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There probably aren't a lot of people who are aware of this, aside from those of us it actually affects. But it's a very big - and very impacting - event.

There is a major controversy brewing with Amazon.com right now, one that could monopolize the small publishing industry in the United States and drastically alter the literary world. I'll try and give you the brief summary, then let you research for yourself if you're interested. What's important is that people are aware.

There's a relatively new way of publishing called Print-On-Demand (POD). Essentially, it allows books to be printed on a purchase-by-purchase basis, eliminating the need for warehouses of books. When someone purchases a single book, it's printed and shipped to them. This allows small publishers like Stone Aside Publishing (Epic) to exist.

The most popular POD printer is Lightning Source, and for good reason. They're an excellent printer, they have great service, and they make it easy for small-timers to afford running a business. Since they deal directly with Ingram books (a distributor), they are able to sell to all outlets, such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.

However, Amazon has their own POD service called BookSurge, and they're not happy playing second fiddle. So, they've issued an ultimatum to the publishers of the world. "If POD publishers don't print through our BookSurge service, we will eliminate the 'buy' button from their Amazon pages."

If they stick to their threat, that means that every book published by a company who uses anyone other than BookSurge, will no longer be purchasable through Amazon.com. Countless small-market series, such as Epic, are facing a "join us or die" situation. Of course, they did leave us with one option, if we want to sell through Amazon without using their service: pay 55% of our total profit to Amazon, pay a yearly fee, and pay the shipping and handling cost for each book, including shipping books to Amazon ourselves, then having them ship the book to the customer. I haven't done the math, but that might actually leave some of us at a net loss per book sold.

Obviously, this is important for Epic and Stone Aside Publishing. But why is it important for you? Because it's another attempt by a large company to monopolize an industry. Seriously, does anyone here think of any site other than Amazon when they consider buying a book online? Should this come to pass (especially with POD possibly being the future of all publishing), Amazon will be the one and only significant online bookseller in the world, free to do what they want with pricing and policy, with no regard for the consumer, since the consumer ultimately has no choice. Much like the small book store was overrun in You've Got Mail, the small publisher will be overwhelmed by Amazon.com. BookSurge is not a good POD service. They are renown for shoddy work, backward pages, missing pages, and overall defective material being shipped to customers. They are also very expensive to use, as the 55% royalty rate is standard for all their material. While that might sound like the normal rate for most publishers, for the small publisher who can't afford it, it's back breaking.

There is already a backlash forming within the POD industry against Amazon, but the problem is that most people are completely unaware of this, and frankly, have no reason to care. There are even anti-trust suits being lined up against them, though the fact that Amazon offered to print other POD serviced books (never mind the ridiculous costs) might make that an impossible suit. If this happens, and it plays out like Amazon wants it to play out, thousands of small publishers will immediately go out of business if they don't switch sides.

Stone Aside Publishing is very stubborn, and we have no plans to abandon Lightning Source for BookSurge, if for no other reason, for the principle alone. Count Epic among those digging in their heels. But many other small publishers don't have that option or ability. They're the ones who are truly going to suffer from this, unless the masses decide to do their online book shopping at sources other than Amazon.com.

I just wanted to make you guys aware to this, since it's another example of capitalism at its worst. Amazon is perfectly within its rights to go forward with this, but it's far from the right thing to do. We can only hope they reconsider this ultimatum.

Here are some good links that break down the issue, for those interested in researching it further:

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