Authors OnLine -

Press reports have started to emerge that Amazon.com are pulling the most incredible stunt, which unfortunately we can now confirm as true.

In 2005 they bought a Dutch POD production company called BookSurge, which operates under a very different business (and incompatible) model to the distribution system operated by Authors OnLine and most POD publishers. It would now appear that Amazon have flexed big brothers muscles and is insisting it will no longer sell Self-Published Print On Demand books, unless they use the printing facilities supplied by Booksurge. This directly threatens the livelihood of all independent POD companies and major printers such as Lightning Source.

As you can probably imagine this has caused more than a major row and Amazon.com were threatening to switch off the buy buttons to books produced by the big American players such as Lulu (itself a printer) and iUniverse/AuthorHouse unless they signed up to this by 1st April.

This is in our opinion a restriction of trade and akin to TESCO saying it won't sell any bread unless it is manufactured by their in house bakers. We believe that such a move would be illegal under British Monopoly laws but Anti Trust Laws in the USA would appear to permit it. We cite Microsoft as case in point with a virtual stranglehold over most of the world's computers! It must be stopped!! Such actions are absolutely outrageous for a company with over 2% of the worlds booktrade and 75% of Internet book sales. Its simply not on Amazon!!

To read more go to:

Computer World and The Bookseller and Writers Weekly

HOT OFF THE PRESS (2nd April)

Amazon have now issued an official stement which although leaving many unanswered questions it appears they are doing a certain amount of back peddling as per this article posted on PaidContent.org. and phx-corportate-ir.net

Also Lightning Source have now issued a statement of their own which we reproduce below is full.

Dear Customer,

Lightning Source has been following the recent press coverage and discussions about Amazon.com and BookSurge. We are aware of the concern this is causing the publishing community. The issue centers around Amazon.com tying the availability of your books and terms of sale at Amazon.com to the production of books at the Amazon.com subsidiary BookSurge, specifically requiring you to use BookSurge in order to sell on Amazon.

Like you, we are very concerned about any conduct that would serve to limit a publisher's choice in supply chain partners and to negatively impact the cost of your products to consumers. We believe that choice and selection of best of class services are critical to the long term success of publishers and a vibrant book market.

Lightning Source continues to provide the highest quality digital on demand print and distribution services for every one of our customers.  All your titles continue to be available to all of our channel partners, including Amazon.com, with immediate availability for shipment within 24 hours.

We are committed to providing you with the best of class quality product and fastest distribution service in the market, and will continually work to develop new channels and new offerings.

Lightning Source will continue to monitor this situation and let you know when we have more information.

J. Kirby Best
President & CEO
Lightning Source Inc.