Is Amazon good for books?

First off, thank you all for your kind and gen­er­ous com­ments. I am tru­ly grate­ful, so glad that I can be sup­port­ive of what you do.

I love the fact that all of us share in this great com­mu­ni­ty of writ­ing and read­ing, this won­der­ful desire to add good sto­ries to the world.

Please, if there are aspects of writ­ing and read­ing upon which you would like me to com­ment, do not hes­i­tate to let me know.

For my part I promise to turn the page and con­tin­ue, as below …

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Any­one who has any inter­est in con­tem­po­rary book cul­ture, as read­er, writer, librar­i­an, teacher, pub­lish­er, book­seller … tru­ly, any­one con­nect­ed to the book world, needs to read “Cheap Words,” an arti­cle by George Pack­er in the Feb­ru­ary 14th issue of The New York­er. The sub­ti­tle says it all: Is Amazon’s busi­ness mod­el good for books? 

Be pre­pared to be shocked, dis­turbed, per­plexed, and sad­dened. The arti­cle cov­ers the role of Amazon.com in chang­ing the world of books in vir­tu­al­ly all aspects. It also describes in con­sid­er­able detail the way the major pub­lish­ers have been over­whelmed by the online company. 

This arti­cle is reportage, so it is mere­ly describ­ing what has hap­pened, uncov­er­ing atti­tudes, pol­i­cy, and prac­tices from what I gath­er is a noto­ri­ous­ly secre­tive com­pa­ny. The book pub­lish­ers response to all this is not so secretive—though it may sur­prise you—but it is no less troubling. 

There is no sug­ges­tion as to what might—if anything—be done about the sit­u­a­tion. Nonethe­less, if you have any love for the world of books in the Unit­ed States, you will want to read this and pon­der. And per­haps share thoughts.