Amazon is the big kid on the block of both online book selling and bookselling in general, controlling a large portion of the U.S. market.
It has been increasingly using that clout to punish publishers that don't do what it wants, most recently Hachette Publishers. But in his earlier "The Amazon Affect" Steve Wasserman detailed how the company bullies small publishers into contract concessions as well.
The company is a book seller and publisher with its Kindle, and it has battled other e-book providers like Apple to sell its e-books at lower costs; at a loss some argue. As Amazon has cemented its role as a dominant player in the book industry, many publishers and authors are wondering if they have not become to powerful.
Should Amazon be busted up like the trusts of earlier days?
Guests:
- Steve Wasserman, editor at large for Yale University Press, former editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review and “The Nation” this week published his essay “When Will the Justice Department take on Amazon?”
- Dan Crane is the Frederick Paul Furth professor of law at the University of Michigan and has written several books on anti-trust law.
*This is the first segment in the July 30 edition of The Source, which airs at 3 p.m. on KSTX 89.1 FM. Audio from this show will be posted by 5:30 p.m.
