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Hachette, Amazon and buy links
May. 25th, 2014 07:11 pmAmazon 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.
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.
