Rhode Island just passed a law that forces companies to collect sales tax if they are affiliated to businesses that take a commission from links to another e-commerce website. The passing of this law has forced Amazon to drop its relationship with its marketing affiliates based in Rhode Island so that it would not have to collect sales tax in the state.
 
This is just off the heels of North Carolina’s passing of a similar law. Amazon responded similarly, dropping its North Carolina affiliates so that it would not have to collect sales taxes. Amazon may have to drop quite a few more affiliates as more and more struggling states consider passing this law to increase their income.
 
According to one of the affiliates affected by the law, small businesses are unfairly targeted by legislation that incorrectly classifies them as actual sales agents. Amazon also expressed its disdain for the law, calling it an “unconstitutional tax collection scheme” in a message to its Rhode Island affiliates.

Image: Flickr

Although they were once business partners, Amazon and Toys R Us have been in the middle of a heated legal battle that finally ended today when Amazon agreed to pay Toys R Us $51 million as a settlement. The transaction will occur in a couple of months and then any traces of the conflict will essentially disappear, according to Amazon.
 
Amazon and toysrus.com, a division of Toys R Us, drafted an agreement in 2000 that gave Toys R Us exclusive rights to move some of their products through Amazon. The partnership should have been extremely beneficial for both parties, but in 2004, both parties accused each other of wrongdoing after Toys R Us sued Amazon.
 
Toys R Us claimed that Amazon had entered into deals with other toy companies that violated the exclusivity contract, while Amazon countersued Toys R Us for allegedly failing to keep items in stock. After a topsy-turvy legal battle, Toys R Us won the rights for a settlement, although its initial claim of damages was deemed overblown.

(Image: Flickr)

I was listening to a really interesting story about variable pricing in the music industry on NPR’s Morning Edition this week. The price discrepancies on Depeche Mode’s new album perfectly illustrated the concept of price discovery.  

The new album by Depeche Mode, “Sounds of the Universe” is priced at a low $3.99 on Amazon, and $9.99 on iTunes. Because of iTunes recent switch to a Digital Rights Management-free delivery model (enabling downloaded songs to be played on any type of play, not just the Apple  iPod), this is the same product.

So what’s it really worth?

That’s what Price Discovery aims to determine. Technically, the term refers to the process of determining the price based on supply and demand factors. Throw it all out there and see what sticks.

That’s exactly what’s happening now in the music industry. The ability to purchase music instantly online has also created a realtime, accurate flow of supply and demand information. Well, because the supply of digital downloads is virtually limitless, it’s really just demand information.

This realtime data will enable producers and marketers to adjust pricing moment by moment if they wish. They can boost the price of the most popular songs or give a boost to sleepers with a few keystrokes.

Today the music industry, tomorrow - who knows? One thing’s certain: the world is operating at a faster pace every day. As technology continues to evolve, I suspect we’ll see more of this highly variable, and expertly manipulated, pricing in all kinds of industries.

Image Credit: XirranisX, Flickr

I finally got around to checking out one of the advertisers here, CreateSpace. At first glance it appears CreateSpace was perhaps set up to compete directly with Lulu.com - unless you want premium services, there are no fees to upload your book, etc.

What I didn’t realize until I got to the bottom of a page is that the company is owned by Amazon, the giant online bookstore.

Because I’ve been following Angela Hoy’s Booklocker lawsuit against Amazon for insisting self-publishers use Amazon-owned BookSurge if they want to be treated well at the online bookstore, I sent her a quick email asking her what she knew. She told me that in addition being an Amazon company, CreateSpace will actually urge users to switch to BookSurge if they have any problems with formatting, etc.

That’s quite different than Lulu.com. They answer questions and want their authors to succeed with their services. They do allow experts to advertise their services, but, at least as near as I can tell, they aren’t trying to switch people to a whole different, fee-charging service.

Investigate before you sign or agree to anything in publishing and self-publishing!

Angela’s sites include: BookLocker, WritersWeekly, and the Amazon BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit Clearinghouse.

Write well and often,

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Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

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Yesterday, Publishers Weekly announced that Barnes and Nobel had canceled their 10,000 book order of Obama’s Challenge: America’s Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency. The book, written by Robert Kuttner and published by Chelsea Green is scheduled to be officially launched at the Democratic Convention which starts on August 25.

The reason Barnes and Nobel canceled the order, according to PW, because Chelsea Green has signed an early exclusive agreement with Amazon. The sense is that Amazon’s attempt to get a lock on print-on-demand is costing independent bookstores and authors significant money.

Hut Landon, executive director of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association is quoted by PW as being “disheartened”

Chelsea Green has attempted to explain its position as minimizing its risks in a letter on their website.

My hope is that this is the beginning of Barnes and Nobel’s counter to Amazon’s POD position.

What do you think?

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
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Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

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(www.thegoldenpencil.com)
On July 31, 2008, BookLocker filed their response to Amazon’s expected motion to dismiss BookLocker’s suit against the online retailer for its insistence self-publishers use Amazon owned BookSurge to receive preferential treatment on the virtual bookstore. The announcement was made to the blogosphere on Angela Hoy’s Amazon BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit Clearinghouse blog.

This is the blog to read if you want to really understand the issues. There are links to of BooklLocker’s original complaint, Amazon’s motion to dismiss and to BookLocker’s response, all in one place. It will take some reading, but it’s worth it.

For example, footnote 4 on BookLocker’s response states: “…on March 26, 2008, Amazon representative John Clifford notified Plaintiff that Amazon would only continue to sell Plaintiff’s POD books through the Direct Amazon Sales Channel if Plaintiff agreed to print its books through Amazon’s printing service, BookSurge, rather than Lightning Source.”

As far as I’m concerned, that cuts right to the core of this issue. Amazon is out of line and trying to control not only its sales channel, which it certainly has every right to do, but also create an artificial market for it’s POD printing arm, BookSurge. In my opinion, Amazon has an unfair advantage here and shouldn’t be allowed to force anyone to use any printer, particularly one they own.

What do you think of this issue?

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

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Most of you will remember I sent a letter to Jeff Bezos as part of my response to SPAN’s decision to back Angela Hoy’s BookLocker suit against the giant etailer.

Yesterday or the day before, an email wandered in in response. Here it is in part:

Hello from Amazon.com.

My name is Peg Anderson of Amazon.com’s Executive Customer Relations. Jeff Bezos received your e-mail and has asked me to reply on his behalf.

Given your interest in Amazon Print On Demand, I want to make sure that you had an opportunity to read a letter we published about what we’re changing and why.

The full text of the letter is posted on our website here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000213141

(The email then repeats the linked letter.)
Regards,

Peg Anderson
Executive Customer Relations
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com

Don’t you just love corporate-speak? I mean Jeff may have seen a pile of letters, mine included, but I truly doubt he personally read it.
Read more

Okay, I’ve sent an email, signed a petition and helped spread the word about Booklocker’s suit against Amazon. All those will help, and if I’m willing to back them up by shopping with someone else, I’d really be on track. I’d put off that decision, knowing how easy it is to shop at Amazon. Plus, for me, there’s the whole business of affiliate income. I don’t make a ton, but enough to buy a tank of gas now and again.

Today push began to come to shove. I was working on my own book (!) and wanted to buy and review Aaron Shepard’s Perfect Pages. I figured I’d order and review it here if I like it, so I checked at BN.com.

Arghhhh - in order to get the same price I’ve got to buy into their super shoppers card… which works when I live close to their stores, but now I’m almost next door to one of the best Borders in the country. Indecision strikes!

I go to BN and check their affiliate program - yep, it’s changed since I last used it, admittedly years ago. So I re-apply. Once that’s approved, I’ll see how I can use it here and elsewhere.

Sigh. If I got everything my way - lol - Jeff Bezos would quit insisitng on BookSurge… in fact, he’d call me right about now to tell me he had and to apologize. I’m not holding my breath.

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

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SPAN, the Small Publishers Association of North America, has publicallty taken a position in favor of Angela Hoy’s BookLocker suit against Amazon for its insistence that small and self-publishers use Amazon-owned BookSurge for printing if they are to receive favorable listing on the online retailers sites. The announcement, titled
Amazon/BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit Campaign describes how and why their Board of Directors voted to support the class action antitrust lawsuit, BookLocker.com, Inc. vs. Amazon.com, Inc.

But they went much further than offering support; they also started a campaign to “generate public pressure to compel Amazon to reverse its policy.” Included in that campaign is a How can I help? page that lists five things each one of us can do, starting with signing a petition.

SPAN is a significant organization whose mission is “to advance the image and profits of independent publishers through education and marketing opportunities.” Founded in in 1996, they have well over 1,000 publishing members whose books range from single books to over 800 titles. If you’re self-publishing you should consider joining.

So far I’ve signed the petition, sent Jeff Bezos an email with a cc to Span (even though I had to take the time to remove the extra spaces from the email addresses, and now I’m spreading the word. I urge you to do at least as much, and when you do, let us know here too if you will.

Oh, and thanks again to Angela and her Amazon BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit Clearinghouse and their pointer to SPANs decision.

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

Image from http://www.sxc.hu

Angela Hoy’s Amazon BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit Clearinghouse points to an article at Investor’s Business Daily by Doug Tsuruoka called Amazon Deals Have Short Shelf Life.

The gist is many of the retailers who have partnered with the online bookseller are unhappy and are leaving Amazon to start their own etailing websites. The only publisher mentioned is Borders, and there’s no indication in the article that this trend has anything directly to do with the callous way Amazon is is forcing POD publishers to use Amazon-owned BookSurge. And there may not be a connection.

But it’s tempting to at least wonder if the greed and shortsightedness of Amazon’s view of POD publishing reflects an attitude causing problems for retailing partners.

We’ll just keep watching.

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

Image from http://www.sxc.hu