Barnes and Noble Vs. Amazon.

I have been pooling around forums today, despite the fact that I have a piece I'm wanting to write, and part of that is due to the Barnes and Noble versus Amazon "War" that is coming soon!

The blog first blog I read was "Self Publishing-Now its War," I had read a few weeks ago Barnes and Noble may be removing titles published on Amazon, but nearly had a panic attack when I read Derek's article, indicating that all books published by Amazon were being removed.  

The problem I quickly discovered was that Derek's main source was shady, which of course led me to doing much more research.  His source sited was Examiner.  A site I have heard is little more than the Tabloids of the Internet.    

Derek's isn't the only one out there that quoted this particular source, nor is this the only source that has panicked and started screaming "Fire!" when they smelled smoke.  Frankly right now its no more than a big fire burning in a too small hearth.  It could easily get out of hand, sure, and those of us who are writers need to remain aware of it and take it into consideration, it does directly effect some indie authors, but not yet all.  The fire hasn't exactly burnt the house down just yet.  

Having a book published on Amazon does not mean that your book cannot be published to Barnes and Noble.

.In the Examiner Article author/"journalist" Jesse Coffey attempted to clarify Barnes and Noble's statement released to the New York Times.  She received a letter from B&N and then only providing quotes from the released statements said, "From the tenor of her answer, however, this decision is made for any book or ebook published through Amazon, indie published as well because of Amazon's latest marketing ploy concerning publishing exclusively through Amazon's KDP Select to gain a share of a monthly pool."  (Jesse Coffey, Examiner) 

I'm interested how she read that from tenor, as none of the provided quotes were indicative of that to me.

From most other articles I have read Barnes and Noble's "Big announcement" is honestly a poke at Amazon's KDP Select.  KDP Select publishes eBooks and requires Exclusive Publishing within Amazon -- thus you couldn't have that title published at B&N anyways, as an eBook at least.  For the titles that have been published by Amazon as a KDP Select book, their physical book titles are being removed from shelves Barnes and Noble's physical shelves as well.  

"In August, the company said it would not sell print books published by Amazon unless it could also sell the e-book versions, in an objection to Amazon’s deals to publish authors’ work exclusively." (New York Times)  With the release of the statement in January,  “Barnes & Noble has made a decision not to stock Amazon published titles in our store showrooms.”  They will however be sold on bn.com 

For indie publishers that have not chosen KDP Select their doesn't appear to be any direct changes effecting our publishing. 

 
My theory is they made the statement because it sounded harsh and would bring a big reaction because Amazon is fighting so hard (and succeeding) to monopolize the market in ebooks, and is now attempting to corner the market on physical books too.  

I also believe that people are reacting much too quickly and outlandishly, the actual rules are not yet set forth. Honestly the way I see it, so far B&N has been doing what Amazon has requested... They are forcing B&N's hand in removing titles they don't have access to online.    

The problem is for us.  The indie-authors.  Those of us that were not opting KDP Select.  Those that wanted to offer our titles across sites, and have things published in print as well.  How will things be in six months?  In a year?  I don't know - but until then I'll work hard to make sure I am an author one or the other will be sad to leave if they choose to let me go. 

Sources: 

Derek Haine's Blog http://www.derekhaines.ch/vandal/2012/02/self-publishing-now-its-war/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 

Jesse Coffey's Article http://www.examiner.com/literature-in-lexington/the-authors-speak-to-b-n-s-decision-on-amazon-published-titles 
The New York Times (B&N Statement)http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/barnes-noble-says-it-wont-sell-books-published-by-amazon/