Looming over this whole discussion is, of course, which I consider the Darth Vader of the literary world. I admire its success in creating a new, wildly successful business model, but it has a deserved reputation as a frequently unscrupulous competitor. Last December, for example, Amazon infuriated retailers for products such as electronics and DVDs when it encouraged its customers to enter brick-and-mortar stores to gather pricing info on items that Amazon then promised to sell them at a discount.
When it comes to books, Amazon has often used its huge market power to further increase its influence. Some analysts project that Amazon will own more than half the U.S. book business across by the end of this year. Not only does Amazon have 75 percent of the market in online sales, but it is spreading its tentacles to other areas. It now owns Audible.com, the largest seller of downloadable audio books, and BookSurge, an on-demand printer of self-published and other books offered only by publishers as individual copies. Last May, Amazon announced it was launching Amazon Publishing, headed by the redoubtable industry veteran Larry Kirshbaum, to compete hand-to-hand with the publishers.
Competitors fear that Amazon will use its very to buy up the most profitable authors, whose success generally supports trade-book publishers’ other titles. Amazon already offers Kindle Singles, shorter works by established authors available solely on Kindle, leading many to suspect that the day isn’t far off when readers wanting, say, the latest by James Patterson will be able to buy it only from Amazon.
Even without Amazon, trade publishing would be a . The competition from free content on the Internet — and the growth of video games and cable TV — has caused a steady drop in sales since 2001, with reading as a pastime declining. While there has been some since 2008, fueled by the growth of e-books and young adult titles, publishing remains an industry dominated by pessimism and uneven revenues.
