René O'Deay gBlog

"Want us to sell your books? Then you'd better let us print them, says Amazon. And oh, by the way, this is not an ultimatum."

Amazon pulls a Microsoft | Computerworld Blogs: "According to a Wall Street Journal story today, Amazon is demanding that any publisher that uses on-demand printing in publishing its books use Amazon's BookSurge print-on-demand services if they want their books sold on the top-ranked book e-tailer's Web site."

Some POD publishers have already had their "Buy Button" pulled on Amazon.

Authors and small press publishers are in shock. A veritable firestorm is brewing on the web as threats of boycotting Amazon spring up on blogs and websites of publishers and authors. Some of the sites blogging or posting about this include several Yahoo groups: SelfPublishing, Pod publishers, with a response from Amazon's CEO , on WritersWeekly , which has a growing list of other online posts, such as "Amazon Deletes Competition", "Use BookSurge or Die!"

PublishAmerica is first to feel the shock as many of their "Buy Buttons" have been replaced by "See All Buying Options" button.

Check results on Amazon by publisher, author or book title at Aaron Shepherd's amazing tool: SalesRankExpress.

What is dismaying is how poor BookSurge and CreateSpace sales rankings are on Amazon. Researching a POD or small-press publisher, use the SalesRankExpress tool for fast results.

What is amazing is some of the authors who do show up now using BookSurge or CreateSpace. Mostly for their Long tails/backlists.

All this clarifies what POD publisher to use for my first books. CreateSpace has little or no novels on their list yet. Maybe I'll be the trailbreaker.

René O'Deay