A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Freedom of Expression?

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere just enjoying the day. Then our kitty's sensitive hearing was bombarded by a bunch of laughing and guffawing. Following all the noise took him to J. A. Konrath's blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. There he found a post by Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath. The post deals with an upcoming event to demonize Amazon.

Watch them run around like mice.

According to the post, the group New America is holding an event called Amazon's Book Monopoly: A Threat to Freedom of Speech? The group believes Amazon is somehow capable of stopping the dissemination of books and information from reaching the public. The fact that Amazon's KDP service lets anyone publish anything they want seems to have escaped the group's notice. Of course, the group does include in the event Douglas Preston and Scott Turow who are both well known Amazon detractors.

Panzer says, "How can this New America group say Amazon stops the flow of information to them? Amazon let me (a cat) publish my book Cat Wisdom for humans there. Oh ... Wait a minute ... It's a group of humans ... and ... They think Amazon won't let anybody publish there. That explains everything. My book isn't really there."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post with lots of links. You'll need two thermoses of tea, a dozen muffins and a sleeping bag for a nap part way through your reading today.

Warning: This post has some bad words and bad actions in it. Not recommended for those under 18 years old or those easily offended.

To read this post, tootle over to A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Freedom of Expression?: