There is the slow-motion crackup of electronics showroom Best Buy. There is Amazon's rumored entry into the wine business, which is already agitating competitors. And there is the merger of Random House and Penguin, an effort to create a mega-publisher sufficiently hefty to negotiate with the retailer on equal terms.
Amazon inspires anxiety just about everywhere, but its publishing arm is proving less disruptive than originally feared. The imprint's most prominent title, Timothy Ferriss' "The 4-Hour Chef," is coming out just before Thanksgiving into a fragmented book-selling landscape that Amazon has done much to create but that eludes its control
Ferriss' first book, "The 4-Hour Workweek," sold nearly a half-million copies in its original print edition, according to Nielsen BookScan. A follow-up devoted to the body did nearly as well. Those books about finding success without trying too hard were a particular hit with young men, who identified with their quasi-scientific entrepreneurial spirit.
Signing Ferris was seen as a smart choice by Amazon, which wanted books that would make a splash in both the digital and physical worlds. When the seven-figure deal was announced in August 2011, Ferriss, a former nutritional supplements marketer, said this was "a chance to really show what the future of books looks like."
Now that publication is at hand, that future looks messy and angry. Barnes & Noble, struggling to remain relevant in Amazon's shadow, has been emphatic that it will not carry its competitor's books. Other large physical and digital stores seem to be scorning the book. Many independent stores feel betrayed by Ferriss, whom they had championed. They will do nothing to help him if it involves helping a company they feel is hellbent on their destruction.
"At a certain point you have to decide how far you want to nail your own coffin shut," said Michael Tucker, owner of the Books Inc. chain here. "Amazon wants to completely control the entire book trade. You're crazy if you want to play that game with them."
Bill Petrocelli, co-owner of Book Passage, a large store in suburban Marin County, expressed similar reservations. "We don't think it's in our best interests to do business with Amazon," he said.
Crown, a division of Random House, took on Ferriss in 2007, after more than two dozen publishers said no to him.
"Crown put in a lot of effort to promote those books," Petrocelli said. "He decided to walk away. That's his decision to make but I can't say I applaud it. I think writers should be supportive of publishers that are supportive of them."
This isn't a full-fledged boycott. Books Inc. and Book Passage said they would special order "The 4-Hour Chef" for anyone who wanted one. And some independent stores will even display it, if not enthusiastically.
Source:Econnomic Times
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