book log July 2013 - part 1

Back to the ever more neglected book log. I'm going to do July 2013 in several parts, because there are a lot of titles, some of which I did or can say something sensible about, and some of which I left too late.

July was Hugo Voting Packet month. I chugged my way through an awful lot of words that were up for a Hugo, and logged the short stories at the time.

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Hachette, Amazon and buy links

Amazon are being thugs again, and this time it's Hachette they're trying to intimidate. (And if you're a reader who's thinking "Yay, go Amazon! Cheaper books for me!" think again. What happens to those cheap prices when Amazon's the only store in town?) So once again I'm torn on whether to put Amazon buy links on my book log; a pertinent question for me since I'm making an effort to catch up with said book log, and there are a couple of items I intend to say "Go forth and buy this" about.

No two ways about it -- Amazon is the most useful link for most people. They've got the biggest market share, they have the most reviews by other people, they sell both print and ebooks. That's also why they have so much power. So do I withhold my minuscule contribution to their coffers and mindshare, when that might reduce the chance of someone thinking, "I'd like that!" and actually following through with a purchase?

Posting the reviews to Amazon is an easier decision. It does make a difference to sales when there are reviews, and I think on balance it does more good than harm to provide Amazon with that content.

But I think I need to make more of an effort to get Kobo links as well, where possible. They're ebook-only, but at least they use an open file format and eschew DRM unless it's requested by the publisher.