Editor's Note: Gorillas, Elephants and the Dark Arts
We had veteran business reporter Mark Henricks (p. 12) talk up industry insiders and observers—a consultant, an analyst and a publisher—and ask about five key areas where Amazon is putting pressure on book publishers: e-book pricing, the Kindle Direct Publishing program, Amazon's own book-publishing aspirations, a vice-like grip on the e-book supply chain, and dabblings (alleged and otherwise) in the world of bricks and mortar. While Amazon declined to comment for this story—as did many other industry folks—Henricks discovered that, among the people we polled, some of Amazon's tactics are reviled, some are respected … and some fall somewhere in between. Most of all, he found that while the company is indeed the No. 1 driver of change in the industry, opportunity still abounds for publishers of all sizes to captivate and entice readers with great products, digital, physical or both.
- Companies:
- Amazon.com
- Publishing Executive
- Places:
- Seattle