A couple of years ago, I pointed out that Amazon were strong-arming publishers into using their own print-on-demand service, Booksurge (now operating under the banner 'CreateSpace'). There was plenty of uproar about the tactic, though most publishers felt unable to stand up to the dominant online bookseller. One publisher that did, however, was BookLocker - and late last week they had a massive victory when Amazon backed down and settled in an antitrust lawsuit brought by the publisher:
As many of you probably remember, in March, 2008, an Amazon / BookSurge representative called us on the phone and told us we (and other Print on Demand publishers) must start paying Amazon to print our books. If we didn’t, they would remove our “buy it now” buttons from Amazon.com.
After the phone call, we publicly cried foul, and alerted the publishing industry about the threat. We subsequently heard from other publishers who had received the same ultimatum, including a university press. A media firestorm erupted and many authors and publishers alike screamed “monopoly”, launching an online revolt. Several, including myself, boycotted Amazon.com, and publicly shared their anger about the Amazon / BookSurge (now CreateSpace) Ultimatum.
