Amazon (again)

I don’t mean to be blogging about Amazon twice running, but in the run-up to Christmas, and having just spent a wearisome few hours trawling the bookshops of central London in search of a recently published and well reviewed book by a famous person (Nic Roeg, actually), and coming away empty-handed and slightly peed off, once again I have to admit to being outlandishly grateful to Amazon.

A short while ago The Author, the quarterly journal of the Society of Authors here in the UK, asked members for their opinions on Amazon, and the results, in a piece titled What do we think about Amazon? (by James McConnachie) in the latest edition, make very interesting reading. On the anti side Amazon has been held single-handedly responsible for the demise of bookshops (see above), and, now that anyone can write and publish their own work, and review other people’s, for lowering the status of the book industry in general to the level of amateurism.

The Author, editor James McConnachie

But as far writers are concerned they seem to have little but praise for this dastardly organisation, not just because they make it possible for any writer to publish his or her work, and earn up to 70% royalties (for ebooks), but for the simplicity and transparency – and efficiency – of their accounting system. Most interesting are the comments from writers who’ve previously been traditionally published, saying how much better treated they feel working with Amazon, and how being able to check their up-to-the-minute sales figures and not being forced to sign complex contracts, or churn out books to a ridiculous deadline, makes them feel that much more in control of their own careers.

For me, as both a writer and a user, I’d like to add to the list the efficiency of their delivery and payment system, which extends also to other Amazon outlets such as Lovefilm (which I am addicted to). The downside obviously, apart from the tax avoidance – European Amazon being based in Luxembourg and therefore subject to only 3%, which applies to ebooks but not to print, for some reason, though I hear in the near future VAT will be applied according to the country of the buyer rather than the seller – is the apparently shoddy treatment of some of the workers in their warehouses. It’s a shame that such a well-run monolith like Amazon, who surely don’t need to be too concerned about the competition (which is probably not such a good thing), can’t treat their employees that much better. I for one would happily pay a few quid extra for stuff if I thought it was going to make the lives of the packagers and parcellers that much better.

Also, while I’m here (it being Christmas): why is it you cannot give someone else an ebook as a gift? When I queried this with Amazon they responded immediately, and most apologetically, saying they were looking into it. But if Amazon can’t figure this one out, who can?

Whose work is it anyway?

My new cover, sketch by Anna de Polnay

Having recently uploaded a slightly amended version of my self publishing book (Self Publishing in Ebook and Print) I received an email from Amazon saying that some of the information in it was ‘freely available on the web’, and querying whether or not I had the rights to it. I fired them off an email asking what they were talking about and they responded, quite quickly, giving me the link to the source of the material, which turned out to be my own website. I had in other words been plagiarising myself. 

It’s good to know Amazon is on the ball so far as copyright is concerned. But it did give me a sleepless night.

A happy Christmas and merry new year to everyone!