Authors Guild launches WhoMovedMyBuyButton.com

Written by RAWSISTAZ · February 4, 2010 · 265 views

whatnow Today, the Authors Guild launched WhoMovedMyButton.com, a beta site for authors to track their books on Amazon and if the “Buy Now” button are accessible. There’s a quick registration process and then you simply enter the ISBN for the books you want monitored. If there is a change in status, you’ll get an email alert. They also include screen shots of how the book page should look and what to expect if your button has been removed.

For those who don’t know, things started last Friday when Amazon removed the “Buy Now” buttons for many of the imprints under MacMillan, one of the largest trade publishers in the U.S. (in other words, they threw a hissyfit). It is unbelievable that after almost a week this has not been resolved and it leaves avid readers and authors wondering what will happen next. When will we be able to buy the books on Amazon again? It makes others wonder if this is a breach of contract from their publisher and if they have grounds to pull back their electronic rights. Some authors are even starting their on eBook companies to bring back out-of-print and backlisted titles, but others are more concerned with how the iPad plays into all this and if Jeff Bezos simply is trying to corner the market so the Kindle remains the “it” of ebook readers. Or is it an ego trip for both sides at this point? Or even worse, is it just greed?

While I have yet to see an official response from Amazon or CEO Jeff Bezos other than a post on the discussion boards (in the Kindle Forum) from “The Amazon Kindle Team”, (which I might add was really a bit tacky and unprofessional. Of course the Kindle crew is gonna side with Amazon as many are looking at cheaper ebooks as fitting in their best interest.) John Sargent, the CEO of Macmillan has several paid ads updating authors & agents on the latest developments and in most of them, he sounds pretty convincing, but is it fear of the inpact eBooks will have on print books? Macmillan even posted an ad in the NYT for a new release and added the tagline “Available at booksellers everywhere except Amazon.” (Not really a full-blown Amazon-style hissy fit, but it’s kinda funny and definitely makes a point.)

I understand most of the issues, but it seems to be getting pretty political on the literary front. The bigger issue for me is that authors and their readers are being affected and this is just not good business. Amazon may be a major avenue for distributing books, but are they right to remove the print books? It makes me wonder if it is necessary for us to update RAWSISTAZ and BlackBookReviews.net so our members and visitors have access to books we’ve linked to which may now not be available to them. Earlier this week SFWA removed the links on their site, stating “Our authors depend on people buying their books and since a significant percentage of them publish through Macmillan or its subsidiaries, we would prefer to send traffic to stores where the books can actually be purchased.”

This is truly a sad, sad time in literary history. More popcorn anyone?

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