Head:Sub/Head got my attention today with his post talking about Amazon's new sales policy. It seems that Amazon will not allow books published through Lulu, iUniverse or other print-on-demand service to be sold through their site.
Why on Earth would they ever do that? Because they have their own in-house print-on-demand service - BookSurge. Of course, they will sell books published through BookSurge.
To verify the story, I checked with a few of my own online sources - including a self publishing group. For awhile, there was some debate about whether or not this new policy was rumor. But then someone provided a link to the Wall Street Journal story, and ergo, it appears that it is true.
For those who still think that self publishing is the same thing as vanity printing, it is not. It has reached a level of respectability.
Bill Mize, author of the Denton Ward and Monty Crochetti Mystery Series was nominated by the Private Eye Writers of America for The Shamus Award in 2001. Who was his publisher? iUniverse. It was the first print-on-demand book to be nominated for a major award.
Since that time, Lulu and others have come on the scene, producing attractive, quality books. Newspaper editors have a difficult time separating the "real published books" from print-on-demand books. If you don't know the signs, you'd never know the difference.
So what does this mean for the industry? In general, doors are opening for print-on-demand books. I think that there will be a backlash of monumental proportions. The Wall Street Journal suggests that Amazon's business will go up. That's highly doubtful. I can easily see Indy publishers and print-on-demand authors banding together to come up with a new way to get their work to the marketplace. And of course, let's not forget about boycotting Amazon.
As for me and Gasp, I have often linked to Amazon when talking about a book. We'll see if that continues.



