Jim Milliot’s November 6 article in Publisher’s Weekly, “Taking a Closer Look at the FTC Lawsuit Against Amazon,” reports the Federal Trade Commission’s November 2nd case, quote unquote “takes aim at a number of practices that have impacted different parts of the publishing industry in one form or another, and a number of revelations in the unredacted 172-page filing are notable.”
The suit accuses Amazon of using “a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power,” which allows the company to “stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon.”
If you are an author the pricing of your works sold on Amazon may have been impacted by its monopolistic practices as mine have been. The up and down purchase prices without your say or input can severely limit profit to the author. Some of this in the fine print of the agreement you signed in order to distribute your work, but if you don’t sign, then you can’t distribute. There are times when Amazon lowers my book prices so much that there is no profit margin on my author copies at book signings. Amazon’s algorithms are designed to hurt independent booksellers and result in price wars that further the damage to independent sellers and writers alike.
This link takes you to Taking a Closer Look at the FTC Lawsuit Against Amazon