Amazon v Hachette, or BSAB
In an attempt not to pile on to the “point-and-laugh” pile on Amazon for their email to authors, I’m going to go with something completely different.
Actually, that’s not true. I’m going to point and laugh a bit.
I use Amazon for getting my books out. I’m okay with Amazon allowing me to set my price for my ebooks. I’ve followed the Amazon-Hachette slapfight about as well as I’ve followed the career of Cousin Oliver from the Brady Bunch, which is to say… not at all. What I do know is that Hachette Publishing was price-fixing ebooks (established they were, anyway), and Amazon was being poopy and everyone has an opinion on who’s right, who’s wrong, and who left the oven on.
Here’s the point, my friends: Who the hell cares? If you’re comfortable with Hachette doing what it does to you, awesome. Enjoy. Have fun with it. If you’re okay with publishing through Amazon and getting very little advertising push for the books you write without paying an exorbitant amount of money, then rock on.
I can’t tell which way this is going to go. I’m just a writer. I have about fifty opinions in my head at a time, and they usually belong to the characters I’m writing. Most of them are a-holes, and some want to set things on fire. I don’t think those two sentiments are related, but hey, it is possible. Regardless, Hachette seems to have screwed up, and Amazon is trying to screw up and doing a good job at it. Until it starts affecting me to where I can’t write, I don’t care. Just stop sending me email unless you’re telling me you’re featuring my books for an award.