Why I love the Internet
Here’s one awesome reason I love the internet. Last night I was planning out how to spend an Amazon gift card, and first on my list was to finish filling out the Old Man’s War series by John Scalzi. (I own two, and want the other two.) But Amazon doesn’t sell it directly, meaning I couldn’t use Amazon Prime to get free shipping on it. So I tweeted about it – something to the effect of “How is it possible that Amazon doesn’t carry Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series?” And less than 5 minutes later a response popped up from @scalzi himself, saying that it appeared to be a glitch, because the same thing is true for other books from his same publisher. I didn’t even address my tweet directly to him, I was just throwing it out there for the world to see, so it was very unexpected and very cool to get a response directly from him!
And as it turns out, I was just one of the early discoverers of the Amazon and MacMillan price war. I think that the moral of the story is that I should buy my books from Powells. Also, the internet is awesome.
Yes, we should buy books from Powell’s, because they’re local and awesome. We should also buy books from Amazon, because we can afford to buy more books through them, and we’re also signed up for Prime, and we also have Kindles.
Initially, I was pro-Amazon in this mess, but now I’m just pissed at Amazon and McMillan. Both have made “RARRR, I’M THE BOSS!” stomping actions, to the detriment of all the customers and authors involved.
Yes, I know my Kindle purchases are DRM protected, and I hate DRM. I also know how to break it.
Most people continue to buy DVDs despite nearly all popular releases being protected by DRM. It just so happens that the DRM has become so easy to break that it’s just another automated step when ripping.
Yes, I know McMillan should be able to charge what it wants for the books (physical and digital) it sells.
I happen to be an early adopter, and I love my ebook reader (a Kindle), and I know they’ll (ebook readers) only get better – that is – they’ll get better as they’re more broadly adopted. Good prices and lots of convenience are two great ways to spur adoption, and I like that Amazon tried to keep its vague $9.99 promise.
Removing all McMillan books wasn’t a very deft maneuver on Amazon’s part.
I don’t know exactly where I stand on this issue at the moment.
If I was an affected author, I probably would aim my grumblings at Amazon.
However, as a party primarily interested in buying lots of books for low prices on my ebook reader, I’m conflicted.
So far, most ebooks I’ve read on the Kindle just haven;t lived up to their promise. The promise of being a good product. Actually content aside, most of my ebook purchases have been rife with OCR errors, tragic formatting goofs, inaccurate or nonexistent navigation markers and aids and completely horsed-up illustrations and images.
I’ve been willing to accept these irritants, knowing that the convenience and price were letting me feel pretty good about the situation, as well as the fact that my ebook dollars are just helping to prove that the digital market is a viable market and shouldn’t be relegated to the back burner. Nonetheless, as prices increase on McMillan books, I’ll certainly expect the quality of the product I’m paying for to increase dramatically.
I was trying not to take sides in the post. I’m a little undecided, too. I think it was obnoxious of Amazon to pull all books (not even just digital copies). But I’ve seen complaints leveled at Amazon that aren’t really true, too. (I don’t really feel like going into them now.) In the end, they’re two big companies both trying to have their way.
The real point was, it was really neat to get a reply directly from the author so quickly!