Dispute Erupts Between Amazon and Disney

[Omaha Steve]

Source: WSJ

In Echo of Fight With Hachette, E-Commerce Giant Halts Pre-Orders of Titles

By GREG BENSINGER

When Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +1.72% wants to fight, it turns to a familiar playbook.

The latest to feel the Seattle retailer's sting is Walt Disney Co. DIS +1.57% Amazon isn't accepting pre-orders of forthcoming Disney DVD and Blu-ray titles including "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Maleficent."

It is the same tactic Amazon has employed in a bitter four-month spat with Hachette Book Group over e-book pricing. To press its point, Amazon suspended pre-orders for physical copies of many Hachette titles and lengthened shipping times or pared discounts for others.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/articles/dispute-erupts-between-amazon-disney-1407714711?mod=yahoo_hs

---

Disney is one of the most widely held stocks in the US. We gave each of our grand-kids one share each for Christmas last year.

Don't forget that Stephen Colbert is asking everyone to boycott Amazon: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/stephen-colbert-tirade-boycott-against-amazon-com/

A good alternate is Powell's a fully unionized store: http://www.powells.com/
http://ilwulocal5.com/

Powell's is fully unionized. Use the link to click to help the workers even more!

Support Us!

We are working on a full webpage update. Until then, please continue to support us by shopping at Powell’s Books, the best union bookstore in the world!


Click here and 7.5% of every sale goes directly to support the workers for of ILWU Local 5 at no cost to you for additional training etc: http://www.powells.com/partner/35751/

[rug]

1. Wait, are we for Disney or for Amazon?

They're both bloodsuckers.

[Omaha Steve]

4. Disney negotiates with several unions for pensions, health, etc.

Amazon fires workers that mention the word union.

I'm backing Disney!

OS

[McCamy Taylor]

9. I'm not "for" either, but in a cage fight, the Mouse wins over every opponent.

Putin, the Sauds, Monsanto, the Koch Brothers. I don't care who you put into the ring. Anyone who fucks with Disney has a screw loose. The GOP learned this lesson the hard way in 2006. Disney could tell Machiavelli a thing or two about how to be Machiavellian---probably because they employ all those writers and make all those films and know more about manipulating public opinion than anyone since Saint Peter the Apostle.

[kentauros]

10. I don't really care what the rest of DU thinks, as I back Amazon.

Whenever I am ready to publish my own writings, I'll be going with Amazon, and ebook-format exclusively.

Considering how Amazon is getting kicked around by the publishers, y'all might want to read J.A. Konrath's blog. As an author that now self-publishes through Amazon, I think he's got a better idea of what's going on with how they negotiate with other companies, especially other publishers, or producers of the same, such as Disney.

Start with this blog post, and read the linked content. It's far more than I've been able to slog through so far, but it will (hopefully) inform people a bit better about the whole issue that the "regular" news media is either ignoring or simply unable to understand well enough to report on properly.

[proverbialwisdom]

12. Agree, it's not hard to defer on this to Konrath and pal: former CIA, novelist, blogger "Barry sez."

http://barryeisler.blogspot.com

http://www.barryeisler.com/faultline.php
http://www.barryeisler.com/inside-out.php

http://online.wsj.com/articles/amazon-aims-at-publisher-hachettes-ceo-in-contract-dispute-1407576530

<>

Hachette has resisted Amazon's calls to set most e-book prices at $9.99, rather than $12.99 or $14.99. Amazon, which controls more than 60% of the e-book market, has said that the lower price would drive more overall sales for the industry and increase Hachette's and other publishers' total revenue.

<>

Hachette, meanwhile, has been largely quiet about the talks, though some of its prominent authors, including talk-show host Stephen Colbert, have taken Amazon to task.

Amazon contends e-books represent just 1% of Lagardere's revenue, meaning the company could agree to its demands with little impact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachette_Book_Group_USA

Hachette Book Group USA
Book Publishers company
Hachette Book Group is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Group.

http://quotes.wsj.com/FR/XPAR/MMB/company-people

Employees - 24,006
Sector - Publishing
Sales or Revenue - 7.22 B

Company Overview
Description

Lagardère SCA operates as a media group company. It provides media services, including publishing of books and magazines; provides television and radio broadcasting and promotes sport events. The company operates through four divisions: Lagardère Publishing, Lagardère Active, Lagardère Services and Lagardère Unlimited. The Lagardère Publishing division engages in the book publishing and e-publishing businesses, which cover the areas of education, general literature, illustrated books, part works, dictionaries and youth works and distribution. The Lagardère Active division involves in the magazine publishing, audiovisual (Radio, Television, Audiovisual Production), digital and advertising sales brokerage businesses. The Lagardère Services division is engaged in the travel retail and distribution businesses, as well as LS distribution, LS travel retail EMEA, LS travel retail ASPAC and LS travel retail North America. The Lagardère Unlimited division is specialized in the Sport Industry and Entertainment businesses, this division also involves in the management of broadcasting rights, marketing of rights and associated products, organization and management of events, representation of celebrities, consulting in the management and operation of stadiums and multipurpose venues and management of sports training academies. The company was founded in 1826 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

[kentauros]

13. Oddly enough, I don't read either Konrath's or Eisler's books.

But I like reading Konrath's blog when he has Barry on it together. They're usually skewering someone in the publishing industry or the Author's Guide, so it's always worth reading, and learning even more than you'll find in the news media.

Thanks for the links! More reading to bury me

[Omaha Steve]

16. You could do an interview...

Stephen Colbert would love to talk to you on his show.

[kentauros]

17. Or, Colbert could interview Konrath.

And Konrath would take him to task over the subject, too:

Don't condemn until you know the facts. And in this case, the fact is Hachette wants your book prices to be higher. They believe they can tell Amazon what prices to sell their books for.

And if you know anything about the relationship between publishers and sellers, you'd know that what Hatchette wants is contrary to how it works for the rest of the industry.

How's that for a double-standard?

[Omaha Steve]

18. Amazon goes agitprop: What they said vs. what they mean

http://www.zdnet.com/amazon-goes-agitprop-what-they-said-vs-what-they-mean-7000032479/

Summary: Amazon and book publisher Hatchette have begun a propaganda war against each other. Now, Amazon is reaching out to readers and authors. We interpret Amazon's comment and go behind the bluster.

By David Gewirtz for ZDNet Government | August 11, 2014 -- 12:00 GMT (05:00 PDT)

For the past few months, Amazon has been at war with one of the largest book publishers, Hatchette. Amazon is trying to force Hatchette to adjust its book prices to under $10, but Hatchette has thus far refused. Actually, to be fair, Amazon has been at war with publishers over pricing for years, but this is the latest battle in that prolonged war.

So, Amazon took action by delaying shipment and refusing to sell some of Hatchette's books. This is big because some of our favorite authors are effectively blocked from selling their books.

The battle took a new turn this weekend to an old form of political communication. Back in the communism days of the Soviet Union, the Otdel Agitatsii i Propagandy (the USSR's department of agitation and propaganda) produced all forms of pamphlets, movies, posters, and other propaganda in an attempt to win hearts and minds. This was called agitprop. This weekend, both Amazon and Hatchette went agitprop.

Hatchette's authors (presumably with the coordination of Hatchette) took out an ad in the New York Times, calling for Amazon to yield. You can read the piece by the Hatchette authors at authorsunited.com.

FULL story at link.

Let us not forget Disney etc. Amazon is chasing lower prices at the expense of the content creators including the little people.

[kentauros]

19. zdnet is not being truthful in how pricing works with publishers.

There's this thing called the "Agency Model" and I highly recommend reading my link. Knowing how it works will hopefully educate you on why Hatchette and the rest of the legacy publishers will continue the dirty tricks even after losing their fight with the DoJ for colluding with Apple to keep ebook prices high.

Really now, read the Konrath and Barry Eisler links I and proverbialwisdom have provided so you can be informed by real, working authors, the people that have experience with both being published by legacy publishers (and all the crap they had to endure) as well as self-publishing through Amazon. I know Amazon is one of the biggest enemies of DU, for so many different reasons, but in this particular case, they are not the enemy; Hatchette and Disney are for trying to force their greed through Amazon and onto us, the consumers.

[Omaha Steve]

20. AMAZON VS. HACHETTE: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS FEUD

It seems there are several articles that support the publishers with different reasons.

http://www.bustle.com/articles/26570-amazon-vs-hachette-everything-you-need-to-know-about-this-feud

Snip: IF HACHETTE WINS, WHAT HAPPENS?

Well, it would be a major blow to Amazon’s power, especially in terms of perception. Right now Amazon is considered to be unstoppable, so if Hachette comes out on top, that will be huge. It also sets the precedent for publishers being able to control the price of their own ebooks, even when they’re sold through retailers, which is something that will definitely affect the books landscape for years.

On the other hand, everything Amazon wants Hachette to do would most likely result in lower prices for the consumer. So a Hachette victory means we don’t get our books quite so super cheap.

IF AMAZON WINS, WHAT HAPPENS?

Prices for the consumer would probably drop some, though we can’t say for sure since we don’t have concrete details.

It also sets its own precedent and would make publishing houses much less likely to try taking Amazon on in the future. While this could result in even lower prices for the consumer, it could be very, very bad for publishing houses, which are already struggling. The books industry is massive, but publishing companies themselves don’t reap outrageous profits, and their profit margins have been eroded over the years. If Amazon cuts into that with further discounts, it could spell doom for some companies.

And no matter who wins, its possible the reputations of both companies will be damaged.

SO WHO SHOULD I BE ROOTING FOR?

It’s ultimately up to you. Lots of people want Amazon to win because it would theoretically mean better prices for the rest of us, or they think publishing houses have too much power. However, Amazon has been trying to gain total control over the book publishing industry for a long time now, and that just doesn’t sit well with lots of people (including me; God help us if they ever get the monopoly they want). Your call on this one.

MUCH more at link.

[kentauros]

21. Well, that was a biased piece. For Hachette.

Did you read this part? Especially the part I emboldened?

Basically, Amazon and Hachette are in negotiations regarding Hachette books sold by Amazon. Both sides are keeping the details secret

After reading that, I noticed just how the opinion piece was worded. Too much supposition going on for my tastes.

So, let me offer up this bit of back and forth between two authors:

Fisking Lilith Saintcrow and the Hachette/Amazon Situation
Scroll down to the comments section, and look for a user/author by the name of "canonizer" as well as "Joe Konrath." Their posts aren't one after the other, but they do finally agree that none of them have any semblance of "full details" on what's truly going on between the two companies.

In this case, I'm more apt to believe the personal experience of authors with a stake in this situation than reporters with limited access (or interest) to the same authors. I will admit that Konrath and the authors that either comment on his site or are asked to blog there seem able to read far more on this issue than I could ever hope to achieve (slow reading speed here.) After seeing plenty of resourced information, I'm still inclined to take their side than that of the legacy publishers and their lapdogs (Authors Guild, et al.)

Oh, one thing that stood out in that opinion piece you posted was that the writer of it seemed to think it was a bad thing that the legacy publishers are hurting right now. What is not pointed out is how they brought it on themselves with antiquated business practices. Amazon (and other online ebook publishers) discarded that route, instead to favor authors and their readers. Legacy publishers give authors between 5% and 17.5% royalties, and often delay any payment to the author by eighteen months. Amazon gives 70%, paying out that cut within one month. Which would you pick?

[BrotherIvan]

11. You got that right

[onehandle]

2. Disney has actual value. Amazon is Walmart 2.0. nt

[PoliticAverse]

3. Bloomberg.com story on the issue...

Last edited Mon Aug 11, 2014, 09:18 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-10/amazon-blocks-disney-dvds-pre-orders-amid-hachette-spat.html

[mrsadm]

5. Amazon isn't doing anything Walmart has not done for years

Not saying it's right, squeezing wholesalers through their might, but *please* don't act like this is something new invented by Amazon.

[rickyhall]

6. Ain't monopolistic capitalism great.

[conservaphobe]

7. Amazon, a greedy company itself, is forcing greedy companies to lower prices.

I am getting pretty sick of digital content being almost the same price as physical content.

If Amazon's tactics means me paying less, so be it.

[McCamy Taylor]

8. Never f**k with the Mouse. Amazon is going down.

[littlemissmartypants]

14. LOL. nt

[davidpdx]

15. I fully support Powell's

I was just in the store (twice actually) with in the last few weeks when I flew into Portland. I bought half a dozen books including a signed copy of Elizabeth Warren's book for my mom. Spent about $100.