The Battle Between Hatchette and Amazon Is Over...Or Is It?

Hatchette and Amazon inked a new distribution deal on November 13th. Both sides said they're happy with the deal and got what they wanted. However, there are three problems that still exist:

1) Hatchette let short-term profits override it's long-term interests.
Amazon and Hatchette signed their deal on November 13th, two weeks before the American Thanksgiving holiday, which also happens to be the start of the winter holiday retail season. Americans call the Friday after Thanksgiving "Black Friday" because for many retailers, this is the turning point in the profitability of their store for the year.

Amazon has diversified enough that it isn't dependent on selling books in December. Hatchette is dependent on books alone. Without the U.S. largest book retailer, Hatchette Book Group USA would be in a world of hurt at the end of the year. They didn't have a choice but to sign a deal with Amazon at least two weeks before Black Friday in order to get their stock in Amazon warehouses in time.

The real question is will the holiday shopping season make up for the 18% loss in sales Hatchette saw in the last quarter, a loss they blamed on the conflict with Amazon.


2) The multi-year deals between Amazon and the Big 5.
Publishers have been signing writers for eons to contracts for the length of copyright, i.e. life of the author plus 70 years. Such a term makes it next to impossible for the writer to capitalize on their work. Writers are hobbled by the very contract they desired.

With the rapid changes in the publishing industry, Amazon has just done something similar to Hatchette with their four-year deal. Four years ago, I was still submitting to agents. Three and a half years ago, I self-published my first book. Two years ago, I quit my day job. Yes, things have changed that rapidly as far as fiction publishing and distribution go. If changes keep up this pace over the next four years, Hatchette may have crippled itself.


3) Hatchette's Author Mouthpieces Won't Shut Up
James Patterson and Doug Preston are still railing against Amazon. The usual suspects are mentioned: literature, culture, children, puppies. But if you read between the lines, not once does either author mention other writers. Their entire concern is for publishers, aka the entities that made them both very rich men. How many writers pull in $90 million a year?

It's those millions per year that the star authors are seeing slip through their fingers. And guess where it's going? Yep, into indie writers' pockets.

That's the real reason the Big 5 and folks like Patterson and Preston hate Amazon. Bezos and his people opened publishing's doors to the unwashed masses. Even worse, those same unvetted, uncensored books are being bought by readers. Lots of readers. To the point that the unwashed masses can pay their electric bills, their mortgages, and their children's college tuition. How much more will the mega-stars like Patterson and Preston lose?

Adding onto Hatchette's PR problems is Roxana Robinson, president of the Authors Guild. She's making noises about how Hatchette should be rewarding loyal authors who stood by the publisher during the dispute. Hatchette has every legal right to adhere to the contracts signed by their loyal followers, but how many of them will stick around if they feel they've been dissed and dismissed by Hatchette?

Hatchette needs to take a good long look at the mess Harlequin has become to see their future.


So, ladies and gentlemen, what are your bets on Hatchette surviving the next four years?

Authors United Strikes Again

Writers need to learn business.

Willful ignorance by writers who should know business is downright embarrassing.

Authors United, a little group of writers headed by Douglas Preston, is showing their willful ignorance.

Again.

Even worse, they display elitism and racism at its most horrible. I'm terribly ashamed that one of my favorite authors, Ursula Le Guin, signed a letter vilifying blue collar workers and Asian workers. Feel free to contact her or any of the other writers.

I will.

As soon as my blood pressure lowers enough for me to write coherently.

So what's going on?

Many of the AU authors are published by Hatchette Book Group. Hatchette's contract with Amazon expired last March. Amazon has been trying since January to work out a new contract with Hatchette, who ignored all communications until May.

That's when the PR war started. News media issued story after story of how Amazon was deliberately trying to kill traditional publishing. Anonymous tips came from unnamed sources close to Hatchette.

When that didn't work, James Patterson and Doug Preston took to the airwaves. Interview after interview claimed that Amazon was 1) refusing to sell Hatchette books, 2) refusing to discount Hatchette books and 3) slowing delivery of Hatchette books.

In reality, 1) Amazon is selling all published Hatchette books, but they aren't putting pre-order buttons on un-published books, 2) the same people had been bitching when Amazon WAS discounting their books, and 3) Amazon wasn't using valuable warehouse space to stockpile Hatchette books because they couldn't be guaranteed of returns due to no contract with Hatchette.

So AU published a letter in the New York Times re-stating Preston and Patterson accusations.

And nothing happened.

Well, that's not true. Only 900 writers rallied to their cause. Readers didn't care. And 8,000 writers and readers signed Hugh Howey and J.A. Konrath's letter thanking Amazon and readers for supporting them. [Disclosure: I signed Hugh and Joe's letter.]

So AU issued another letter Monday morning, this time to the Amazon board of directors. The Amazon BOD is going to care about as much as the readers do where the petty whining of a bunch of millionaire authors are concerned. Their responsibility is to their stockholders, and from the price of the stock, the stockholders like what they are doing ($322.57/share as I write this)

These authors' contracts are with Hatchette, not Amazon, so why aren't they nagging Hatchette to negotiate with Amazon?

Because if the writers do that, their contracts won't be renewed and they'll be blacklisted by the Big Five.

Or that's their fear anyway, because they can't conceive of forming their own companies to publish themselves. Therefore everything is Amazon and Chines blue collar workers' fault.

And they can't see that while they fight Hatchette's imaginary war for the publisher, we indies are taking over their market share.

Instead of fighting someone else's playground battles, Preston's group needs to take a hard look at what's happening around them. This isn't a war they can win.

In fact, the war's already over except for the dying.

[Note: If you want an really funny take on the AU letter, go read Jen Rasmussen.]

[Note 2: Apparently, the bitching by me and several other bloggers about the racist comment concerning Chinese blue-collar workers made Preston rethink his words and change the letter to the Amazon board. Now instead of insulting 1.5 billion people, he insults 7 billion. *rolls eyes* You would think someone who makes a living by writing understands how language works. Thanks to TPV regular Claire Ryan for the link to the original version via the WayBack Machine. LOL]

[Note 3: Oh, and he STILL hasn't fixed the typo in the first paragraph of the letter. So much for being the greatest authors in the U.S.]

Spoon!

"Not in the face! Not in the face!" - Arthur

Oh, yeah, I'm getting in your face on this fabulous Labor Day! Why? Patrick Wharburton is bringing back The Tick!

Yep, that's right. Wharburton talked Sony into letting him do a new pilot for Amazon.

Amazon.

If Douglas Preston and James Patterson wanted my loyalty, they should have brought back The Tick.

Now Amazon's Whining Like a Little Girl

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, I received an e-mail from Amazon KDP. (The Passive Voice reprinted the full text of the e-mail sent to KDP authors.) It was a request to e-mail Michael Pietsch, the CEO of Hatchette Book Group USA, and tell him why he's wrong. Amazon even thoughtfully provided suggested language and provided Mike's e-mail address. Amazon also asks that they be copied on the e-mail the KDP author sent to Mike.

My initial reaction was the same as Selena Kitt's. Except with a lot more swear words.

So of course, when PG posted the letter on his blog a few hours later, I put my two cents in:

I read this shortly before I went to bed. I shouldn’t have checked my e-mail because I ended up tossing and turning as I composed a response to Jeff Bezos. 

I didn’t appreciate Hatchette’s efforts to pull me into their little war. And I know I’ll be in the minority here at TPV, but I don’t appreciate Amazon’s either. 

Yes, I’ve watched Hatchette harm friends’ careers over the years. I don’t agree with their pathetic propaganda campaign. And it makes me sick that Hatchette and their one-percenters spread their elitist BS across the world when it’a all about how many extra Benjamins they can collect. 

On the other hand, Amazon isn’t innocent, and they have caused me direct harm when they’ve removed my books from their retail site by arbitrarily and randomly changing the rules of what’s acceptable erotica. They also froze my account for several hours in December because I dared to question their policies even though it was a polite, professional e-mail. Frankly, I don’t trust Amazon any more than I trust Hatchette. 

So my question becomes why should I support either of these multi-million dollar companies in what amounts to a public schoolyard fight? 

There’s no reason to. Hatchette already lost the e-book/change war when they entered into a conspiracy to price-fix with four other publishers and Apple. As for Amazon, someone else will replace them as the top U.S. retailer in twenty or so years. 

My only concern here is my own company and my own bottom line. Because it’s just business, right? Or at least that’s the line both companies have dished out when they screw over someone. 

So here’s my answer to both Michael Pietsch and Jeff Bezos: When you pay me, I’ll do your company’s dirty work. Until then, leave me out of your playground slap fight.

I hoped that someone would pick apart my points, show the flaw in my logic. The regular commenters at TPV are a bunch of really smart people.

What did I get? A list of people who agreed with my points. And it unsettled me.

Then Barry Eisler popped in, and his take unsettled me even more. He talked about the "revolution in publishing" and "becoming a victim in someone else's war." When Toni McGee Causey disagreed with him, Barry ripped into her for using flamboyant, over-the-top language.

So of course, I had to jump in the middle:

Barry, I respect your opinion and normally, I agree with you on how things are developing in the publishing industry. 

But “smart alliances” for you is not necessarily a good choice for me. Amazon treats you very differently than they treat me. If James Patterson walked up to another Hatchette mid-list author not as well known and said exactly what you said here, how would you take it? Because to me, it sounds like a subtle threat, even though I sincerely doubt that’s how you meant it. 

I’ve learned an important lesson from the Big 5, and that’s not to put all my eggs in the one basket. Thankfully, I learned that lesson before the Kernel Pornocalypse last fall. Who stood up for the erotica writers then? It sure wasn’t Amazon. 

As you and Joe Konrath have said numerous times, we don’t know the exact terms Amazon and Hatchette are fighting over. Oh, we can guess, and I have a suspicion about which guesses are correct. But right now, I have to wonder if Anonymous B. is also correct in his/her comment above. Why do supporters need to CC Amazon if they write to the Hatchette CEO?

I fully expected to be ripped into as Toni had been. I got a bare acknowledgement of my points and that the effect on KDP authors wasn't his "primary interest." In other words, this has turned into an ideological battle for him as much as it has for James Patterson and Douglas Preston. And he avoided my specific questions, something he often rails at Patterson and Preston for doing.

I thought Barry Eisler was better than that. I'm disappointed at finding out yet another hero has feet of clay.

Through all of this, no one's asking the bigger question: Why the hell does Amazon think they need the help of a bunch of indie authors, whom Hatchette is going to ignore anyway?