Smashwords & Flipkart parting company

[[deleted user]]

From Mark Coker: "Our distribution agreement with Flipkart is ending. Although Flipkart's sales were negligible for most authors, I'm more concerned by what this signals for the future of ebook retailing. It'll be very difficult for future regional ebook retailers to get a foothold in their markets due to Amazon's intolerance, which is manifested by directly punishing authors who did nothing wrong. The catalyst for this was Amazon's draconian policies regarding exclusivity. Amazon was harming multiple Smashwords authors simply because Flipkart was slow to remove unpublished books that had been enrolled in KDP Select. I posted a full analysis over at the Smashwords Blog. I also share an email I sent Jeff Bezos about a week ago regarding their price-matching policies which have robbed thousands of indie authors of their royalties. Effective very soon, shipments to Flipkart will cease and all Smashwords titles will be removed from their store. Amazon now owns the Indian ebook market."
http://blog.smashwords.com/2015/08/sm...

[J.J.]

Not for nothing, but something is fishy if Flipkart has a $15billion valuation and can't pull titles from their shelves when they're asked to. Better off ending the relationship than to find out later they're under reporting their sales to avoid paying royalties.

[[deleted user]]

I've been waiting for months for them to update my first novel with the second edition file. I recently notified Smashwords, and now we get this notice. Maybe it's my fault.

[Owen]

I must say that if this is what this Mark Coker individual (I assume he's a higher-up with Smash Words?) believes is an appropriate manner in which to express himself in public, I am extremely happy with our decision to never have anything to do with Smashwords.

[G.G.]

Owen wrote: "I must say that if this is what this Mark Coker individual (I assume he's a higher-up with Smash Words?) believes is an appropriate manner in which to express himself in public, I am extremely happ..."

Sorry, I don't get this. What did Mr. Coker do wrong? He's having the authors at heart. I think it's a good thing that he had the guts to part with Flipkart.

[Christina]

I have to agree with Owen that he isn't very tactful, especially when it comes to his dislike of Amazon. Personally, I'm not against someone speaking their mind and I definitely would rather read a business report with real words instead of ramblings in corporate buzzspeak, but terminology such as "robbing authors of their royalties" doesn't come across as very professional. It just reminds me of a political attack ad.

[Owen]

G.G. wrote: "Sorry, I don't get this. What did Mr. Coker do wrong?"

"Amazon's intolerance ... directly punishing authors"

"Amazon's draconian policies"

"harming multiple Smashwords authors simply because Flipkart was slow to remove unpublished books"

In other words, Flipkart is an organization without the competence to manage their catalog properly, but Amazon is "draconian" and "directly punishing authors" and "robbing" authors. What about Flipkart's culpability?

This is not some random guy ranting on blog, but a person representing what aspires to be a major outlet for indie authors. Maybe I'm old-fashioned but with me, this does not past muster for the professional behavior I expect from a organization I'm going to business with.