Since this Amazon brouhaha started, I have maintained that I really don’t know whether Amazon’s actions are illegal (anti-trust, restraint of trade, etc.). I’m not a lawyer, after all, nor do I play one on YouTube. But, in my opinion, Amazon’s actions are unethical with all the hallmarks of a marketplace bully.

Whether they are doing anything illegal is almost beside the point. Market pressures – such as from independent publishers who have been dealing with Amazon for years fairly and within their stated guidelines – often do result in a change of behavior in large corporations.

It happens all the time.

We, as independent (and self) publishers and authors, have every right to try to pressure Amazon to change its behavior. We have as much right to do that as Amazon has to change their rules after having lured thousands of honest capitalists into their lair.

For years, I have tended to avoid the megalithic corporations that seem to care little for their customers. I prefer to use search engines other than Google. Why? Because Google has shown a flagrant disregard for the copyrights of myself and other authors and publishers worldwide.

I prefer to use software other than Microsoft. Why? Because they have shown, over and over, a disregard for the customer and have gone way overboard in their unethical pursuit of market dominance. And I don’t believe they necessarily have a better product, merely the marketplace muscle to trample customers and competitors underfoot. They don’t want a level playing field or a true free marketplace (just listen to Billy-Boy Gates cajole Congress and spit in the face of the American consumer who has made him the wealthy man he is).

I see Amazon heading down that same path and, yes, it angers me. I have always been a big Amazon-backer and have spent more money than I care to count with them (not just for books). Now, they have shown their dark side, and I don’t like it one bit.

I am not suggesting we need new laws to make them knuckle-under. If they have violated existing laws, I wouldn’t mind if some taxpayer funds were spent to bring them in line. Laws and violations of them all too often seem arcane and fraught with misinterpretations and flagrant abuse (on both sides).

I, however, see ethics and ethical behavior in a much clearer light. When deciding on a course of action, I rarely consider whether an action is legal. Instead, I ask myself if it is ethical and if it will make me feel good if I implement it. Almost 100% of the time, that which is ethical is also legal. But all things legal are not ethical.

I also choose to conduct business ethically and won’t do business (or even have personal relationships) with those who act unethically.

Amazon has failed my test of business ethics. They could have given fair warning to their publisher-vendors and made the case for needed changes. And they could have done so openly and honestly. Instead, Amazon sounded like the worst of our conniving politicians, changing their story over the course of a couple of days when people began asking questions. First, they said it wasn’t true, then they admitted it was true but issued an official statement full of half-truths and blatant lies. And we are now supposed to believe, even trust, them?

On the other hand, Amazon could have created a better product (using their BookSurge acquisition) and marketed it ethically. If successful, publishers would have flocked to their “better mousetrap.” But they didn’t. They preferred to work in the shadows, attempt to mislead their critics, and hide behind questionable confidentiality clauses in their new contracts.

True, Amazon Marketplace selling is an option, but we all know that customers much prefer to buy direct from Amazon than from Marketplace sellers.

True, we can all take our online business elsewhere, but that entails restructuring marketing plans and creating a whole new online paradigm. Such changes are never without cost or errors.

Amazon had a legal right to do what they did, but they have demonstrated their ethical shortcomings by pursuing their chosen course. Our company, Slipdown Mountain Publications LLC, is rethinking how we deal with Amazon. We have one book still in the Advantage program but will not be fulfilling any more orders for it from Amazon – we sell lots of that book from our own website (and quite a few through Marketplace). And there is no other source for it, since it is not handled by a distributor (intentionally).

We have other titles available on Amazon through our Lightning Source account. To date, nothing has changed there. I fully expect changes eventually, and probably not for the better. Maybe Amazon will wait until the uproar quiets a bit or maybe they will continue to try to force additional changes behind the scenes. And maybe, just maybe, they’ve done all they intend to do. Maybe, but I doubt it.

Amazon has been a boon to our company and its books, but we can live without them. I’m sure they can live without us, too. However, rather than push Amazon as an essential part of a solid online marketing program, I will now be pushing other options in my roles as author, independent publisher, and board member of a regional publishing association.

Respect must be earned…over and over again. And loyalty is a two-way street.

Amazon has shown that it either does not understand those concepts or just doesn’t care.

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Walt Shiel has been a freelance writer for 17 years and a publisher for four. He serves as publisher for micro-publisher Slipdown Mountain Publications LLC (www.SlipdownMountain.com) and as
Managing Partner for Five Rainbows Services for Authors and Publishers (www.FiveRainbows.com), a subsidiary of Slipdown Mountain. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association (www.UPPAA.org), a regional affiliate of PMA and a regional partner with SPAN.