Author Marketing Exerpts posted a Press Release yesterday at prlog.com that started out:

   
An Amazon Monopoly? Authors shut out of Amazon; one site offers a solution

It was the shot heard around the publishing world in record time when Amazon announced that any print-on-demand publisher would need to print books through their publishing arm: BookSurge.

Following up on the story, I visitied their blog and found this:

The Amazon Solution: An Interview with Jerry D. Simmons

The following interview is with Jerry D. Simmons, Founder of NothingBinding.com and former Time Warner Executive relative to the Amazon.com announcement.


What’s the real outcome going to be from this Amazon decision?


The publishers impacted will follow the demands of Amazon and print their books with Book Surge. The wider implication is that Amazon strengthens their position with these publishers and creates a monster with their vertical integration. This leaves each one of those publishers vulnerable to new demands by Amazon. What’s next? Higher discounts. Right now these publishers have been forced to change vendors, it might have cost them a bit more money, but remember, they market to writers not consumers. So if they are unable to place their authors’ books on Amazon, it looks bad in the eyes of their customers, the writers. These publishers don’t have the courage to say no and take a stand. And it’s not about the fact they sell a ton of books on Amazon, it’s about their customers’ view of them and their ability to market their own books.

Read the rest of the story here:

http://amarketingexpert.com/ameblog/?p=245