On the importance of Perspective
Sherman Alexie and Stephen Colbert want my children to starve.
It's a crazy, joking claim, but let me explain.
Recently, Stephen Colbert went on his show with a vehement anti-Amazon rant and Sherman Alexie joined him in an interview to call for a boycott on Amazon.
All this is happening because of the bitter contract dispute between Amazon and Hachette, which is one of the "big five" publishing companies.
Now I don't care which side of this debate you're on. If you want to read more about the issue, I invite you to do so, but what I want to talk about is far more personal.
I understand that Stephen Colbert and Sherman Alexie want to stick up for their publisher, but does anyone honestly believe that pushing for a boycott of Amazon is going to bring that company down? Because that is an insane idea.
No, Amazon won't be hurt by a boycott. The people who are going to be hurt are the thousands of indie authors (including myself) who depend on the modest income we eke out by selling our books on Amazon. Money that we use to buy our children food.
If they're afraid that Amazon is going to monopolize the publishing industry, I don't blame them. I love Amazon, they have allowed me to do something that I never thought was possible--make a living from writing--but I don't want any company to have a monopoly.
Yet, it's not Amazon's job to stifle itself so that the publishing companies can pull themselves out of their old way of thinking and catch up to the rest of the world.
All this has happened before in the music industry. Do you think that record labels wanted to sell singles for .99 cents? I'm sure they didn't, but they dealt with the realities of new marketplace and they adjusted accordingly. Traditional publishing has not.
And, excuse me, but I am NOT going to weep over a billion dollar company like Hachette because they aren't getting their way. Traditional publishing companies like them have dominated the field of publishing for roughly two-hundred years.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I think it's pretty shitty that Sherman Alexie and Stephen Colbert are advocating a boycott of Amazon that won't hurt anyone except for independent authors.
Now maybe they hate indie authors? I hope that isn't the case, because I have been a fan of Stephen Colbert for many years and I would hate to think that he is that petty and insecure. They are basically advocating a position that will impede my livelihood and hurt my ability to earn the small living I make through Amazon sales.
We are the real victims of your boycott. This move will take food out of our children's mouths. If I sound angry about this, it's because I am God damn angry about it.
I didn't do anything to either of you. I watched Stephen Colbert's television show and I read Sherman Alexie's books. I was a small part of the support system that allows you to do what you do for a living.
Now I feel as if I have been stabbed in the back.
And it's important to note that Stephen Colbert and Sherman Alexie are members of a small group (less than one percent) of people who make a great deal of money from books. Most authors are royally screwed over by publishing companies as far as earnings go. A practice that Amazon doesn't endorse and has never done.
I don't care what your personal opinions are, I don't care what you tell your friends about the issue, but I do care when you go on your show and advocate a boycott that hampers my ability to make a living.
Maybe I'm not famous like you and maybe I'm not nearly as good of a writer as you, but does that mean that I, and all the other independant authors, should be thrown under the bus? Should we be the casualties of a war to try and hold onto an antiquated business model?
I'm sorry if you view me as the enemy. I certainly don't view you as the enemy, even though you probably sell more books in a day than I do in an entire year.
With the kind of popularity that Sherman Alexie and Stephen Colbert possess, I think there comes a certain level of responsibility. Maybe that's wrong of me, but that's how I feel. When you have millions of fans who follow everything you say and do some of your actions could have very real consequences for a lot of other people.
Stephen Colbert's decision to rant on his show is certainly having an affect on my ability to provide for my family.
I hope that Sherman Alexie and Stephen Colbert are not mean people. As I said before, I am fans of both of them.
I hope that all that happened was that they got caught up in something and didn't think about the ramifications of what they were doing.
I hope that one of both of you reads this. I know it's an enormous long-shot. I know that you're both for more important and far busier than I am. But I do hope that, somehow, you read it. Not to shame you, or make you feel bad, but to open your eyes to who you're really hurting.
Jeff Bezos will be fine no matter how successful your boycott is. Me, and the thousands of other indie writers who depend on Amazon to make a living, we won't be fine.
For more on this issue, I urge you to read Hugh Howey's blog and the Amazon blog. Mr. Howey states our shared position far more eloquently than I ever could and Amazon backs up their position with actual numbers and facts.
In this case, Stephen Colbert comes off looking like Fox News (in an unintentional way this time) by ignoring basic facts and relying on speculation.
Amazon Blog
Hugh Howey Blog
It's a crazy, joking claim, but let me explain.
Recently, Stephen Colbert went on his show with a vehement anti-Amazon rant and Sherman Alexie joined him in an interview to call for a boycott on Amazon.
All this is happening because of the bitter contract dispute between Amazon and Hachette, which is one of the "big five" publishing companies.
Now I don't care which side of this debate you're on. If you want to read more about the issue, I invite you to do so, but what I want to talk about is far more personal.
I understand that Stephen Colbert and Sherman Alexie want to stick up for their publisher, but does anyone honestly believe that pushing for a boycott of Amazon is going to bring that company down? Because that is an insane idea.
No, Amazon won't be hurt by a boycott. The people who are going to be hurt are the thousands of indie authors (including myself) who depend on the modest income we eke out by selling our books on Amazon. Money that we use to buy our children food.
If they're afraid that Amazon is going to monopolize the publishing industry, I don't blame them. I love Amazon, they have allowed me to do something that I never thought was possible--make a living from writing--but I don't want any company to have a monopoly.
Yet, it's not Amazon's job to stifle itself so that the publishing companies can pull themselves out of their old way of thinking and catch up to the rest of the world.
All this has happened before in the music industry. Do you think that record labels wanted to sell singles for .99 cents? I'm sure they didn't, but they dealt with the realities of new marketplace and they adjusted accordingly. Traditional publishing has not.
And, excuse me, but I am NOT going to weep over a billion dollar company like Hachette because they aren't getting their way. Traditional publishing companies like them have dominated the field of publishing for roughly two-hundred years.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I think it's pretty shitty that Sherman Alexie and Stephen Colbert are advocating a boycott of Amazon that won't hurt anyone except for independent authors.
Now maybe they hate indie authors? I hope that isn't the case, because I have been a fan of Stephen Colbert for many years and I would hate to think that he is that petty and insecure. They are basically advocating a position that will impede my livelihood and hurt my ability to earn the small living I make through Amazon sales.
We are the real victims of your boycott. This move will take food out of our children's mouths. If I sound angry about this, it's because I am God damn angry about it.
I didn't do anything to either of you. I watched Stephen Colbert's television show and I read Sherman Alexie's books. I was a small part of the support system that allows you to do what you do for a living.
Now I feel as if I have been stabbed in the back.
And it's important to note that Stephen Colbert and Sherman Alexie are members of a small group (less than one percent) of people who make a great deal of money from books. Most authors are royally screwed over by publishing companies as far as earnings go. A practice that Amazon doesn't endorse and has never done.
I don't care what your personal opinions are, I don't care what you tell your friends about the issue, but I do care when you go on your show and advocate a boycott that hampers my ability to make a living.
Maybe I'm not famous like you and maybe I'm not nearly as good of a writer as you, but does that mean that I, and all the other independant authors, should be thrown under the bus? Should we be the casualties of a war to try and hold onto an antiquated business model?
I'm sorry if you view me as the enemy. I certainly don't view you as the enemy, even though you probably sell more books in a day than I do in an entire year.
With the kind of popularity that Sherman Alexie and Stephen Colbert possess, I think there comes a certain level of responsibility. Maybe that's wrong of me, but that's how I feel. When you have millions of fans who follow everything you say and do some of your actions could have very real consequences for a lot of other people.
Stephen Colbert's decision to rant on his show is certainly having an affect on my ability to provide for my family.
I hope that Sherman Alexie and Stephen Colbert are not mean people. As I said before, I am fans of both of them.
I hope that all that happened was that they got caught up in something and didn't think about the ramifications of what they were doing.
I hope that one of both of you reads this. I know it's an enormous long-shot. I know that you're both for more important and far busier than I am. But I do hope that, somehow, you read it. Not to shame you, or make you feel bad, but to open your eyes to who you're really hurting.
Jeff Bezos will be fine no matter how successful your boycott is. Me, and the thousands of other indie writers who depend on Amazon to make a living, we won't be fine.
For more on this issue, I urge you to read Hugh Howey's blog and the Amazon blog. Mr. Howey states our shared position far more eloquently than I ever could and Amazon backs up their position with actual numbers and facts.
In this case, Stephen Colbert comes off looking like Fox News (in an unintentional way this time) by ignoring basic facts and relying on speculation.
Amazon Blog
Hugh Howey Blog
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message 1:
by
T.A.
(new)
Aug 08, 2014 07:35PM
Well said. Amazon.com has helped me write professionally. I won't weep for traditional publishers who have for centuries been gatekeepers of the literary world, deciding who can or cannot be published. Amazon.com has helped millions of excellent writers, rejected by big 6 publishers and their agents, turn their fantasies into reality.
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It's this very dispute between Amazon and Hachette which has been the impetus for my own research into the publishing industry. I always thought I would go for trad. publishing because I was groomed from my youth to believe that you weren't a "real" author unless you were picked up by a big publisher.But over time, the luster of the trad. publishers has been tarnished. It began when I learned that L.J. Smith was fired from writing The Vampire Diaries series. (I had never heard of "write-for-hire" before then.) It seemed unconscionable to me that she created the world and had no rights to it. I thought, "Well, that's one pitfall I'm going to avoid."
Then I had a couple of writer friends (excellent writers) who chose to self-publish rather than go through the process of getting an agent and beating the trad. publisher pavement. One of the two expressed that she made the decision after doing thorough research. I wasn't ready to my own research then, but I decided that when the time came, I wouldn't run blindly into the publishing world, either.
I never read my KDP newsletters (because I hadn't yet decided whether I would be self-publishing or trying to win the trad. publishing lottery), but for some reason, I read the newsletter I received this morning. Six hours of research later, I have definitively decided that I am going the self-publishing route. I had no idea how terribly authors are gouged but trad. publishers.
I apologize; very little of this has anything to do with your post. I do agree that it's the authors who are suffering the most in this dispute, and the call to boycott Amazon is an underhanded ploy. Amazon may be a for-profit business, but I champion their cause--because at least they recognize that authors are a commodity and deserve to be treated fairly.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Now, pardon me while I go check out your books!
T.A. wrote: "Well said. Amazon.com has helped me write professionally. I won't weep for traditional publishers who have for centuries been gatekeepers of the literary world, deciding who can or cannot be publis..."Totally agree, T.A. They need to catch up with the times or go away.
Randi wrote: "It's this very dispute between Amazon and Hachette which has been the impetus for my own research into the publishing industry. I always thought I would go for trad. publishing because I was groome..."Thank you for the kind words and the unique perspective that you provide. Traditional publishing once paid better and were more justified with the profits that they kept for themselves. With the advent of the internet, new media and cost effective advertising they are now treating writers like indentured servants.
Amazon isn't a perfect company but they are solidly right on this issue.
