Are Big Publishers worried about Indies?
Both comments mentioned my speculation that Amazon might be influenced by the desires of big publishers. Is this true? It's anyone's guess. What is certain is that Amazon, like anyone else in the business, is out to make money. Pure and simple.
I made the statement about a possible Big Publisher/Amazon conspiracy based upon a general feeling I've gotten from reading various articles and blogs online. Some of these are from Indies, some from tradionally published authors, and a few from industry insiders or former insiders.
It's no secret that Big Publishers are worried about the other game in town, primarily Amazon, but a lot of the problem with Amazon comes from Indies. If there was no one self-publishing via Amazon, the only other big dispute would be over the price of ebooks.
So, are the big publishers worried specifically about Indies? No, I don't think so, not in so many words. After all, if an Indie does well, a big publisher can nip it in the bud by offering that author a publishing deal.
What I think big publishers are worried about is the sheer volume of competition. It's not the fact that one Indie author is cutting into their business; it's the fact that there are so many, not to mention everyone else (small press publishers, for instance) who use Amazon as a distribution method. Enough market share has been taken from them that now they are having to scramble.
The next question: does this situation explain reviews being taken off Amazon, seemingly arbitrarily? Not neccessarily how I alluded to it in the previous post. There's another more important factor I overlooked (which I discovered after searching and reading some more blogs).
I'll share that with you in another post. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, though, do you think big publishers are worried about Indies?
