Amazon, Barnes & Noble Battle Over My Obama Book

Well, Obama's Challenge my book -- excerpted this week at the Huffington Post -- is stimulating a lot of press, but not exactly the sort I had in mind. It set off a huge controversy about what's fair play in the publishing industry.

What's fair? You decide.

Seeing the torrent of hostile Obama books, most notably the shameless and dishonest hatchet job by Jerome Corsi, my publisher decided to get Obama's Challenge out as fast as possible, in time for the Democratic National Convention. She is Margo Baldwin, president of the highly innovative independent publishing house, Chelsea Green Publishers. CGP began 24 years ago as a publisher specializing in environmental titles, and lately has had two original paperback general bestsellers, by George Lakoff and by Naomi Wolf. We're hoping Obama's Challenge will be a third.

Margo negotiated a highly creative deal with Amazon, to offer readers the benefits of its new print-on-demand service. You order it, they print, and you get it two days from the time of your order. An Amazon discount coupon will also be in the packets of DNC delegates, alternates, and media. In the meantime, Chelsea Green is rushing out its regular print edition, which will be in bookstores after Labor Day. Or maybe it won't.

When the Amazon agreement was announced, Amazon's retail competitors pushed back big time. Amazon is of course the 800 pound gorilla of bookselling. What was an independent publisher doing in bed with it?

Barnes and Noble canceled its initial order and has decided not to stock the book in any of its stores, making it available only on B&N.com and by special order. Only one independent bookseller did likewise. In an open letter to the bookseller community, Margo appealed for perspective, and argued that the Amazon launch strategy was designed to build interest in the book initially, creating the demand that would result in strong sales in all retail outlets. With an expanded pie, there would be more book sales for everyone. And the market would hardly be exhausted in two weeks.

As the author, I am hardly a neutral party. I'd like to see this book have real influence, as well as some nice sales. Whether Obama is a transformative president or another cautious incrementalist will determine whether we return to an economy of shared prosperity. And as a transforming figure who promises real improvement in the economy, he is more likely to get elected in the first place.

However, as an economic journalist who has written about publishing industry, I am intrigued by this controversy and its implications.

Chelsea Green is a small independent, in a publishing industry dominated by corporate giants. As an independent, it is lighter on its feet, and could turn this book around very fast. What was sacrificed was not editing quality, which was superb. Chelsea Green just gets rid of the stodgy production bureaucracy that still characterizes large corporate houses, which typically take nine months to produce a book that could be published in nine weeks.

Independent, light-on-their-feet houses like Chelsea Green threaten behemoth publishing conglomerates just as Amazon seems to threaten independent booksellers. But does it really? Or has Amazon helped stimulate an overall interest in reading books?

As Margo says,

"Chelsea Green, along with many other small publishers, could not have survived and thrived without the innovations that Amazon has brought to the book marketplace, including being able to showcase our entire 350 title backlist online where it can be found by our customers. I know it's de rigueur to consider Amazon enemy #1, but it just ain't so."

But as Chelsea Green has grown into more than a niche publisher of green books, things get more complicated. If I were an independent bookstore, I, too might be annoyed by the Amazon deal, but hopefully I'd see it as a short-term way of building interest in the book.

Going forward, there will be lots more print-on-demand options. With the release of this book, Margo Baldwin and Chelsea Green invented something new. This was as much a political emergency as a marketing strategy--one pro-Obama book in an ocean of hostile ones, needing to find its audience and fast.

All innovators take risks. For a small publishing house that depends on the goodwill of booksellers, this was a huge one. The book could have a shelf life of just eight weeks. If Obama loses, this book will be a historic curiosity, and we will have a bonfire of unsold books. If he wins, maybe it will make a difference.

Comments

[Michael57]

I am a big fan of Obama and applaud your book, but as an independent bookseller I was appalled by Chelsea Green's boneheaded choice. The idea that they had to use Amazon because no one else could deliver the title in time was ludicrous and was indeed proven false this weekend, when Ingram pushed out 30,000 copies of the Sarah Palin bio for the little publisher in Washington that had the only book on her. Chelsea didn't do you any favors.

[ScooterLiddy]

I just checked and it's not available on Kindle. I'll buy it if you put it on Kindle...

[Poyda]

This is a difficult one. I love HuffingtonPost!

[Bettysdad]

Choosing this exact point in time to experiment with a new book distribution method shows a detachment from reality that's hard to comprehend.

Failing to predict the backlash that would ensue is equally incomprehensible

Failing to understand that independent booksellers have to survive before they can worry about politics is a level of arrogance beyond the pale.

Don't experiment when it matters. Chefs try out new recipes on the staff, not the paying customers.

You did this to yourself. Don't blame anyone else.

[HutLandon]

A key issue for independents (and I'm sure B&N) is that the convention push for the book will drive many folks to bookstores for the book, whereupon they'll be told it's not available through them for 2-3 weeks. Forget the additional sales that will accrue to Amazon; the perception will be that the bookstores are, at best, sources of disappointment or, at worst, backwater yokels who don't have and can't get a hugely-publicized title.

Consumers don't understand launch plans or staggered release dates -- they just want the book. When bookstores can't deliver in those first weeks, they look bad. Hard enough to compete against a Wall Street-financed seller that ducks sales tax collection and sells books at or below cost when it suits their purpose without handing them a gift-wrapped exclusive.

Independents have been competing against chains for years, and we're still around. No whining - all we ask for is a level playing field.

[S1m0n]

Amazon's hardly the shrinking violet in this; in fact, they likely started it, as much as it sucks to have YOUR book turned into a pawn.

They've been trying to leverage their on-line sales dominance to corner the market for print-on-demand books. After years of dealing with a number of POD publishers, businesses which pioneered and then developed this market, Amazon recently began refusing to carry any POD books that weren't produced through their internal POD operation.

Given that, it's hardly startling that the competition would react badly to the news that Amazon's POD operation is now going to be scooping their regular hardcover releases, as well. In fact, I couldn't imagine doing anything but the exact same thing, if I was in their shoes. Would you? If you'd contracted to buy a whole lot of something time sensitive to resell to the retail market, and then discovered that the wholesaler you're dealing with was selling to the competition for a better price and guarranteeing earlier shipment, wouldn't YOU tell the wholesaler to eff off and keep their damn books, because you don't want them any more? I would.

[mlaiuppa]

Barnes and Noble isn't the only game in town. High time they grasped that bit of reality. This decision won't do anything but deny them revenue.

[TrooAmerican]

Rock ON~~!

[booksnmore4you]

Or is it that the B&N decision-makers are in the Rethuglican tank and are using this amazon deal as a convenient excuse to squelch a positive Obama book in their stores?

[Michael57]

This is what Google is for. The Riggios are committed Democrats. Look it up!

[Schallvain]

Why would a store invest in a stock of books that will have the limited sales expectations of this book. We all know that there are already numerous pro and anti Obama and McCain books out there. The market is saturated. Because of this, no retail store is going to invest in stocking a book that has previously been released and has a very short shelf life. I think the Amazon POD is the smart way to sell this book. Personally, I would not even recommend it for wide release.

[vallon]

Of course. We'll reserve 'wide releases' for the Obama bashing books, right?

[Schallvain]

Unfortunately bashing books do sell better on both sides, but as I said, I think the market is saturated with both and any publishing house releasing a book or a bookstore stocking a book on either candidate from now to election is probably wasting money, shelf-space, and paper.

[dharmawire]

"Green books" -- isn't that an oxymoron?

[racom]

Not when you own the 'Kindle'. Check it out at Amazon.

[Babzter]

Just ordered two on Amazon. Who buys books in stores anymore anyway? They're inconvenient, never have what you want, and charge a lot more. I guess the coffee and the comfy chairs make up for it....

[stormkite]

But you get to browse... which, for some of us old pharts, is FAR more important than coffee or comfy chairs. (not that I objext to getting to sit in a comfy chair while I browse, and my favorite bookstore has decent coffee and a very quixotic and quirky bookseller for conversation...)

It's kind of like using online dictionaries. I get the definition I need in seconds, which I guess is efficient, but it's not interesting. What I DON'T get is all the other great words I didn't know, which I would have found wandering my way through Webster's Third... which trips usually involve packing provisions and sometimes a tent.

Plus you meet the most interesting people wandering through bookstores....

[Bettysdad]

Some people will actually drop a few extra bucks in support of a local merchant.

I know, it's pretty crazy.

[weaselbasher]

Barnes and Noble are one of the sponsors of the Limbaugh propaganda program. Needless to say I won't buy anything there.

[algoa456]

Thanks for telling me - I'll switch my substantial book buying account to B&N immediately

[Bettysdad]

Wall St predicts that either Borders or BN will be going bankrupt soon.

You may have the last laugh.

[Michael57]

Yes, either one. except it's only Borders. Doesn't anyone here know how to use their PC??

[xargaw]

I can't tell you how many times I have walked out of the giant B&N because they have not had the book I sought and gone home and ordered it on Amazon. They are huge, but they have a disporportionate amount of fluff books, bargain coffee table books, cook books, decorating books, and accessories. People that read history and current non-fiction are often dismayed by not finding their text. I suppose they stock what Americans buy and that explains the demise of great book stores.

[BookDesigner]

I am envious that you were ever able to visit a single "great book store" that stocked every title you were interested in. I have never encountered that kind of bookstore.

Closer to the real experience of most book lovers, any bookstore will gladly order a title for a customer, if that title is still in print. Their problem now, of course, is that it's much faster to get the title through Amazon.

As a VERY small publisher (not talking about my body size), I have a great deal of trouble getting any titles into brick and mortar bookstores. Amazon and other online booksellers provide the best way possible for publishers like me to get their titles in front of potential buyers/readers.

[mscriblerus]

You are so right. B&N is becoming to books what Taco Bell is to traditional Mexican food. I always go straight to the desk to check for a book before looking now. Nothing more irritating than spending twenty minutes searching for something that isn't there. If you are not looking for a best seller or a caramel machiato, they tend to be more miss than hit.