Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Lee Child Responds

After sending me an email to share why he signed the Authors United petition, and spending some time engaging with people in the comments, Lee Child has continued to generously share his thoughts and has responded to some of the questions I had.

I'll run it in its entirety, then provide my answers.

Lee: Joe, here’s my response to the points you made that interest me.

I think the first part of your reply (about relative success) can be summed up by quoting your words “That’s luck … the legacy industry never handed me the keys to the kingdom like they did with you.”

That’s a little self-pitying, don’t you think?  Poor Joe!  And it doesn’t hold up under analysis.  We both started from the same place, albeit a few years apart, but as it happens those particular years saw no change in the model. We both had the same small print run in debut hardcover.  We both had the same extremely limited distribution.  We both had the same non-existent marketing support.  We were first-year clones of each other.  We were typical throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks gambits.

The same was pretty much true of our second and third years, too. Meanwhile, of course, we both went to work, trying to get ahead, by writing the best books we could, and promoting them as effectively as possible.

Now, I’m the first to acknowledge the existential luck I had in life.  I was born white, male, middle class, tall, healthy, not visibly deformed, in a stable postwar Western democracy at peace, with a welfare state and free education. I think my own little demographic was literally the luckiest ever in all of human history.

But you certainly shared that luck.  Not quite as tall, maybe, but certainly better looking … not as extensive a welfare state, but certainly a far more prosperous society.  And so on.  We started equal, and we made choices. Yours were poor.  You threw immense energy into misguided – and actually damaging – stratagems.  You didn’t understand the game.  Which is not just hindsight.  I remember trying to dissuade you, as a friend, in a conference hotel somewhere long ago.  You ignored me, and were eventually dropped, while I stayed in the game.

No one “handed” me a key, and no one withheld one from you.  Instead, a bean counter sat down and figured he could make more money out of me than you.  It was that simple.

And in fact you were then very lucky – a new platform was invented that suited your skill set perfectly.  I’m a close observer of the whole self-publishing scene (and I have read more than 600 self-published books) and I think your weaknesses under the old model have been matched by exceptional strengths perfectly attuned to the new model.

I think you should celebrate that, and I think you should stop letting traditional publishing live rent-free in your head.  I think all self-publishers should.  Because all these endless screechy blogs make you look whiny, not us.  “I coulda been a contender!”  Get over it already.  Move on.  Don’t perpetuate the “bitter reject” meme.

Later you said, “I believe you overestimate the value of Hachette’s catalog to Amazon.”  No, I don’t.  I said I think Amazon overestimates the value of Hachette’s catalog to Amazon.  My point was quite clear – Amazon won’t dump Hachette because Amazon’s own internal credo is built on being the everything store.  Which dilutes its negotiating power.  All negotiations are built on a willingness to walk away.  Amazon isn’t willing.

Later you mention print disappearing – which it might, and which I would regret, because I think it would happen without a positive desire on the part of customers.  People like print.  If it goes, it will have gone because of retail economics, not lack of appeal.  Which sounds confused, but that’s an accurate analysis.  Mass market is dying not because there’s diminished demand, but because there isn’t enough margin in it.  “I can make more out of broccoli than books,” one retailer said.  Will all readers switch to e-readers?  Not all, I think.  Sadly reading’s appeal is fragile now, and many folks will quit and find alternatives.  Or not – I’ll be particularly sad about poor people.  Any e-reading ecosystem is entirely inaccessible unless you have a working credit card or a viable bank account for PayPal – which poor people don’t.  They love used paperbacks – all worn and furry, found, traded, borrowed, bought for fifty cents.  But hey.  This is the modern world.

As for the rest … I guess I have one question.  One thing few people know about me is I love ironing.  I just moved, which was a great excuse for a new ironing board.  I checked Amazon, naturally, who had boards ranging from $18 all the way to $220.  Has Amazon approached the expensive manufacturer and said, “C’mon, pal, America needs cheaper ironing boards!  Think of the children!”  No, it said, “Sure, throw it up on the site and we’ll see if anyone’s interested.  We trust our customers to decide for themselves.”

Another interest is audio.  Amazon has low-powered two-channel audio amplifiers listed from $24 to $24,000.  Did it approach the expensive manufacturer and say, “C’mon, pal, America needs cheaper amplifiers!  Think of the puppies!”  No, it said, “Sure, throw it up on the site and we’ll see if anyone’s interested.  We trust our customers to decide for themselves.”

Can you explain in detail why the e-book market shouldn’t operate the same way as the ironing board market or the amplifier market?  Why do e-book buyers – uniquely – need Nanny Amazon to save them from deciding for themselves?  Are books special?  Are they different?  Or are there others factors in play?

Joe: Thanks again for stopping by, Lee. Your thoughts are smart and refreshing. I'll respond point by point.

Lee: I think the first part of your reply (about relative success) can be summed up by quoting your words “That’s luck … the legacy industry never handed me the keys to the kingdom like they did with you.”

That’s a little self-pitying, don’t you think?  Poor Joe!  

Joe: I find it empowering. My daddy didn't buy me a car. I went out and earned my own.

Ribbing aside, you had advantages that I didn't, but that's life. I'm pleased with what I've been able to accomplish, and don't lament what I never had.  

Lee: And it doesn’t hold up under analysis.  We both started from the same place, albeit a few years apart, but as it happens those particular years saw no change in the model.  We both had the same small print run in debut hardcover.  We both had the same extremely limited distribution.  We both had the same non-existent marketing support.  We were first-year clones of each other.  We were typical throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks gambits.

Joe: I'm pretty sure your advance and print run were higher than mine. Didn't Stephen King review your first book in Entertainment Weekly? Didn't you also debut in the UK? You already had several advantages out of the gate.

Lee: The same was pretty much true of our second and third years, too.  Meanwhile, of course, we both went to work, trying to get ahead, by writing the best books we could, and promoting them as effectively as possible.

Joe: Right after my third book came out, my publisher dropped their entire mystery line. Not only my series, but others as well. This was after I signed a deal for three more books.

My first three novels never got coop, never got discounting, never got worldwide distribution. I went on book tours for #2 and #3, which I'll get to in a moment. But we were very far from starting at the same place.

Lee: Now, I’m the first to acknowledge the existential luck I had in life.  I was born white, male, middle class, tall, healthy, not visibly deformed, in a stable postwar Western democracy at peace, with a welfare state and free education.  I think my own little demographic was literally the luckiest ever in all of human history.

But you certainly shared that luck.  Not quite as tall, maybe, but certainly better looking … not as extensive a welfare state, but certainly a far more prosperous society.  And so on.  

Joe: Agreed, except on the better looking part. You've got a suave British Secret Agent look about you, I get mistaken for an elderly Jack Black.

I grew up in America a privileged white male in an affluent family. But as I neared adulthood, our family lost everything. While in college, and for years later, I was poor. I wrote my first novel in 1992, in a basement apartment in the Chicago suburbs, and often had to choose between eating and turning on the heat. (On a particularly cold winter night went to the bathroom and couldn't shower because my shampoo bottle had frozen).

It was during a pretty serious rescission, and writing was something I squeezed in between any job I could get, some white collar, some blue.

This taught me a lot. First, to not be afraid of hard work. Second, to not give up.

I was lucky, but at lot of the time it didn't feel like it. I was, literally at times, a starving artist.

Lee: We started equal, and we made choices. Yours were poor. You threw immense energy into misguided – and actually damaging – stratagems. You didn’t understand the game. Which is not just hindsight. I remember trying to dissuade you, as a friend, in a conference hotel somewhere long ago. You ignored me, and were eventually dropped, while I stayed in the game.

Joe: My stratagems--learning how to self-promote and signing in as many bookstores as possible--were the reason my books went into multiple printings and earned out their modest advances ($110,000 for the first three novels, $125,000 for the next three novels). Here's a guide a wrote in 2006 t about all the work you didn't have to do.

Your publishing experience was a lot different than mine.

My efforts, the ones you call damaging, kept food on my table and allowed me to stay a fulltime writer, rather than a writer with a day job. This is what 99% of legacy authors must do; hustle, or work part time (or full time) at something else.

Lee: No one “handed” me a key, and no one withheld one from you.  Instead, a bean counter sat down and figured he could make more money out of me than you.  It was that simple.

Joe: That's called luck, Lee. Your bean counter gave you a break. Mine axed the mystery line, even as my sales were growing.

It wasn't a quality issue. It wasn't because your books were better.

Before I self-pubbed, I had less than 500 reviews on Amazon, all of my titles combined. I wasn't being read, because I wasn't easy to find.

Now I have 13,000 reviews, averaging four stars. Not many authors, no matter how they publish, have over 1000 reviews on a single title. You do. So do other monster bestsellers. So do I.

In the comments you mentioned:

I remember meeting Dick Francis early on and learning a lot from him. In some ways he was the pioneer of the regular-as-clockwork, book-a-year paradigm. How much sense would it have made for me to say, "Oh, you just got lucky, so I'm going to ignore you"?

Joe: Dick Francis is the perfect counterexample to my experience. His publisher carried him for over ten years (was it twenty?) before he had a breakout hit. Your publisher also carried you (and I bet you were getting coop and discounting early on in both the US and UK, along with reviews and ads and a slew of others things I didn't get.)

For my first book, I got some minor support from my publisher. They took me to BEA, introduced me to many mystery bookstore buyers. They printed up 10,000 Whiskey Sour coasters with my book cover on them. But they refused to let me do book signings, because that cost coop money and they didn't feel giving a bookstore $25 would result in enough debut hardcover sales to cover that meager cost.

Since I wasn't allowed to tour, I popped into bookstores and signed stock, then handsold that stock until it was gone. When the store restocked, in larger numbers, I did it again.

To counter that I spent 8 hours in a Waldenbooks and handsold 100 hardcovers at $23.95 a pop. During the holiday season, I did this every day, at every bookstore within driving distance. From Thanksgiving to Xmas, for several years.

And as a result, I sold more books than anyone expected.

For Book #2, sensing they could enhance my efforts, my publisher arranged for a West Coast tour, comprising of 7 events over ten days. Besides the official signings, I also signed stock at 100 more stores. I also mailed out 6500 letters to libraries, each with a signed coaster, telling them about my books.

Since I wasn't getting big distribution or discounting or coop space, I enlisted booksellers to help me, which meant meeting as many as I could, signing stock, and explaining who I was and what my books were about.

This also circumvented the dreaded return system. Booksellers were less likely to return signed books, increasing my shelf life. Booksellers I met were more likely to order more books and handsell them. And bookstore algorithms (I believe B&N called it "modeling") would automatically order new copies of books that sold well.

For book #3, I signed at over 500 stores during a single summer.

Then my publisher's mystery line vanished.

For book #4, my publisher gave me ZERO support, even though my sales had been rising. No touring, no marketing. They screwed up the drop date of my launch, and didn't care. And my hardcover still went into a second printing.

Books #5 and #6, also effectively orphaned, weren't even submitted to the usual reviewers. For my last book, Borders couldn't even order it because of some colossal distributor screw-up, and they were my biggest supporter (I got to speak at a Borders regional sales meeting--something I set up, not something my daddy set up for me).

The result of my efforts; I earned out $235,000 in royalties, and all of my books had multiple printings.

But no one wanted to pick up a series in situ. So I wound up selling a horror novel, AFRAID, under the pen name Jack Kilborn, for a $20k advance. 

It's nice that you get to write about the same character in the same genre. Some of us had to diversify in order to survive.

I visited 200 bookstores to support the release, and did one of the first author blog tours. I earned out that advance in a month. But then Hachette refused to publish my follow-up novel because the editor didn't like it (it was a two book deal). I wrote a third book for them, and they wanted major changes.

I told them to piss off. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Lee: And in fact you were then very lucky – a new platform was invented that suited your skill set perfectly.  I’m a close observer of the whole self-publishing scene (and I have read more than 600 self-published books) and I think your weaknesses under the old model have been matched by exceptional strengths perfectly attuned to the new model.

Joe: What weaknesses? You mentioned them, but didn't point them out. I feel I was lucky to land two deals, and unlucky with how they turned out. 

I also did wind up becoming my own worst enemy, because when Kindle was invented I had IPs earning steady money for my publishers, and they didn't want to give me those rights back. I had to fight hard for them. 

Those books Hachette didn't want have earned me hundreds of thousands of dollars.

That series Hyperion didn't want to continue has earned me a million.

And you still want to insist my publisher gave me the same shot that yours gave you? If that's the case, you need to quit your publisher right now, because your sales will go up 1000% like mine did. :D

Lee: I think you should celebrate that, and I think you should stop letting traditional publishing live rent-free in your head.  I think all self-publishers should.  Because all these endless screechy blogs make you look whiny, not us.  “I coulda been a contender!”  Get over it already.  Move on.  Don’t perpetuate the “bitter reject” meme.

Joe:  Even if I had been given the same treatment you had, and experienced great success, I'm still pretty sure I wouldn't be siding with Authors United.

I believe all newbie writers should read this blog post, to see both sides. Your experience is unique, mine is common. The majority of legacy writers get excoriated by the legacy system.

I was, however, very lucky that Amazon invented the Kindle, and that I had a backlist of rejected titles that put me in a perfect position to take advantage of it.

That's how well your system works. I bought my house and two cars for cash, with books that the Big 6 were convinced wouldn't sell. I'm talking about my rejected novels, not the ones that were legacy pubbed.

The only time I mention "I coulda been a contender" is when someone says they earned their success through hard work and talent.

C'mon, Lee. You know luck plays a huge part. You got a lot luckier than I ever did, so why not acknowledge that? You've even mentioned luck before:

"To get as successful as I have gotten as a writer, it's like winning the lottery the same day that you get hit by lightning twice. It's staggeringly unlikely. So I'm unbelievably fortunate." - Lee Child

I can understand the "hit by lightning" part. Circumstances beyond my control ruined two of my publishing deals. In my case, the luck I had was bad.

But my luck was still greater than thousands of other legacy authors, who sold 1/10 of what I did when I was with Hyperion and Hachette. And I never thought I was better, or more deserving, than any of them.

Lee: Later you said, “I believe you overestimate the value of Hachette’s catalog to Amazon.”  No, I don’t.  I said I think Amazon overestimates the value of Hachette’s catalog to Amazon.  My point was quite clear – Amazon won’t dump Hachette because Amazon’s own internal credo is built on being the everything store.  Which dilutes its negotiating power.  All negotiations are built on a willingness to walk away.  Amazon isn’t willing.

Joe: And yet Amazon has zero problem removing pre-order buttons and discounts. This runs counter to your statement. 

Amazon can still be the everything store without giving into Hachette's demands. It's doing that very thing right now. And Amazon readers don't care. Since this dispute began, Amazon's reputation has gotten even better. Its approval rating has gone up, and it has claimed the number 1 spot in customer reputation. 

Amazon doesn't need to walk away. They still sell Hachette's books, and other Big 5 publisher titles, while also selling 500,000 exclusive titles.

Hachette's sales have gone down. I doubt Amazon even noticed a blip. They may be selling fewer Hachette titles, but they're making more per title because they aren't discounting, as well as selling titles in lieu of Hachette titles. This Hachette book takes 3 weeks to ship? I'll just buy a different book that ships overnight. 

And think of all the warehouse space they're saving. :)

Lee: Later you mention print disappearing – which it might, and which I would regret, because I think it would happen without a positive desire on the part of customers.  People like print.  If it goes, it will have gone because of retail economics, not lack of appeal.  Which sounds confused, but that’s an accurate analysis.  Mass market is dying not because there’s diminished demand, but because there isn’t enough margin in it.  “I can make more out of broccoli than books,” one retailer said.  Will all readers switch to e-readers?  Not all, I think.  Sadly reading’s appeal is fragile now, and many folks will quit and find alternatives.  Or not – I’ll be particularly sad about poor people.  Any e-reading ecosystem is entirely inaccessible unless you have a working credit card or a viable bank account for PayPal – which poor people don’t.  They love used paperbacks – all worn and furry, found, traded, borrowed, bought for fifty cents.  But hey.  This is the modern world.

Joe: Print won't disappear. It will become a subsidiary right, which I blogged about four and a half years ago.

It's nice that you feel bad for the poor. Thankfully, even the poor have access to computers and smart phones, and many ebooks are a lot cheaper than used paperbacks. You may have heard that there are also millions of free ebooks. 

As for people liking print, this is a tired old meme that I debunked years ago. 

Lee: As for the rest … I guess I have one question.  One thing few people know about me is I love ironing.  I just moved, which was a great excuse for a new ironing board.  I checked Amazon, naturally, who had boards ranging from $18 all the way to $220.  Has Amazon approached the expensive manufacturer and said, “C’mon, pal, America needs cheaper ironing boards!  Think of the children!”  No, it said, “Sure, throw it up on the site and we’ll see if anyone’s interested.  We trust our customers to decide for themselves.”

Another interest is audio.  Amazon has low-powered two-channel audio amplifiers listed from $24 to $24,000.  Did it approach the expensive manufacturer and say, “C’mon, pal, America needs cheaper amplifiers!  Think of the puppies!”  No, it said, “Sure, throw it up on the site and we’ll see if anyone’s interested.  We trust our customers to decide for themselves.”

Can you explain in detail why the e-book market shouldn’t operate the same way as the ironing board market or the amplifier market?  Why do e-book buyers – uniquely – need Nanny Amazon to save them from deciding for themselves?  Are books special?  Are they different?  Or are there others factors in play?

Joe: Lee, this is a great comparison. You did a bit of chest thumping in both of these posts, and I went on the defensive. I'm happy you did that, because it shakes things up a bit and makes for an interesting read.

But the end of your previous post, where you spoke about your concern that Amazon becomes the only publisher left, is a valid point and could have been brought to the forefront.

You make another valid point here. Are books different from other markets where prices diverge?

I'll opine that books don't have as wide a range of prices, like an amplifier or an ironing board, because their components all cost about the same. You don't expect a Bentley to cost the same as a Hyundai. The Rolls is a better car, made of better materials.

A Lee Child hardcover costs about as much to print as a JA Konrath hardcover (actually, mine was more expensive because you had much larger print runs).

You were paid more, and the publisher certainly wants to recoup as much of that as possible. Since your brand is strong, you're able to move a lot of ebooks at $12.99.

I'm fine with that, and good for you. It does go against your earlier point about feeling bad for the poor people who can't buy expensive books, but I do believe there is a market for $12.99 ebooks, or even $29.99 ebooks.

That's not the problem I have. 

The problem I have is authors like you, right now, and groups like the Authors Guild and Authors United, are fueling the belief that Lee Child sells well at $12.99, therefor Joe Blow can sell well at $12.99 if he signs with the Big 5, too.

That is far from the truth. 

Yes, high ebook prices work for a few handfuls of bestsellers. But they kill the careers of midlisters stuck in shitty legacy contracts.

My sales went up 1000% once I got my rights back from my publishers. How many midlist authors are being held hostage in a similar way, just so publishers can maintain control of the paper oligopoly that makes them and a handful of authors like you amazingly rich?

You're thriving, but thousands of others are withering.

Even without Amazon discounts, Doug Preston's latest Kindle thriller is ranked at #861 and priced at $12.99. He's probably not recouping his huge advance, but he's doing okay. If all he had were those sales, he could make a living.

In contrast, The Three by Sarah Lotz, a new Hachette release, is also $12.99 and ranked #119,551. Her hardcover is in the 200,000s. How is she going to earn her advance out? Make a living? Put food on the table? Hachette loves the book enough to promote it on its website as a lead title. But is it getting her book into Target department stores? I looked, didn't see it. I did see yours and Doug's books, though.

I don't mean to pick on Sarah, or put her on the spot. I don't know her, she was just the first debut Hachette author I found when I went looking. I did notice she didn't sign your little Authors United petition (I say "little" when comparing it to the petition Hugh and I did with 8x as many signatures).

Amazon offered, three separate times, to compensate authors who were being harmed by this negotiation. I bet Sarah would benefit from that compensation. So would hundreds of other authors. Where was AU? Hint: they were immediately rejecting the proposals, as was Hachette.

These are the folks you've chosen to side with.

Authors signing with big publishers not only have to contend with those publishers pricing their ebooks as luxury items, failing to get them into bookstores and other paper outlets (especially with coop), they also can wind up as collateral damage because their publisher refuses to negotiate with the biggest bookseller on the planet.

I know you said that writers should make hay when the sun is shining, and self-publish. Good, smart advice. But that is counter to you supporting Hachette in this dispute.

You're sending out the message that Amazon--the only competition that the Big 5 ever had and the company that has allowed more authors to make money than any other time in history--is the bad guy and is going to hurt authors. You're also sending out the message that high ebook prices are okay, when they're only okay for a small minority of major bestsellers. 

Right now, the authors being hurt are those stuck in the middle of this negotiation--and Amazon has tried to take those authors out of the line of fire three times. Hachette has not.

Authors United, in their ridiculous and oft-repeated assertion that they aren't taking sides, is making those Hachette authors suffer even more. They should be pressuring their own publisher to negotiate (because, you know, that's who they have contracts with, not Amazon). But AFAIK they haven't even contacted Hachette.

All the biased media coverage is perpetuating a bunch of lies and nonsense. And that's harmful.

To your credit, you haven't perpetuated any nonsense here. You came in guns blazing, and I like that. We disagree on the luck factor, and that's fine. And you made two very good points in these posts.

Why the hell isn't AU making those points?

If you spoke for AU, and used the comparisons and rhetoric you used on my blog, I wouldn't have much to disagree with. I don't want Amazon to rule the world. I believe ebook pricing is elastic and everyone's sweet spot (where unit sales and profits peak) is different. We're not far apart on those issues.

But while this system has worked extraordinarily well for you, it screwed me. And it has screwed thousands of others.

That's why I continue to write this blog. So authors don't have to go through what I went through.

That isn't whining, Lee. That's activism. And I need to point these things out, repeatedly, for new authors who are learning about these topics for the very first time. This is A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, not an Insider's Guide for Pros.

It's unlikely that anyone reading this will ever attain the level of success you've had. Encouraging writers to follow your path is like encouraging toddlers to climb Mount Everest. 

In contrast, thousands of writers have followed my path. Some have succeeded well beyond me. Others are making money for the very first time.

As doctors know, "First do no harm."

All of the one-sided media coverage is harmful. 

Large publishers are harmful.

Being ill-informed is harmful.

Authors United is harmful.

Amazon may be harmful sometime in the future, but right now it is doing good by the vast majority of authors who self-publish. I just got a nice bottle of scotch and a shadowbox in the mail today from Amazon, because my Jack Daniels novel, Stirred, has sold 100,000 copies.

That's 100,000 copies without appearing in brick and mortar bookstores, because they boycott Amazon books.

That's 100,000 copies that could have been through Hyperion, but they missed the boat.

100,000 copies is nothing to you. But to a guy who knows how hard it is to handsell 100 hardcovers, one at a time, over an eight hour period in a mall bookstore, that number amazes me.

All authors work hard. Many authors are damn talented. 

Very few will get the breaks you got. And very few will get the breaks I got.

But my dream is more attainable for the masses than yours is. And positioning yourself against a company, Amazon, that makes those dreams possible, while endorsing publishers that exploit and harm the careers and pocketbooks of the majority of authors they work with, saddens me. Especially since anyone looking at the situation can easily see that Authors United is very much out to protect the rich and privileged at the expense of the poor and unlucky.

Thanks again for your thoughts on this. You're always welcome here, and it's a pleasure to have someone with a much different perspective than mine voice their opinion.

I also asked Barry Eisler to chime in (even though he and I vehemently disagree about airline seats) and he emailed me:

Barry: Hi Lee, you mentioned ironing boards and amplifiers as products that Amazon allows suppliers to price as they like, knowing some people will prefer the high-end items and others the low-end. In this system, no one is being denied access to ironing boards etc because low-priced alternatives are plentiful. And you asked, Why not just do the same for books? I think this is a great question and a great way to frame the issue — by far the best presentation I’ve seen on the topic yet from anyone affiliated with Authors United. So thank you for that.

For the most part, I agree. We already live in a world where there are more low-priced and probably even free books (not to mention library access) than any one person could read in a lifetime. So if some readers can’t afford, or don’t want to spend the money on, what we might think of as the luxury end of the book market, it’s not exactly a national tragedy.

I wouldn't want to go too far with this argument; I think reading is an important public good and in general I’m in favor of lower prices, more choice, and easier access for everyone, and therefore I tend to favor the business model that’s built to accomplish those aims rather than the one that’s built to impede them. But I’m also in favor of people having the freedom to price their goods as they like. There’s a balance in there somewhere, and maybe we fall to slightly different sides of it, or we have somewhat different views of the best way those possibly competing interests can be reconciled. Thinking about your points, I had the sense that our views might not be so different.

But this is what gets me. Why is this the first time anyone affiliated with Authors United has made an argument in such a cogent, no-bullshit, non-propagandistic way?

Just today, the New York Times ran another puff piece quoting new Authors United member Ursula K. Leguin saying, "We’re talking about censorship: deliberately making a book hard or impossible to get, ‘disappearing’ an author… Governments use censorship for moral and political ends, justifiable or not. Amazon is using censorship to gain total market control so they can dictate to publishers what they can publish, to authors what they can write, to readers what they can buy.”

And Andrew Wylie, who’s pitching all his clients to join Authors United, is quoted as saying, “If Amazon is not stopped, we are facing the end of literary culture in America.”

Not to mention all the existing rhetoric from your cohorts about books being “sanctioned,” and “boycotted,” about “We’re not taking sides,” etc.

Lee… do you really believe any of that craziness? If not, why are you lending your name to it?

If Authors United were as thoughtful and honest as you were in the thoughts I’m addressing here, l’d probably have written a blog post or two analyzing our different visions of the best system for serving readers and authors and that would have been the end of it. But instead what they peddle is overheated rhetoric, distortions, and propaganda. All of which we might loosely classify as “bullshit,” and all of which is what concerns me so much about the effect the organization is likely to have.

Because as I’ve said many times: I don’t care what choices authors make for themselves; I care that they can make those choices based on accurate information. I think it’s great that for the first time there are competing systems within publishing. What’s disturbing is when one of those systems peddles disinformation as a way of attracting new entrants — and this is the essence of what Authors United is part of. For lots more on this, here’s a post Joe and I did earlier this year called Publishing is Lottery/Publishing is a Carny Game.

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2014/02/eisler-publishing-is-lottery-konrath.html

If Authors United is on the level, why can’t they take a straight-up position, as you have? Why all the distortions and bullshit?

I don’t know. Maybe it’s a rhetorical question. But as long as the organization continues to present itself as propagandistically as it does, I hope people will keep calling it out. I wish you would, too.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Lee Child Chimes In

Joe: Yesterday I asked any Authors United signatory to engage me on my blog.

Lee Child took me up on it.

For those who aren't familiar with Lee, he's the author of nineteen mystery-thriller novels and over a dozen shorts about military policeman Jack Reacher (who was also the basis of hit movie in 2012 starring Tom Cruise). They are among the most popular books in the modern era, and Lee is a worldwide bestseller. They're well-written and I've read several and enjoyed them.

Lee's first novel was published in 1997. He's bought me too many beers to count at various conferences over the years, and was kind enough to blurb my second novel in 2004. (Lee may hold the record for blurbing more novels than anyone, which is testimony to his generosity). He also has volunteered at International Thriller Writers since its inception, and is a pleasant guy to hang out with.

Here is Lee's original email. Afterward, I'll break it down with my responses..

Lee: Joe, thanks for the invitation to participate.

Here’s my personal take … speaking generally, with a plural “you” … and as a guy entirely unafraid of the future, whatever it may bring – after all, I kicked your ass under the old system, and I’ll kick it under the new system, and the new-new, and the new-new-new, until I retire, or the lung cancer gets me, whichever comes first. I’m completely confident of that, and you’d be an idiot to bet against me. We both started from nowhere, and in the last three weeks I sold more ebooks – of one title – than you have sold in your entire life. Or will sell. Print visibility, you say? How? Print is a niche, according to you, and no one visits bookstores anymore!

And don’t tell me I was lucky or “anointed” or some such … again, we all start from the same place, but I worked harder and smarter than my rivals, and believe me, I’m ready to do it all again … so don’t tell me I’m scared or whining – truth is, I’m licking my lips in anticipation of the big win in whatever scenario comes next.

And let’s settle one thing … the so-called Amazon/Hachette contract … I think you overestimate it, or misunderstand it, possibly. It ain’t the key to some kind of magic kingdom. Almost every sale Amazon makes happens without a contract with the supplier or manufacturer. It used to be that way with Hachette. Hachette sold to wholesalers, at a certain discount, and the wholesalers sold on to Amazon, at a slight markup. Soon Amazon wanted to avoid that markup, so it went to Hachette and asked, “Please will you sell to us direct?”  And Hachette said, “OK.”  And that’s the so-called contract, right there.

Subsequently Amazon larded on the "fees"... in street terms, protection money, to keep the playing field level with other publishers also paying protection money. Equal visibility and honest rankings – which are the best kind of visibility – were at stake. In plain English, Amazon was saying, “Give us cash under the table or we’ll lie in public about the relative merit and appeal of your products.”

Publishers were, of course, accustomed to that – B&N pioneered a junior version long ago – so it was business as usual. No sympathy from me, by the way. Life ain’t fair, things suck, get over it.

But, here’s the thing – by continuing to trade under expired terms, it’s Hachette doing Amazon a favor, not vice versa. Amazon is still getting its protection money – and giving nothing in return right now – and still avoiding the wholesalers’ markup.

If Hachette walked away, Amazon would lose... unless it was prepared not to carry Hachette titles ever again. Which it isn’t, because Amazon’s whole theory is to be the go-to, first-stop, everything store. “I’ll get it from Amazon” is what they depend on hearing. “I wonder if Amazon has it?” would be the kiss of death.

Which is why the dispute is so intractable. It’s half-rational, half-emotional. And flawed – Amazon wants more protection money now (yes, it’s really that simple) but it isn’t prepared to get up from the table and walk away. Neither is Hachette. Hachette’s best play – logically – would be to walk away and suffer a few lean years before an alternative presented itself. I’m absolutely sure its parent company wants it to do that, and would support it in so doing. Huge European corporations are good at the long game. But local management is resisting, because the hiatus would derail too many careers. Again, half-rational, half-emotional.

And no big deal, in the grand scheme of things. Not to me, anyway. I’m not a Hachette author. PRH is a different ballgame, and as I said, even if it gets beat, I’ll prosper under whatever comes next.

So why did I sign my friend Doug’s letter?

Because of what I know, and what I can guess. I've known Amazon people for 17 years, dozens of them, old hires, new hires, quitters, true believers, through dinner party talk, pillow talk, all kinds of talk. I’m making no value judgments – you’ll never hear any of that from me – but things are what they are. And the big deal is – Amazon is a publisher too. Not a very good one yet – no big hits so far, and they missed the biggest trade publishing phenomenon of recent years, even though it was right under their noses – but Bezos never gives up, and he wants Amazon to be the only publisher, and he’ll do what it takes to make it so. Which casts a different light on what’s happening. He’s broken rivals before, and he’ll keep on trying.

So it’s a thus-far-and-no-further thing for me. I don’t want Amazon to be the only publisher. Neither should you.

It’s staggeringly naïve to think the current KDP landscape is anything other than a short-term tactic. Note well – I am NOT saying don’t get into it now just because it will get worse in the future... instead I say, hell yes, make hay while the sun shines. Exploit Amazon’s game plan for all you can get, as long as it lasts, and more power to you. But understand that today’s KDP is a pressure point, designed to suck authors out of the established system, along with sucking out money and margin by other routes. Truth is, it ain’t working great so far – no significant authors have jumped ship, and publishers are still profitable. But Bezos never gives up.

And if he wins... then we all have a problem. Note well – I am NOT talking about nurturing or culture or curating or any of that kind of non-existent crap. I’m talking about money. Amazon is a tech company. The basic tech paradigm says content is always the smallest part of the cost. Those guys really believe that. Storytellers will be working for whatever few pennies they choose to hand out. (Or some will. I’ll be doing something else by then. I don’t work for pennies.)

And don’t tell me some alternate savior will ride to the rescue. There won’t be one. Publishing makes no sense to any other player. Certainly there won’t be a publishing-only player. Not enough margin in it.

Now, I fully understand lots of folk will scoff and disagree and make fun of me. Have at it. I don’t care. I have no dog in this fight. I’m old and staggeringly rich and I can live like a king without making another buck ever. I have nothing to be scared of. That should be you. Your hopes are pinned to a mast that isn’t a mast at all. It’s a spear, and when it has done its job, it will be dumped.


So really we should all be equally concerned. We should make common cause. Behind the noise and the bullshit we’re all trying to do the same thing – sell our stories to the same people, for a living wage. And it’s those last four words that made me sign the letter. Not my living wage – that’s already in the bank – but yours, and the people that come after us.

Joe: Thanks for participating, Lee. (And a word of warning to commentors: Stay polite. Keep your comments focused on the argument. Anything personal and I will remove your comment and ban you. I see this as an opportunity to talk in depth about some important issues. If you want to troll, flame, hurl insults, or act badly, do it on your own blog.)

I'm now going to respond to your points.

Lee: Here’s my personal take … speaking generally, with a plural “you” … and as a guy entirely unafraid of the future, whatever it may bring – after all, I kicked your ass under the old system, and I’ll kick it under the new system, and the new-new, and the new-new-new, until I retire, or the lung cancer gets me, whichever comes first. I’m completely confident of that, and you’d be an idiot to bet against me. We both started from nowhere, and in the last three weeks I sold more ebooks – of one title – than you have sold in your entire life. Or will sell. Print visibility, you say? How? Print is a niche, according to you, and no one visits bookstores anymore!

Joe: First of all, congrats on selling more than 1.5 million ebooks (which is where I'm at to date) in the last three weeks. I assume I'll sell a few million more before I kick off, so let's call my total lifetime sales 5 million. It's damn impressive that you sold that many ebooks in three weeks of just one title.

But it's also nearing the end of that era. You're everywhere books are sold. I'm not. That's a huge advantage. One I never had. Your massive paper distribution serves as a giant, global advertisement for your ebooks.

Let's set aside the quality of our writing because that's subjective. We both attained a minimum quality standard to get the attention of major publishers. But the legacy industry never handed me the keys to the kingdom like they did with you. No coop. No discounts on the front table. No giant print runs and distribution. No worldwide sales.

You may believe the legacy publishing world is a meritocracy. I believe it's a lottery. No one earns a lottery win. No one is entitled to it.

You've kicked my ass because you had the weight of two heavy hitters behind you (Penguin and Random House) who got your books everywhere in the US with major marketing pushes. I'm unfamiliar with your UK and foreign publishers, but I'm betting they did an equally good job at distributing and promoting you everywhere books are sold.

This only happens to a rare few. 

Lee: And don’t tell me I was lucky or “anointed” or some such … again, we all start from the same place, but I worked harder and smarter than my rivals, and believe me, I’m ready to do it all again … so don’t tell me I’m scared or whining – truth is, I’m licking my lips in anticipation of the big win in whatever scenario comes next.

Joe: I'm not discounting your talent, or hard work, or business savvy. You've written some good books, made some smart choices, and fought hard for your career.

So have I. You're aware of that, as are readers of this blog.

But I never got the same breaks you did. Neither did 99.9999% of authors. While book sales aren't zero sum, there are only a certain number of titles that get put into the bestseller track and get a massive marketing push.

I understand why you believe talent and effort win the day, but you're wrong. Unlike a sport, such as track and field or basketball, writing talents and efforts don't translate to stats because there is no even playing field. Usain Bolt can run 200 meters anywhere on the planet. Michael Jordan can have a personal best even when his team is losing. Their successes don't depend on other factors.

Authors can't do it alone, and publishers make a lot of mistakes. Neither you nor I had any power over how many stores our titles were available in, or how big our marketing pushes were, or if our titles were pre-printed on the NYT Bestseller list, or how many reviews we received, or how many ads were bought. We don't know how my books would sell in airports or drug stores or Sam's Club or in Uzbekistan, because I've never been available in those places. We don't know what would have happened if I'd landed at Simon & Schuster rather than Hyperion (S&S made an offer, we didn't take it).

That's luck, Lee.

You seem to be arguing that your sales resulted from you working harder and smarter. But correlation doesn't equal causality. Yes, you worked hard and smart. Yes, you're one of the most successful writers in modern times. But any conclusions you draw are speculative.

Certainly you've read good books that were never huge hits. Certainly you've read huge hits that weren't good books. Certainly you know how hard and smart other authors have worked. Certainly you've seen titles get bestseller treatment and flop. In each of these cases, I'm right, not you. Luck played a big role.

If your success is fully based on the strength of your writing and your efforts, you can pull a Richard Bachman and soar up the charts with a pen name. By the way, Bachman didn't sell as well as King. Thinner sold 28,000 copies as Bachman, and 10x that amount when he was revealed as King. 

https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Richard_Bachman.html

Or I could write a novel under your name and it would sell as well as the rest of your backlist, and I bet no one would even know. You're a fine writer and storyteller, but I could name a dozen writers who can write a similar book in a similar style. That isn't an insult. Good writing is good writing. There's no magic to it. Ask the writers who took over for the posthumous Robert B. Parker, V.C. Andrews, Robert Ludlam, and Ian Fleming (weren't you even offered a James Bond book by the Fleming estate?). What we do isn't rocket science, and none of us deserve success.

Since you're not going to attempt a pen name and I'm not going to write a Reacher story, and since it will just devolve into a dick-measuring contest if we both start in about how hard we've worked to get where we're at, I suggest we move on.

Lee: And let’s settle one thing … the so-called Amazon/Hachette contract … I think you overestimate it, or misunderstand it, possibly. It ain’t the key to some kind of magic kingdom. Almost every sale Amazon makes happens without a contract with the supplier or manufacturer. It used to be that way with Hachette. Hachette sold to wholesalers, at a certain discount, and the wholesalers sold on to Amazon, at a slight markup. Soon Amazon wanted to avoid that markup, so it went to Hachette and asked, “Please will you sell to us direct?”  And Hachette said, “OK.”  And that’s the so-called contract, right there.

Joe: And then Hachette colluded with four other publishers to force Amazon to accept their new terms, i.e. the agency model. Amazon didn't want to accept those terms. Not because of the 30/70 split, but because it took away Amazon's ability to discount.

Suddenly contracts became important. What began as a mutual handshake (assuming you're correct about this) was no longer acceptable to either party.

Right now, Hachette doesn't want Amazon to be able to discount. Amazon wants to discount. Since Hachette forced a contract on Amazon--the agency contract--and that contract lapsed, Amazon does not have to sell Hachette's titles under Hachette's terms.

I've had verbal contracts in the past, and a handshake was enough. But when things become contentious, written contracts come into play. And, currently, Amazon and Hachette have no written contract, and Amazon apparently sees no reason they should go back to a handshake model under Hachette's terms.

Lee: Subsequently Amazon larded on the "fees"... in street terms, protection money, to keep the playing field level with other publishers also paying protection money. Equal visibility and honest rankings – which are the best kind of visibility – were at stake. In plain English, Amazon was saying, “Give us cash under the table or we’ll lie in public about the relative merit and appeal of your products.”

Publishers were, of course, accustomed to that – B&N pioneered a junior version long ago – so it was business as usual. No sympathy from me, by the way. Life ain’t fair, things suck, get over it.

Joe: It was under the table? How so?

As you said, bookstores have been selling coop for decades, and publishers have bought coop to place books such as yours (and not mine) in prominent places around the store. This isn't protection money, it's more like a kickback. I'm calling you on that terminology because I just did a post on the specific fear words and hyperbole that Authors United are using. Assuming you're correct about all of this, kickbacks are part of the book business, and Amazon didn't invent them, and they're legal.

You need to spend money to make money, and no one ever said it would be fair, fun, or easy. I didn't have an even playing field when we both had new releases in Borders--you had every advantage while I didn't--and I don't expect an even playing field now.

But at this point in time, I can do much better through KDP and A-pub than I was ever able to do through Hyperion, Hachette, or Penguin. More sales, and more money per sale. Through my legacy publishers, I made about $300k in eight years. On my own, I've done about 10x that in four years. And I'm not the only one. I bring this up in response to your earlier comment of "Print is a niche, according to you, and no one visits bookstores anymore!"

For the majority of writers, print has become a subsidiary right. Ebooks are the main income. But you are not in the majority. For you, print is still your main source of book income, and I'd guess a good deal of that income comes from non-bookstore outlets. These are outlets that I've never had titles sold in, and neither have most of our peers. 

Lee: But, here’s the thing – by continuing to trade under expired terms, it’s Hachette doing Amazon a favor, not vice versa. Amazon is still getting its protection money – and giving nothing in return right now – and still avoiding the wholesalers’ markup.

Joe: If Amazon wants to charge Hachette to sell its books, it can do that. If Amazon doesn't want to discount, it can do that. Amazon isn't a monopoly, and it isn't the government. Being a tough competitor or being tough with suppliers doesn't violate any laws.

Lee: If Hachette walked away, Amazon would lose... unless it was prepared not to carry Hachette titles ever again. Which it isn’t, because Amazon’s whole theory is to be the go-to, first-stop, everything store. “I’ll get it from Amazon” is what they depend on hearing. “I wonder if Amazon has it?” would be the kiss of death.

Joe: I believe you overestimate the value of Hachette's catalog to Amazon.

Right now Amazon has 500,000 exclusive ebooks available to customers. If Douglas Preston is no longer available on Amazon, do you really believe millions of Kindle owners wouldn't find something else to read? You think they'd seek him out? Forgo the fast, easy, and inexpensive Amazon shopping experience--on a proprietary format no less--and instead buy his books on a platform that is more expensive and less convenient? Or would they find some Preston-ish technothriller on Amazon and buy that for $3.99 with one-click? 

Mega bestsellers like you, and midlisters like me, have fans. But I think we both realize most of our sales are accidental. Someone browsing Amazon, looking for a particular type or genre of book. Or, in your specific case (as in Preston's), casual readers who want a thriller to take on the plane and only have a choice of six in the rack at their local airport. You have long signing lines when you do a book event. Those are fans. Are those lines proportional to the 100 million books you've sold? We know they aren't. Because the overwhelming majority of your readers, and mine, aren't fans. They're casual readers who gave us a try.

Let's look at it another way. In the USA, between 1926 and 1956, if you wanted to travel by car from Chicago to LA, you took Route 66. Along 66 were places for travelers to get gas, eat, and sleep. These places did well, because travelers had no alternative.

Then the Federal Highway Act of 1956 was signed by Ike, creating the Interstate. It was faster than Route 66. And what cropped up along the Interstate? Places to get gas, eat, and sleep.

Let's say there was a terrific restaurant on Route 66. One that was always busy, and made a lot of money. Maybe it had great food and unparalleled service. Maybe it was the best damn restaurant in the USA.

Guess what? That didn't matter. It still went out of business once traffic disappeared. People preferred the Interstate. And most of the businesses on Route 66, including the best restaurant in the country, withered and died. Because as good as it was, people preferred to get their food on the Interstate. They didn't go out of their way to eat at that wonderful restaurant. Bye-bye Route 66, and all who made their living on it.

As for "I wonder if Amazon has it" is something I do a lot. If Amazon doesn't have it, it's rare I go elsewhere... I just find something similar on Amazon. And I'm not the only one who does this.

Right now the majority of your sales is paper to casual readers, and you believe ebook sales have plateaued. (You mentioned this on the Passive Voice blog.) That may be true, for you. But while your ebook sales have plateaued, there is ample evidence that ebook sales overall are increasing. The market is growing, but legacy publishing sales aren't growing along with it. 

If you believe that in ten years there will still be chain bookstores, and books will still be available in the check-out isle at the local grocery, you aren't following the same trends I am. In just five years, ebooks have gone from a small niche to outselling paper in many genres. When those book outlets disappear, so goes the majority of the paper audience. And they will disappear

Lee: Which is why the dispute is so intractable. It’s half-rational, half-emotional. And flawed – Amazon wants more protection money now (yes, it’s really that simple) but it isn’t prepared to get up from the table and walk away. Neither is Hachette. Hachette’s best play – logically – would be to walk away and suffer a few lean years before an alternative presented itself. I’m absolutely sure its parent company wants it to do that, and would support it in so doing. Huge European corporations are good at the long game. But local management is resisting, because the hiatus would derail too many careers. Again, half-rational, half-emotional.

And no big deal, in the grand scheme of things. Not to me, anyway. I’m not a Hachette author. PRH is a different ballgame, and as I said, even if it gets beat, I’ll prosper under whatever comes next.

Joe: You mean by getting really, really lucky again? :)

It's entirely normal to look at where you currently stand and point to your past to explain how you got here. But that kind of thinking completely discounts luck and randomness. So many things happened that were beyond your control, and so many other things could have happened. If you'd gone with another publisher, or if I had, we might not be having this conversation right now. 

Lee: So why did I sign my friend Doug’s letter?

Because of what I know, and what I can guess. I've known Amazon people for 17 years, dozens of them, old hires, new hires, quitters, true believers, through dinner party talk, pillow talk, all kinds of talk. I’m making no value judgments – you’ll never hear any of that from me – but things are what they are. And the big deal is – Amazon is a publisher too. Not a very good one yet – no big hits so far, and they missed the biggest trade publishing phenomenon of recent years, even though it was right under their noses – 

Joe: Are you referring to 50 Shades? You know that the other Big 5 publishers missed out on that too, right?

Lee: – but Bezos never gives up, and he wants Amazon to be the only publisher, and he’ll do what it takes to make it so. Which casts a different light on what’s happening. He’s broken rivals before, and he’ll keep on trying.

So it’s a thus-far-and-no-further thing for me. I don’t want Amazon to be the only publisher. Neither should you.

Joe: Who ever said I want Amazon to be the only publisher?

Competition is good. But I'd like publishers to compete for authors as well. Better royalties. Better terms. For decades it has been lockstep unconscionable contracts offered to all writers save for a few lucky ones like you. Contracts that last for an author's life plus 70 years. Non-compete clauses. I've listed these all extensively before

You won the lottery. So did your friend Doug Preston, and many of the other Authors United signatories. You could no doubt buy a $104k NYT ad with change you find between your sofa cushions. And you want that to continue. But it continues at the expense of authors who didn't win the lottery, all 99.999% of them.

Lee: It’s staggeringly naïve to think the current KDP landscape is anything other than a short-term tactic. Note well – I am NOT saying don’t get into it now just because it will get worse in the future... instead I say, hell yes, make hay while the sun shines. Exploit Amazon’s game plan for all you can get, as long as it lasts, and more power to you. But understand that today’s KDP is a pressure point, designed to suck authors out of the established system, along with sucking out money and margin by other routes. Truth is, it ain’t working great so far – no significant authors have jumped ship, and publishers are still profitable. But Bezos never gives up.

And if he wins... then we all have a problem. Note well – I am NOT talking about nurturing or culture or curating or any of that kind of non-existent crap. I’m talking about money. Amazon is a tech company. The basic tech paradigm says content is always the smallest part of the cost. Those guys really believe that. Storytellers will be working for whatever few pennies they choose to hand out. (Or some will. I’ll be doing something else by then. I don’t work for pennies.)

Joe: Most of us already have a problem. It's with publishers like Hachette. Right now, Hachette, and the rest of Big Publishing, treat the vast majority of authors as the smallest part of their costs.

Hachette authors are getting screwed, working for pennies. And Hachette's insistence on keeping ebook prices high to protect its paper oligopoly will continue to hurt all authors but the very top of the heap (such as yourself).

On the other hand, Amazon is allowing many authors to make money for the very first time.

Lee: And don’t tell me some alternate savior will ride to the rescue. There won’t be one. Publishing makes no sense to any other player. Certainly there won’t be a publishing-only player. Not enough margin in it.

Joe: We'll see. After my experience with the legacy industry, I'd never put all of my eggs in a single basket. And if there were only one basket left, I'd create others. A new publishing model makes a lot of sense to me, and I see a big demographic that Amazon is dismissing. As for margins, I'm funding it myself, and we should be in the black by the end of the year. 

Lee: Now, I fully understand lots of folk will scoff and disagree and make fun of me. Have at it. I don’t care. I have no dog in this fight. I’m old and staggeringly rich and I can live like a king without making another buck ever. I have nothing to be scared of. That should be you. Your hopes are pinned to a mast that isn’t a mast at all. It’s a spear, and when it has done its job, it will be dumped.

Joe: I've disagreed with you but never scoffed at you, and have always liked and respected you. And no one is going to make fun of you here.

My agenda is transparent. I'm pro-author. Right now, Amazon's stance aligns with what is best for the majority of authors. If it continues along those lines, great. If it doesn't, I don't plan to be at the mercy of a large company.

Lee: So really we should all be equally concerned. We should make common cause. Behind the noise and the bullshit we’re all trying to do the same thing – sell our stories to the same people, for a living wage. And it’s those last four words that made me sign the letter. Not my living wage – that’s already in the bank – but yours, and the people that come after us.

Joe: At this point, Amazon has given more authors opportunities to earn money than Hachette, Penguin, Random House, et al have, combined.

You've been extremely generous to new writers, me included. But perpetuating the current system isn't for the benefit of midlisters. It only benefits the publishers, and a few dozen gigantic bestsellers like you. You believe that Amazon intends to wipe out other publishers, and then it will pinch authors. At this very moment, Hachette and other major publishers are pinching authors with shitty royalties, high book prices, and one-sided contract terms. Bookstores are pinching self-pubbed  and Amazon-pubbed authors by refusing to carry our books.

Authors United isn't made up of altruists. It's made up of status quo writers who don't want the gravy train to end, and Stockholm Syndrome writers who want to be part of that gravy train. Preston's insistence that AU isn't taking sides is silly, and it's only one of many silly things your group is proclaiming. If Hachette does get its way, it will mean Preston's and Patterson's Amazon sales go back to normal, but it also means all the Hachette midlisters will continue to get screwed in the longterm.

But if Hachette allows Amazon to discount, all Hachette authors will benefit from increased ebook sales. It might come at the expense of paper sales, but for the majority of authors those sales don't matter; Hachette isn't getting their midlist paper titles into airports and grocery stores.

I see $104k wasted on an ad, and I think how many unhappy Hachette authors could have benefited from that money--money that could pay for lawyers to help get them out of Hachette contracts, get their rights back, and start actually making that living wage you mentioned. Instead it was wasted to help the rich stay rich, while those rich folks spouted nonsense.

Likewise, these authors could have benefited from accepting one of Amazon's offers to compensate them. 

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts on this, Lee. You haven't defended any Authors United statements, or addressed my criticisms of those statements, but you did make a valid and important point about Amazon attaining too much power. AU should have stuck to that and left all the other BS out of it. 

Your "thus-far-and-no-further" statement is entirely reasonable, but that's the way I feel about legacy publishers. As I've said many times, why worry about the tiger who may eat you tomorrow when there is a wolf currently gnawing on your leg?

The wolf is gnawing on 99.999% of all writers. So I'm not concerned about the tiger just yet.

I think we could support a common cause, but if you truly aren't worried about your future, and truly do care about authors making a living wage, you're siding with the wrong team.

Maybe there is no right team. Maybe Amazon, when they control the universe, will be worse than NY Publishing ever was (though looking at my previous legacy contracts, I doubt that.) But I was surprised you signed the AU petition, and surprised you chipped in for the silly NYT ad. I understand your goals are aligned, and that AU includes many of your friends, but you never struck me as someone who'd join a movement whose main talking points are all bullshit, let alone allow their words to speak for you.

That said, I don't see our viewpoints being all that different, and I'm glad to hear yours independent of the AU nonsense I've been fisking.

Also, I already knew this, but kudos for owning a pair bigger than any other Authors United signatory. You read opposing viewpoints, and respond politely and thoughtfully, while other vocal AU endorsers reiterate ridiculous bullet points off of cue cards and refuse to engage in any sort of discussion, let alone defend their position.

Your friend Doug is now approaching the DOJ to investigate Amazon, as if the DOJ isn't already aware of the situation. I assume this will involve more money. No doubt you're involved in a great deal of philanthropy and charity work, but I hope I've gotten you to at least reconsider how much help you're giving Authors United. 

Thanks again for stopping by. If you'd like to respond to any of my points in the comments, I'm in and out of the house all day, but I'll be monitoring.