyers went to buy books. To be in most bookstores, you have to have been "chosen" and nestled into the bloodstream of that ages old Establishment.

But not at Amazon. Amazon has unlimited shelf space for an unlimited amount of books, a reliable infrastructure for reviewer comments ("was this review helpful to you?" was a great innovation on that front), and a reliable and easy purchasing experience for the buyer.

Then I found this article about Amazon: Books After Amazon in the Boston Review. It is long, but seems to be well-researched and it is full of anecdotes about Amazon's many tactics strong-arming big publishers on pricing, either removing an author's "buy" button or entire product if the publisher refuses to set the discount price where Amazon says. This has become such a problem, that the Author's Guild created a website that tracks the location of an author's Amazon "buy" button and notifies the author if it goes missing: WhoMovedMyBuyButton.com

Reading this article, it underlined for me that in the entire cycle of writing and selling a book, the most important aspect of the process is this: Price. I might even go so far as to say that Price is more important than the Writing. Really, think about it. How many times have you purchased something that wasn't entirely great quality and found yourself saying "But it was only X dollars..."

And on Price, this article makes clear that Amazon calls 100% of the shots. Publishers aren't setting prices. Amazon is. But, you say, isn't this ultimately good for the consumer? Everything's cheaper? But what about the worker who brought you that product? What do they get? What about the worker in Bangladesh who made that cotton t-shirt that Target is selling for $6.99? What do they get? Same thing. Close to nothing.

Any party involved in the production and distribution of a good deserves to earn a wage in exchange for their labors. If this basic economic principle does not hold up, you've lost the means of production. You've lost the basic incentive to produce. You're left with either slavery or shortage.

Amazon appears to favor slavery. The "wage" is evaporating. This is part of the reason Indie writers are going Indie. There's no money left for anybody except the writer. And who knows how much of the writer's earnings will be chipped away in the coming months and years.

I suddenly found myself sympathetic to the likes of Random House and Simon & Schuster. Yes, they have to adapt. They have to trim back. 2011 is no longer the world of the Midtown Agent/Editor lunch and they need to get over it. But these firms do add something to the process -- experience discerning good writing from bad, quality editing, design, distribution, marketing (a little) -- and they deserve a wage for that. Less, in my opinion, but they still deserve it.

If the publishing world changes entirely on Amazon's terms, what will happen to the quality of what we are reading? It will have to get worse. If you've ever held one of those $6.99 t-shirts up to the light, you will notice something: you can see right through it.

If you're a reader, writer, editor, or better yet, somebody from Amazon, I'd love to know your thoughts on this topic. What can a lone writer do? How much control over their own product can they really have?