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>'We also take seriously the impact it has when, however infrequently, such a business interruption affects authors. We've offered to Hachette to fund 50% of an
by incision 12y ago
>'We also take seriously the impact it has when, however infrequently, such a business interruption affects authors. We've offered to Hachette to fund 50% of an author pool - to be allocated by Hachette - to mitigate the impact of this dispute on author royalties, if Hachette funds the other 50%. We did this with the publisher Macmillan some years ago. We hope Hachette takes us up on it.'
Wonderfully slick move.
It makes Amazon look good, Hachette look bad and builds good will with the authors and spectators while turning the screws on the economic pressure that Hachette is already facing.
- conanbatt 12y agoDoes it? For me its a strong-armed position (my 50% hurts less than your 50%), which is why they are in this battle to begin with.
- pooper 12y agoHachette [...] is part of a $10 billion media conglomerate. I think it is Hachette which is trying to strong arm the up and coming Amazon.com
- dragonwriter 12y agoA $10 billion media conglomerate is small potatoes next to $143 billion Amazon. Plus, Hachette is not the dominant player in its industry, while Amazon is. So, nice try, but no.
- pooper 12y agoI didn't realize Amazon.com's valuation was $143 billion. I thought the 10 billion figure was relevant since they included it...
- chaz 12y agoAmazon's revenue is only 7% books, or about $5B. Then again, Hachette is just a part of a conglomerate and is not itself a $10B company and may be way smaller than that. Regardless of the nitpicking of who is the bigger fish, both companies are well-equipped with clever people, bankrolls, and influence to fight this one out.
- mcphage 12y ago> Hachette look bad How does it make them look bad? If they had said "Hachette chose not to take us up on this", then sure, but as it stands, Amazon made the offer, and Hachette is deciding what to do with it. That's entirely reasonable.
- scott_w 12y agoBecause sometimes "We offered x and they refused" looks like a he-said-she-said scenario. Amazon are demonstrating that the offer is still on the table, and the ball is entirely in Hachette's court.
- mcphage 12y ago> the ball is entirely in Hachette's court. Right-and that's not a bad thing. Sure, it puts Hachette in a position where they will look bad if they refuse, but I don't think they're there yet.