Wait, did you say Amazon (AMZN) is publishing books? So The New York Times has discovered! And on the front page no less. Publishers Marketplace referred to today’s story as “Things You Know About Amazon’s Publishing, Rounded Up Into an Article.” On Twitter, Knopf publicity director Paul Bogaards had a small outburst of commentary, all before 8 a.m. “In the world series of publishing, it’s New York vs. Seattle, and Amazon has just thrown down the gauntlet. Game on!” he wrote.
One question the story neglected to raise is how Amazon’s competing retailers will be treating books published by the company. As we have reported (and the Times failed to note) many books published with Amazon are exclusively sold through Amazon in their digital format. Barnes & Noble has already announced that “regardless of the publisher, we will not stock physical books in our stores if we are not offered the available digital format.”
