{"id":1927,"date":"2014-07-03T14:51:21","date_gmt":"2014-07-03T21:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/?p=1927"},"modified":"2014-07-03T14:53:09","modified_gmt":"2014-07-03T21:53:09","slug":"taking-on-amazon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/2014\/07\/taking-on-amazon.html","title":{"rendered":"Taking on Amazon"},"content":{"rendered":"

THERE’S been so much bad news as the online Goliath has crushed bookstores and tangled with publishers, that it’s nice to see a bit of silver lining. Two new developments make us smile a bit here at CultureCrash, where we are too often locked into a grim expression.<\/p>\n

First, a talented first-time novelist has received an unlikely bounce from Stephen Colbert, who used Edan Lepucki’s new book as an example of the battle’s stakes. Reports<\/a> the New York Times:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not lick their monopoly boot,\u201d he said of Amazon on \u201cThe Colbert Report\u201d before exhorting viewers<\/a> to preorder Ms. Lepucki\u2019s post-apocalyptic \u201cCalifornia\u201d from independent bookstores. The Amazon-Hachette brawl<\/a>, Mr. Colbert explained, \u201cis toughest on young authors who are being published for the first time.\u201d \"Lepucki_California-660x1024\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a great stroke of luck for Lepucki, of course. But I read the book a few months ago, before it came out — I interviewed her for a panel on California literature — and have known her casually for a little while. (She and her husband were clerks at Book Soup in West Hollywood when I lived nearby; truly good people.) So I’ll say: While she was as unsure as most first-time novelists, it didn’t take a genius to see that this post-apocalyptic domestic novel could easily catch on. I’m glad it has.<\/p>\n

More broadly: European nations have done a more assertive job at fighting back against Amazon; they’ve got a longer experience defending what they see as their heritage, and have faced up to the damage created by a raw, unregulated cultural marketplace. The French government has now passed a bill to protect small bookstores against online booksellers, Amazon reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

This new law has roots in the \u201cLang Law,\u201d which was passed back in 1981. As part of that law the French minister of culture established a fixed price on books in order to aid independent bookstores competing with giant retailers, reports TechCruch<\/a>. Similar laws then cropped up all over Europe \u2014 including in Italy, Portugal, Spain and Germany… According to Raw Story<\/a>, France is particularly proud of its network of bookstores, calling them\u00a0\u201cunique in the world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No we Americans are heading into a holiday to celebrate what makes out nation great. Sadly, though the USA has produced many great writers, publishing houses, even bookstores, we’ve not done a terribly good job protecting them. Let’s hope we learn as we see how the world is changing.<\/p>\n

And wishing all CultureCrash readers a good 4th and a restful holiday weekend. I will be partaking of some of my favorite American traditions — drinking what I expect will be a California wine as we watch Steve Martin lead his bluegrass band at the Hollywood Bowl.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THERE’S been so much bad news as the online Goliath has crushed bookstores and tangled with publishers, that it’s nice to see a bit of silver lining. Two new developments make us smile a bit here at CultureCrash, where we are too often locked into a grim expression. First, a talented first-time novelist has received […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[612,68,35,124,30],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-amazon","7":"category-book-soup","8":"category-books","9":"category-french","10":"category-los-angeles","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}