After Protest, Booksellers Are Victorious Against Amazon Subsidiary - The New York Times

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere just minding his own cat business when he heard clapping and cheering. Following the all the hoopla took our inquisitive kitty boy to The New York Times site. It didn't take any time at all to find the post about Amazon's AbeBooks causing all the happiness.

How did they do that without my help?

According to David Streittfeld, it's being reported that Amazon subsidiary AbeBooks has caved under the protest begun day before yesterday by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) and other antiquarian bookseller groups against them. The booksellers banded together and took a "vacation" from AbeBooks by making their books temporarily unavailable at the site. According to ILAB president Sally Burdon it appears AbeBooks is backtracking on their plans to remove some booksellers from AbeBooks. There's still no explanation about the exact reason(s) why the booksellers in Hungary, South Korea, Russia, the Czech Republic and Poland were being removed.There are links included to other posts about the protest.

Panzer says, "That has to be one of the shortest successful protests in human history."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring half a thermos of tea and four muffins for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow the links included in the post and read the posts at other sites bring another half a thermos of tea and four more muffins.

To read the post tootle over to Amazon's AbeBooks

To read yesterday's post about the protest tootle over to  AbeBooks booksellers

Amazon Is Quietly Elimiating List Prices - The New York Times

I'm still recovering from yesterday.

Panzer was just tootling around in the Catosphere when he heard oohing and aahing echoing around the Panzermobile. Following the sounds took our intrepid kitty hunter to The New York Times site. There he found a post about Amazon.

The post by David Streitfeld points out that for the past two months Amazon has been deleting the list price comparison from items sold on the site. According to the post, the list price is not and never has been the "true" price of the items. It's been a marketing ploy to make the items appear to be "on sale." Also, it's not just the Amazon products that are losing the list prices, but other sellers' items as well.

Panzer says, "It's about time they did away with that silly list price. You humans already knew that was a bogus price, right?"

Note: This is a l-o-n-g post. Bring a thermos of tea and half a dozen muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post, tootle over to Amazon

Amazon Workplace Woes

Is the money worth it?

Panzer was awakened from his nap today by the gnashing of teeth and snarling. Following the sound, our big brave boy found himself at the Publishers' Weekly site. It didn't take him long to find out what all the howling was about.

According to a post by Rachel Deahl, Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in Congress, paid a visit to Amazon's headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Ms. Pelosi went there in reference to a New York Times article by Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld about Amazon's treatment and training of their white collar workers. The NYT article has quotes from employees (both current and former) concerning their employment there.

Panzer says, "Why do you work there if you don't like it?

Note: There are several links included in Ms. Deahl's Publishers' Weekly post so, if you intend to read them all, bring a h-u-g-e cup of tea.

To read the full post, tootle over to Amazon workplace

Amazon's Kindle Unlimited and Authors

12,000 words?

Panzer has been feeling a little sick for the past week. Today he felt well enough to take a short trip into the Catosphere.

My big bad kitty pilot stopped the Panzermobile in at the Bits blog at the New York Times site. In a post by David Streitfeld my poor boy learned a lot about the Kindle Unlimited program that he didn't want to know.

Mr. Streitfeld tells the experiences of novelist Kathryn Le Veque with the new Kindle Unlimited (KU) program. Ms. Le Veque has 50 novels up at Amazon some on KU, some on Amazon. Even with that many novels uploaded, Ms. Le Veque continues her writing output. Sometimes now, she will write and 18 hour day and turn out 12,000 words. Why? To keep her income up. But, Ms. Le Veque does say she doesn't mind working that hard.

Panzer says, "My paws hurt just thinking about 12,000 words a day!"

Warning! This is a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g p-o-s-t. You'll need a very b-i-g c-u-p of t-e-a and a v-e-r-y b-i-g c-o-o-k-i-e.

To read the full post, tootle over to publish or perish

What will it be?

Panzer was out in the Catosphere when he followed some news crumbs to The New York Times site.

There my big kitty boy-reporter learned that, according to a post by David Streitfield and Charles V. Bagli, there are more rumors circulating about Amazon. Now before you run away screaming, these are not bad rumors.  It's being bandied about that Amazon may be opening a bricks and mortar store in New York city. Or may be opening office space in New York city. Or may be opening a warehouse distribution center in New York city.

Panzer says, "That's the thing about rumors. There's never just one."

To read the full post, tootle over to Amazon real estate

The Douglas Preston vs. Amazon Dispute Continues

Be quiet! I need sleep!

Panzer is not a happy kitty. First, my bad boy hasn't been able to get any sleep because of all the noise in the Catosphere about the Amazon-Hachette dispute. Now, the Douglas Preston-Amazon dispute my sleepy kitty told you about is making noise again. This time Mr. Preston tells David Streitfeld at the New York Times website he's worried because his book sales at Amazon are down.

So ...

His letter to Amazon (that he's had all over the Catosphere for weeks) will finally appear in Sunday's New York Times newspaper in a full page ad. Some of the authors from Mr. Preston's Authors United group who signed the letter paid the $104,000 price tag for the ad.

Panzer says, "Can't you humans get it straight, Mr. Preston? You never ever bite the hand that feeds you (or sells your books)."

Be prepared. This is a very long post and the comments section is long too. You'll also find a link in the post to the letter from authors who support Amazon in the Amazon-Hachette dispute.
 
To read the latest from Douglas Preston about his Authors United group and his views on Amazon, tootle over to writers battle amazon