We live in an exciting time for artists. A time when the clutching, gnarled fingers of The Proverbial Middleman are being peeled off.
Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead sell music directly over the internet, with no record label whatsoever. Authors are now publishing their own books without a publisher. And some artists are releasing free audiobooks online, making money just like Radiohead or shareware software authors: via that old standby, The Tip Jar. You, the consumer, pay what you think is fair. The artist keeps every cent (or the vast majority of it) without the usual tangled mess of shady characters each taking 'their cut'.
Pretty good for everyone around, eh?
Well ... it has been so far. But over the last week, Amazon.com announced something rather startling. All Print-On-Demand authors are now required to have their books printed through Amazon exclusively -- or they will no longer enjoy a Buy Now button on Amazon.com.
Um. Wow. Shades of Soprano. And antitrust, perhaps. Kind of shocking, considering what a fan of Amazon I was previous to this.
Why is this such a big deal? First, some background:
Over the last several years, 'Print On Demand' or POD books have become a very popular way to publish (and its success is exactly why Amazon.com is suddenly concerned about it). The concept is exactly what it sounds like: One book is ordered? Great! Print one -- and only one -- book. This sort of thing is now possible because printing technology at the high end has gotten so good that books created in this fashion have become indistinguishable from some traditional printing presses.
Before POD, an author needed a publisher to invest in a printing of their book. You needed the equivalent of a venture capitalist. Someone had to pay for the cost of materials, for setting up the printing press with galleys, etc. And someone needed to guess how many copies to print in a first run -- guess too high, you ended up with a warehouse of unsold books. Guess too low, and you end up with angry customers and lost sales opportunities. Nice position to be in, huh?
But with POD, there is no need to guess at all. There is no risk. No books are made until someone orders. Even hardcovers. I've published my own series of books -- the Max Quick Series -- in a variety of formats (hardcover, paperback, ebook, podcast audiobook, and Kindle) using popular POD publisher Lulu.com and Podiobooks.com (a site for free podcast audiobooks). My own podcast audiobook got 1.8 million downloads -- but even that was dwarfed by the first breakout success from this world -- Scott Sigler -- who has seen 3 million+ downloads and was just had his first major release, Infected, sail up the Amazon bestseller list. So this world of do-it-yourself publishing is really quite vibrant and healthy.
You're probably scratching your head about now. You're thinking, So since Print On Demand now exists, I no longer need someone to invest in a first-run printing of my book. Right? You mean I can have an actual, physical, real book -- without a publisher? So .. why exactly do I need a traditional publishing deal again?
Well you're forgetting about two things: marketing and distribution. So let's talk about those for a moment.
Marketing: If you do happen to get a publishing deal, the publishers these days will force you to market your own book (and pay for it yourself). They want to know what YOU are going to do to sell YOUR book. Unless you're Stephen King, they are not going to do much for you here. So much for marketing.
Distribution: Sadly, your POD book will not suddenly appear on shelves at Barnes and Noble. This is the one thing POD publishers cannot do for you. However, you CAN get an ISBN number for your POD book. Your book WILL appear in the catalog of books at Barnes and Noble and can be ordered. And it will also appear on the virtual shelves of Amazon.com, and are indistinguishable from traditionally published books.
Ah. And now we come to the crux of the matter.
A while back, Amazon.com, seeing the success of POD publishers like Lulu.com, iUniverse, Authorhouse and others, decided to start their own POD service called BookSurge. And this was fine, of course -- it validated the POD model.
But last week, Amazon announced that authors would have to switch their books over to BookSurge *exclusively* -- or else lose their 'Buy Now' button.
Um ... what?
Yes. Rather stunning, isn't it? I didn't even believe it at first. But you can read all about it. It is, unfortunately, very real.
There are rumblings that iUniverse and Lulu.com are either close to signing -- or have already signed -- an agreement with Amazon BookSurge to take over the printing of all their books. They have no choice: Amazon is their primary distribution arm, and they are threatening to cut off their oxygen. They will have to agree to whatever terms Amazon.com dictates. This means BookSurge can charge whatever they want for the printing service -- a cost which will likely be passed on to the artist in the form of reduced royalties.
With this move Amazon.com has effectively removed all competition in the Print On Demand universe. No matter which choice I make, ultimately, I'm dealing with BookSurge.
Cue 'Have a Cigar'. The Middleman is back.