Daily Archives: Monday, March 31, 2008

Later on Friday, O’Reilly’s Andrew Savikas <a href=”http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2008/03/amazon-gets-demanding-with-print-on-demand-publishers.html”>wrote a detailed post explaining the kinds of lock-in</a> Amazon.com is attempting with this move.</p> <p>And yes, there is a Nashville angle to this story as one of the on-demand printing services that is being targeted by this move is Ingram Industries subsidiary <a href=”http://www.lightningsource.com/”>LIghtning Source</a>. </p> <p>Quote from WSJ.com:</p> <blockquote><p><i>”Amazon’s decision means that any of those publishers who want their books sold on the giant Web site will have to use BookSurge. … The transaction, which was blasted by independent booksellers because it merged the largest wholesaler with the largest retailer of books, was seen as a bold grab by Barnes & Noble to vertically integrate a competition-stiffling segment of the book distribution channel.</p> <p>I say ironic, because at the time, Jeff Bezos was one of the most outspoken opponents of the B&N, Ingram deal — one of the few times he and independent booksellers agreed on much.

Continue reading →