Gutenberg's Invention on the Decline

It seems that Amazon can do everything. First they taught readers that they do not need bookstores. Now it is encouraging writers to cast aside their publishers. Publishers say Amazon is aggressively wooing some of their top authors. And the company is gnawing away at the services that publishers, critics and agents used to provide.

It has set up a flagship line, to bring out brand-name fiction and nonfiction. But can Amazon create its own best sellers?

I'm certain publishers are terrified and don’t know what to do. If you’re a bookstore, Amazon has been in competition with you for some time. If you’re a publisher, one day you wake up and Amazon is competing with you too. And if you’re an agent, Amazon is stealing your lunch because it is offering authors the opportunity to publish directly and cut you out.

If writers have one message drilled into them these days, it is this: you have to hustle yourself. You are told you need to build your platform, start a blog, get on all the social networks, make yourself known and put your work in the viral spotlight. And do all of this marketing in addition to your writing to get an agent interested in “you” and do it at your own expense because publishers will pay you as little as they can get away with.

As far as I can see, traditional publishing is now fading into the sunset.

I have to admit, I'm still unsure what I think of this particular development. Amazon's apparent desire to remove every one else from the book chain is a concern. Crowding out smaller players, concentrating buying power, narrowing publishing towards a certain device, these are all trends that I don't feel are strictly business models but are based on greed and consumption. Big bully Amazon is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Aggressively pushing its' way into the hearts and minds of readers, dictating all the rules to gain control. The concept that comes to mind is a monopoly– will Amazon be infringing on our first amendment; and will we be able to read what we want or simply that which becomes available to us?