"Were in Amazons sights, and theyre going to kill us." • 20 January 2012 • The SnowBlog

"Were in Amazons sights, and theyre going to kill us."

          


I'm quoting from an article at Pando Daily where Sarah Lacy interviews an anonymous, but nevertheless quoteworthy publisher:
"Long-term theres no future in printed books. Theyll be like vinyl: pricey and for collectors only. 95% of people will read digitally. Everybody in publishing knows this but most are in denial about it because moving to becoming a digital company means laying off like 40% of our staffs. And the barriers to entry fall, too. We simply dont want to think about it. Amazon is thinking about it, though, and theyre targeting the publishers directly."

And: "To be honest, publishing is a quaint little industry based on romance and low profit margins. But now were in Amazons sights, and theyre going to kill us."

Provocative and polemic. Over the top, maybe. But I did have a brief moment while reading the article where I thought, "of course. this is all true." Probably because it's just a flashy and slightly paranoid version of what's been swirling around in my brain for a while now.  
Rob