Kevin Weiss, Author Solutions CEO, States Position on Current Amazon/BookSurge Situation
April 7, 2008
Over the last several weeks there have been numerous articles, blog posts and letters written about Amazon.com’s intent to route all print-on-demand titles sold through Amazon.com through its self-publishing subsidiary – BookSurge. It has created quite a stir with the media, with many of our competitors, and even with some authors. While we suspect that the debate will not end anytime soon, we wanted to clearly state our position for our current and future authors.
Our authors are at the heart of everything we do at Wordclay. Through you we achieved our industry leading position, and by continuing to understand and meet your needs we will remain the leader. You can rest assured that we will continue to deliver high quality solutions at affordable prices. To that end, we are making significant investments in both our internal production systems and all of our customer- facing systems. By the end of the summer, we will deliver the most advanced systems in the industry. Those new systems will create flexibility for us internally, but more importantly they will afford you the opportunity to make the best choices that fit your needs throughout the publishing process and beyond. We do not believe that it is ever in your interest to limit choice.
Here at Wordclay, you will receive the same level of quality support and service that you have come to expect from us. If there are any changes that we think will have an impact on you – either positive or negative – we will let you know directly. We are committed to keeping the self-publishing industry strong, 
ensuring that authors have choice, and helping all of you get your voice in print at a reasonable price. We will aggressively fight anything that is done to limit choice, increase cost, or weaken the industry that together we’ve worked so hard to build.
Entry Filed under: Announcements, In the News, Publishing. Tags: Wordclay, print-on-demand, Amazon, Amazon.com, BookSurge, authors.
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1.
Don | April 7, 2008 at 10:14 am
Uhm. So can authors continue to use Lulu.com or other self-publishing firms or not. It seems like Amazon is saying no.
2.
jdimos | April 8, 2008 at 11:14 am
Don,
Authors can definitely use Lulu.com or Wordclay or other self-publishing companies. Each agreement with Amazon will be different for each self-publishing company though, so whether or not certain companies continue or modify their current structure is something only time will tell.
But I don’t believe Amazon is saying you can’t use other publishing companies (as in, use BookSurge only), but rather that each company has its own clientele, brand and management that might suit some others better. Amazon is smart enough to recognize the lucrative environment that publishing diversity creates for all businesses.
As details are revealed about Amazon and BookSurge, Wordclay Bloggers will try to address them accurately and honestly. In the meantime, there’s a wealth of opinions, articles and predictions that can be searched for, so you should definitely check them out.
Hope that helps.
-Justin
3.
Nocat | April 9, 2008 at 10:38 am
Another optio, check out self publishing dos and don’ts from experts in the field Briopriny worth checking out.
4.
Larry Wood | May 19, 2008 at 11:35 am
I MADE THE TERRIBLE MISTAKE OF PUBLISHING WITH BOOKSURGE. I THINK IF NEW WRITERS AND EXISTING POD PUBLISHERS HEAR MY STORY THEY WILL DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO AVOID DOING BUSINESS WITH BOOKSURGE. THEY AND THEIR PARENT COMPANY, AMAZON.COM ARE MAKING A MOVE TOWARDS RETAIL EXCLUSIVITY. WRITE FOR DETAILS!