Macmillan vs. Amazon

Everyone and their mother, at least in the book community, has weighed in on the Amazon vs. Macmillan debacle this week. (For what I deem to be the best recap, go here: http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/?p=2138) Everyone seems to be on the same side: Amazon is the bad guy, Macmillan is the brave little toaster. I completely agree. Amazon makes decisions based on the pockets of its employees, with no regard for the authors, booksellers, publicists, editors, and reps that they are systematically putting out of business. Soon its own model is going to kill it, at least as far as books go. Macmillan has done a courageous thing by putting their collective foot down, even though they must be losing a crazy amount of money.

I want to thank the brave souls at Macmillan who made the decision to face down the giant. Even though Amazon has allegedly conceded, Macmillan books still aren't available on Amazon after several days. As a former indie bookseller, I greatly appreciate the stand that Macmillan has taken on my behalf.

So, thank you, Macmillan. And thank you to our Macmillan reps, Kevin and Gigi, who are awesome.