Hatchette Is Spying on Me

Sure I've been talking about the Amazon-Hatchette negotiations (if you can call them that). Find someone in the publishing industry who hasn't. But my posts on the topic have gathered an unusual interest from France.

On a given week, I get a handful of hits from the home of gay Paree. Literally, a handful. As in five. Probably from the same two people who have followed WW&W for the last three years.

But over the last week? 179 total hits from France. And I doubt if my two French buddies suddenly told all their friends to watch Wil Wheaton (which you all should be, by the way).

Nope, the majority came from that last two posts about Amazon's second volley in the two corporations' war (55) and my rant about the Author's Guild president claiming she represents indies in the war (81).

So if any Hatchette executives are reading, I hate to tell you, but you fucked up. You fucked up big time.

1) You illegally conspired to price fix. You got caught.

2) By your company's own admission, you haven't been negotiating with Amazon in good faith.

3) You allowed yourselves to rely on 3 super-retailers in the U.S. over the last twenty years. One of them crashed and burned three years ago, and the second is on life support, changing the products they carry from books to knick-knacks.

4) You've pissed off your suppliers, and those who can are leaving your warm, smothering embrace.

5) Then you dragged indies, who weren't part of the fight, into your PR games and are now suffering the backlash.

So, dear Hatchette employee, you can click on my posts and whine about how unfairly everyone is treating you, but you brought this on yourselves. If I were you, I'd be polishing my resume about now.