Confessions of a Publisher: ‘We’re in Amazon’s Sights and They’re Going to Kill Us’

Fascinating email to Sarah Lacy from a book publishing insider, on Amazon’s upheaval of the industry.

It’s occurred to me that Apple’s stunning successes over the last decade could be a hindrance to its ongoing negotiations with content companies — movie studios, TV networks, book publishers, etc. Imagine a weekly poker game where, week after week, the same player wins. Every goddamn week. Pretty soon that player is going to stop being invited to play. That’s Apple.

Apple’s opportunity with books is that there’s already a dominant money-winning bully at the table: Amazon.

★ Wednesday, 18 January 2012