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Authors Guild to members: de-link Amazon.com

By Hillel Italie The Associated Press
Wednesday April 10, 2002

NEW YORK — Angered at Amazon.com for offering used editions of current books, the Authors Guild is urging members to remove links on their Web sites to the online retailer. 

“Amazon’s practice does damage to the publishing industry, decreasing royalty payments to authors and profits to publishers,” the Guild said in a statement Tuesday. 

“We believe it is in our members’ best interests to de-link their Web sites from Amazon. There’s no good reason for authors to be complicit in undermining their own sales. It just takes a minute, and it’s the right thing to do.” 

The Guild urged members to link their sites to Barnesandnoble.com and, “especially,” BookSense.com, the online site for independent booksellers. 

“Obviously, selling used books alongside new ones could hurt sales of new ones,” said Barnesandnoble.com CEO Marie Toulantis. “And, strategically, it doesn’t work for us. Our focus is on new titles.” 

Amazon, which began selling used copies of new books in November 2000, defended its policy Tuesday. 

“It encourages customers to explore authors or genres they might not otherwise try because of the price,” said spokeswoman Patty Smith. “That ends up helping authors and publishers.” 

The Guild has protested before, without urging specific action from members. In December 2000, it sent a joint of letter of protest with the Association of American Publishers to Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos. An Amazon spokesman at the time offered a similar defense, saying everyone would benefit in the long run. 

Used editions are traditionally associated with out of print or obscure titles, but Amazon customers can get old copies of current, popular books. 

For example, anyone interested in this year’s Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, Richard Russo’s “Empire Falls,” can buy it in hardcover for $18.16 or used for $12.35. Michael J. Fox’s “Lucky Man,” which just came out, is available in hardcover for $16.07 or used for $14.99. 

Amazon itself does not sell the book. Instead, customers are allowed to offer used editions through the online retailer. Amazon collects a 99 cent fee for each sale, plus 15 percent of the purchase price. Neither the author nor publisher receives royalties. 

The actual impact is difficult to assess. 

Paul Aiken, executive director of the Author’s Guild, acknowledged he had no statistics indicating that used books were detracting from sales of new ones. “Maybe it has been negligible, but that may not be the case a year from now,” he said. 

Smith said about 15 percent of all Amazon sales in the final quarter of 2001 — including videos, CDs and other products — came from used purchases. But she did not have a percentage for books and could not cite an author or genre helped by the availability of used editions. 

The Authors Guild, the nation’s largest society of published authors, represents more than 8,000 writers and their estates. Aiken said more than 700 have Web sites. 

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On the Net: http://www.authorsguild.org