Why Pagans/Spiritual People Should Be Concerned about Amazon.com’s Monopoly (part 1)

Photo by Mark Strozier

Part 1 (Where we stand)  Part 2  (What Amazon is doing)   Part 3 (Why Amazon is doing this and the effect on YOU)   Part 4  (The future of books) 

(This will be a multi-post article so that I can adequately explain why Amazon.com’s latest manuevers could keep pagan/spiritual readers from finding the reading material they’ve come to love and put small spiritual publishers out of business.)

First, let me be perfectly clear because I don’t want our readers, authors, or friends to have any doubt where Spilled Candy Books stands on Amazon.com’s strong-arm tactics.  We will NOT be bullied into

1.  using an inferior printer (BookSurge) to print our books;

2.  raising book prices to accommodate mandatory set-up fees, increased printing costs, deeper discounts to Amazon.com, and the cost of maintaining multiple printers; and

3.  discontinuing special offers, discounts, and grant subsidies to our readers who buy direct from our website. 

We have always lived by our convictions and if not submitting to the monopoly that Amazon.com is trying to create–not just over bookstores and publishers but over the entire publishing industry–means we never sell another book on Amazon.com, then so be it.  We sell primarily through our websites as it is, and we will find other alternatives to Amazon.com.

We see this issue as bigger than just Spilled Candy Books, our fellow small presses that have dedicated themselves to providing niched spiritual books, and all of our authors combined.  We think it’s absolutely necessary to take a stand against a monopoly so that all readers of spiritual books, especially those out of the mainstream, can count on the availability of current and new reading material of their choice.

Next posts… What the fracas is about, its effect on you, and the future of books.