More Amazon bashing at the New Yorker.
If you’re of the tl;dr crowd (~12K words!) let me summarize it for you: Amazon may be bad for books because of the tremendous success the company has had selling books, both traditional books on which Bezos founded the company and, since the introduction of the Kindle, e-versions as well. So successful has Amazon been in this area that the company is now moving into the business of book publishing, in addition to providing new authors an avenue for self-publishing, effectively removing the middlemen of traditional book publishing (e.g., agents, editors, designers, marketers, reviewers), people who, the author wants you to believe, are critical links in the chain of providing books because: “A shared sensibility for a certain kind of fiction or nonfiction writing unites everyone along the way.” In other words, we dare not leave such an important determination as to what fiction or nonfiction readers should read up to the readers themselves! Or worse, an algorithm at Amazon’s web site that suggests to readers what books they may be interested in based on books they’ve previously purchased and presumably enjoyed. Can you imagine! To say nothing of the casualties (“sickly gazelles”) left floating in the wake of Mr. Bezo’s carnivorous business plan (“The Cheetah”), for example your quaint corner store bookseller, but more importantly of course all the middlemen jobs at traditional publishing houses, people who, evidently, have historically viewed themselves as guardians of readers’ literary sensibilities.
Amusing then, isn’t it, that new would-be subscribers to the New Yorker, when clicking the “Subscribe” link at the web site, are cheerily offered to have the New Yorker delivered “Anytime, Anywhere!”, including your e-tablet. One of the supported versions of which is…. wait for it… The Kindle Fire.