That probably seems like a no-brainer if you are a reader. Of course Amazon is good for books! I can find practically any book in print in the universe on Amazon.  Why wouldn’t Amazon be good for books?

Then consider all the authors who are self-publishing or whose work is being picked up by Amazon Singles or other Amazon publishing ventures. Isn’t this good for aspiring writers who get overlooked by the Big Five publishers?

George Packer, in his current New Yorker article “Cheap Words” isn’t so sure. It is a long article that traces Amazon’s history from its initial beginning as an online bookseller to the present day. Several things I gleaned from the article:

1. Fewer people are reading and bookselling must market as efficiently as possible to those of us who tend to read lots of books.

2. Amazon’s pricing and the percentage it takes on each sale is squeezing publisher profits more than ever even while publishers are becoming ever more dependent upon Amazon as their primary outlet for sales.

3. Amazon’s e-publishing (Kindle versions of works from other publishers, self-published e-books, and Amazon e-published materials) is tending to foster the notion of books as things of little and ephemeral value–“widgets”.

Some publishers are trying to respond with their own efforts to “direct online market” both print and digital content. But generally, they’ve been way behind the curve on this and Amazon is still a major source of sales these publishers can’t ignore.

Packer concludes with observing that the major publishers, as well as smaller houses have been a form of “gate keeper” for quality content. He acknowledges that this is admittedly elitist. The question arises however of what will happen to quality should Amazon be the only significant gate keeper left?

A few thoughts of my own. I wonder if there may be some form of self-correcting mechanism that will come into play here.  Will Amazon be forced to work out better pricing structures with publishers so they don’t “kill the goose”? Will publishers be forced to become more competitive in looking for promising talent? And will publishers develop more direct alliances with their customers? It may be that smaller houses might be especially nimble in developing ways to reach their target markets without being so reliant on Amazon.

What strikes me is that there may be room for creative entrepreneurship in the publishing industry. Frankly, those of us who love good writing better hope so–and be willing to reward the innovators with our trade.