Voices In My Head

Supposedly Amazon gave up on Sunday and admitted (on the Kindle forum) that they will indeed eventually have to capitulate with Macmillan's pricing plan because they want to be able to bring these books to the world even if they think they cost too much.  Way to look out for the little guy.  As of today all Macmillan titles are still unavailable on Amazon.com in the US except through third party sellers.  It seems that while they want to be the champion of the people they aren't willing to sell the disputed works, even in dead tree form, until the whole kerfuffle gets worked out. 

I sent an e-mail to Amazon asking when they would be putting the Buy button back on the print versions, which it seems to me they could go ahead and still sell since a) the dispute is over e-books and b) they have copies taking up space in their distribution centers anyway.  The answer I received was that they would e-mail me when the titles were available again and to go read the thread on the Kindle forum for the latest information. 

I call shenanigans.  By removing the option to buy from all formats Amazon is the one who made this about more than just the damn Kindle but they are acting as the wronged party and doing all of their communication to their customers via the Kindle forums even when the customer clearly states that they are NOT a Kindle user. 

The whole thing makes me tired.  Despite the fact that half of my wishlist is currently unavailable I'm not really affected by this.  I didn't have any pending orders nor did I have any plans to order from them soon.  I have both a Borders and a Barnes & Noble nearly within walking distance from my house.  My TBR pile is actually a whole freaking bookcase so I have no shortage of reading material.  And I have a library card to use in emergencies.  So yeah, I'm not hurting for things to read. 

The people this hurts are really the writers.  Those people for whom a good portion of their sales are generated through Amazon.  The authors that depend on Amazon sales to earn back their advance and have any hope of earning royalties.  Especially those who write speculative fiction / genre, the fringe writers, that you won't find in any brick and mortar bookstore.  They are having their livelihoods affected by a ridiculous pissing match between two mega corporations. 

So I'm posting a link to John Scalzi's post today about supporting your favorite authors, and maybe finding some new ones, by buying their books.  Amazon is not the only game in town.  There are indies, your local big box brick and mortar stores, Powell's, etc.  You can also go to your local library - the more people asking for a certain book or books by a particular writer the more likely the library will order more and will get the new titles in the future.  Plus it is just a good thing to support your local library. 

And please, do not comment back to me that writers are all rich and make 6-figure advances on every book they write.  That is just not true for 99% of published authors.  Many work day jobs along with writing and those that write full time are paying for things like health insurance at out of pocket prices or going without.  Any why shouldn't a writer want to get paid for their work?  You do.  Just because what they do is "creative" or "artistic" doesn't mean it is any less work.  But my rant on that topic will need to wait as I need to get back to work. 

I'm still following the whole Amazon thing on the Interwebs.  So far I haven't seen anything that makes me change my mind - I still think the problem of de-ranked books is a big deal and that Amazon's response the the whole fuck-up is beyond lame. 

No, I have not canceled my account.  I removed my payment info because 1) it will prevent me from buying out of habit and 2) any company that can have an error of this magnitude doesn't need to be storing my credit card info, thanks.  Will I ever order from them again?  I honestly don't know.  I imagine I will eventually when all this shit calms down and I see evidence that they have fixed/changed their cataloging methodology.  I left my account so I can still get recommendations. 

I understand why there are people who are angrier about this than I am.  I also understand why there are people who aren't upset about this at all.  To each their own.  And while I'm still reading the news reports about this debacle I have had to stop reading the comments.  Too many of them on the more mainstream sites were really awful.  If you ever wanted evidence that homophobia and bigotry were alive and well in the world....

In other news:
This is the last days of my vacation and I intend to enjoy it by relaxing.  A long hot bath is in my immediate future.  Followed by the long-delayed trip to the grocery store.  Yes, I'm out of soy milk.  And I need to get stuff to take to work for lunch.  I'll probably watch the movies I have from Netflix this afternoon and then read some more of my book before it is time to go to bed.  Getting up tomorrow to face the world and my job is not going to be easy.  I kind of like this hanging out at home thing.  Although I'll admit that a few more days of this and I'd be bored. 

Now if you'll excuse me I have a date with a bubble bath.