{"id":1050,"date":"2014-02-14T09:35:03","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T17:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=1050"},"modified":"2014-02-14T09:35:03","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T17:35:03","slug":"is-amazon-good-for-readers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/is-amazon-good-for-readers\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Amazon good for readers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"good<\/a>I enjoyed George Packer’s New Yorker<\/em> article<\/a> on Amazon, and recommend it. ArtsJournal’s link to the story has the heading “Is Amazon good for books? Not just publishers, but books themselves?<\/strong>” The New Yorker’s own sub-heading is “Amazon is good for customers. But is it good for books?<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

I find the question a bit puzzling. I can understand asking whether the rise of a particular corporation is good for buyers, publishers, authors, or other types of person. But what does it mean to ask, as a separate question, whether Amazon is “good for books?”<\/p>\n

Packer’s essay concludes:<\/p>\n

At the moment, those people [people who read] are obsessed with how they read books\u2014whether it\u2019s on a Kindle or an iPad or on printed pages. This conversation, though important, takes place in the shallows and misses the deeper currents that, in the digital age, are pushing American culture under the control of ever fewer and more powerful corporations. Bezos is right: gatekeepers are inherently \u00e9litist, and some of them have been weakened, in no small part, because of their complacency and short-term thinking. But gatekeepers are also barriers against the complete commercialization of ideas, allowing new talent the time to develop and learn to tell difficult truths. When the last gatekeeper but one is gone, will Amazon care whether a book is any good?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At Slate, Matt Yglesias responds<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Presumably Amazon will not care whether a book is any good, anymore than Borders or Barnes & Noble ever cared, or any more than the publishers of the endless series of Tom Clancy spinoff books care.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But maybe\u00a0The New Yorker\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0will care? And recommend that readers buy books that are good while not buying books that are not good? And so will other publications? And thus impressing tastemakers will be an important way for authors to gain sales? This just seems like an element of the publishing industry that isn’t changing at all. Quality matters, to the extent that it matters, not because retailers care about quality but because (some) readers care about quality and various media institutions try to give people information about which new books are good. For example, people interested in American public policy should read Lane Kenworthy’s\u00a0Social Democratic America<\/em><\/a>, and anyone remotely interested in economics needs to read Thomas Piketty’s\u00a0Capital in the 21st Century<\/em><\/a>. The quality of those books matters because I (and others!) say that you should buy them due to their high quality. Amazon is indifferent to whether you buy good books or bad books, but I’m not indifferent and neither is George Packer and nor are lots of other writers and editors out there. Together, we have the power to make quality pay\u2014if our audiences find our recommendations to be reliable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I agree, but let me shift the focus a bit. The value of the publishing industry, including its retail delivery system, is in how it benefits consumers (i.e., readers). “Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Readers, like consumers of any other product, value quality of product, a variety of options from which to choose, convenience in finding the best choice and getting it into their hands, and a low price. That is true when we shop for cars, groceries, apartments, clothing, music, books, or anything else. If an industry has been improving in those terms, good. But the good is judged in terms of the satisfaction of the people<\/em> served, not the products themselves. I don’t ask whether Kroger is good for food, I ask whether it is good for people who eat. And so the headline “Amazon is good for customers. But is it good for books?” doesn’t quite make sense to me.<\/p>\n

If we thought it were the case that Amazon was good for readers in terms of convenience and low price, but that in the long run it would lead to lower quality of books, and fewer options, then we would have an interesting question about whether, on the whole, it is good for readers. But that is how to frame the question.<\/p>\n

My two (Canadian) cents: Amazon has been good for range of options, convenience, and price, to a remarkable degree, and I have not noticed a reduction in quality of new books being produced. So it has been unquestionably good for this reader.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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

I enjoyed George Packer’s New Yorker article on Amazon, and recommend it. ArtsJournal’s link to the story has the heading “Is Amazon good for books? Not just publishers, but books themselves?” The New Yorker’s own sub-heading is “Amazon is good for customers. But is it good for books?” I find the question a bit puzzling. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1055,"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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-gW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1548,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/09\/this-is-not-censorship\/","url_meta":{"origin":1050,"position":0},"title":"This is not censorship (updated, again)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"September 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times reports on authors forming a group to back publisher Hachette in its quest to have Amazon.com charge consumers higher prices for books. A literary agent is quoted: \u201cIt\u2019s very clear to me, and to those I represent, that what Amazon is doing is very detrimental to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"this is censored","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/dream-of-ding-village.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1617,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/10\/amazon-and-monopoly-encore\/","url_meta":{"origin":1050,"position":1},"title":"Amazon and monopoly: encore (updated)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"October 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The debate that won't die. I've posted on whether Amazon is a monopoly (it isn't) here and here. Today Joe Nocera joins Matt Yglesias and Annie Lowrey in his critique of Franklin Foer's New Republic article that tries to claim dangerous monopoly powers at Amazon. Artsjournal.com blog neighbor Scott Timberg\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"still don't need it","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1418,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/07\/summer-books-brad-stones-the-everything-store\/","url_meta":{"origin":1050,"position":2},"title":"Summer books: Brad Stone’s ‘The Everything Store’","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the past few months there are few businesses that have come in for such vilification as Amazon.com - including in many of the stories and blogs here at artsjournal.com - and so Brad Stone's book, subtitled 'Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon', is timely, to say the least.\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/07\/summer-books-brad-stones-the-everything-store\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"a difficult case","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/everything-store-193x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1458,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/08\/amazon-and-orwell-and-penguins\/","url_meta":{"origin":1050,"position":3},"title":"Amazon and Orwell and Penguins (Updated)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"August 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"By now most everyone who follows artsjournal.com and the Amazon dispute has heard of its strange use of George Orwell in its (shockingly mishandled) dispute with the publishing sector. The New York Times reports: The freshest part of Amazon\u2019s call to arms was the history lesson. It recounted how the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"weapons of mass destruction?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/penguin-books.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/penguin-books.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/penguin-books.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":469,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/03\/self-publishing-and-the-theology-of-free\/","url_meta":{"origin":1050,"position":4},"title":"Self-publishing and the theology of free","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Artsjournal.com links today to a story from Publishers Weekly at SXSW on self-publishing and the \"theology of free.\" But what exactly is this theology? Called Self-Publishing in the Age of E, Deahl\u2019s panel featured bestselling self (and now conventionally) published novelist Hugh Howey, author of the bestselling sci-fi series Wool,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"write for free?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/writer.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1557,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/10\/is-amazon-com-a-monopoly\/","url_meta":{"origin":1050,"position":5},"title":"Is Amazon.com a monopoly? (updated October 10)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"October 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In a comment on my previous post, on Amazon and what I saw as overheated rhetoric regarding censorship, BobG wrote: Arguing over a definition of censorship is avoiding the actual issue. Amazon IS making it difficult to get certain books (that\u2019s their announced strategy) and they are poised to become\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"still don't need it","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}