Amazon: Friend or Foe?

From The Digital Reader an argument that Amazon is going to be more a foe than a friend to independents and the self-published.

Over the past two months Amazon has been supporting their very public and very rough book contract negotiations with a subtle media campaign which has kept indies on the sideline.

and

As I have argued in the past, I see the 70% royalty option in KDP as one of Amazon’s carrots. Amazon offers the high royalty in order to encourage authors and small publishers to deal directly with Amazon. It also encourages authors to stay independent and to get their rights back and republish their backlist.

however, those goals achieved

[I]f Amazon manages to force publishers to accept a lower rate, it won’t need to offer such a high rate via KDP any more. Amazon can cut it, and I would expect them to do so once they think they have the advantage.

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