Putting out a fire
In todays Shelf Awareness for Readers newsletter, editor John Mutter opens with a piece on Amazons new Fire tablet.
Many in the book business worry about power becoming concentrated in the book world. Amazon likes to play rough: recently it spent $5 million to force a referendum in California on a law it didnt like. (The state and Amazon have since come to a compromise.) Publishers say quietly that since Borderss collapse, Amazon has become even more aggressive about wanting better deals. Its also set up its own publishing division and may well publish some books that arent available outside the Amazon e-cosphere. A closed system doesnt bode well for the general book universe, which for its many quirks and flaws, still brings reading pleasure to tens of millions of people.