Former literary agent turned Amazon publishing mogul Larry Kirshbaum has put his enterprise into motion.
His first offering from Amazon Publishing? Mr. Kirshbaum has snagged a self-help guru who's proven himself as a writer published by Crown.
Self-help has long been a popular genre, as evidenced by the many spin-offs from the old Oprah Winfrey talk show. Thanks to her, we have Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil et al. What better genre to open with, in that case?
Timothy Ferriss is the creator of the four-hour body and the four-hour workweek. Whether you live by his creed or mock his ideas, you can't deny that the man has sold books.
Reportedly, Mr. Ferriss is well-schooled in technology and knows how to use it to promote himself. All to the good for an Amazon author, who will need to do plenty of promotion to get the publishing venture off to a healthy start.
Amazon's foray into publishing has made a lot of traditional publishers nervous. After all, Amazon has deep pockets and a distribution network like no other. Those deep pockets might pay generous advances for popular authors, who would leave the likes of Random House or Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Jeff Bezos' greener pastures. Such a scenario would be painful for the trad publishers, who often rely on income from big sellers to offset the loss on a bad gamble.
As for brick and mortar shops, some owners have said they won't carry Amazon published books because Amazon's might is crushing the life out of them. Why help the anaconda tighten its grip on your chest?
No one can predict what will happen to the publishing industry going forward. Amazon might end up like all the rest, with winners and losers, not enormously profitable but not going under. Perhaps more books will be published, giving readers a better selection and encouraging more literacy.
The system is evolving, and who can say who's the dinosaur and who's the fittest that's going to survive?
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