I’m trying sooo hard…
I made up my mind that I would mostly stay out of
the Amazon-Hachette battle from now on, and concentrate that energy on writing
my stories and getting them to you.
But, when authors that I used to respect and
follow continue to make idiotic comments in public on the dispute, sometimes my frustration
just bubbles over.
The most disgusting one so far is the biased
article in the New York Times,
featuring Douglas Preston.
Now, I used to be a huge Preston reader – Relic, with Lincoln Child comes to mind,
along with Tyrannosaur Canyon, that
Preston wrote by himself – but I can no longer read material from him without
my mind reverberating with the ridiculous comments he’s made in public.
I’ve linked to the short version of the Preston/New York Times article here, on The
Passive Guy’s blog. Please go read
it, and read the comments. Go ahead, I’ll
wait here for you.
[whistling, looking around]
Okay, done?
Good.
Now, I’d like you to go to fellow author J. A.
Konrath’s blog, in which he and Barry Eisler talk about the CNN Opinion Page
done by James Patterson. Here’s
the link, and don’t forget to read the comments.
Now, a question:
Did you click on the link in Joe’s blog for the CNN page? If you didn’t, here
it is.
Don’t forget to click on the comments box at the
bottom of the CNN page. Patterson is
taking a huge, well-deserved public beating in the comments.
My only advice to Douglas Preston and James
Patterson is this old saying: Better to be thought a fool than to open one’s
mouth and remove all doubt.
I don’t know what else I can add to the
debate. Again, I say, if I were Jeff
Bezos, I would remove every Hachette title from my website until a contract is
in place. There is nothing in the world
that says Amazon must sell those books.
It’s their store, and if Hachette doesn’t want to negotiate to have
their items in Amazon’s store, then Amazon shouldn’t have them.
But, for you, as a reader, please pick up a book written
by your favorite author, and in whatever format you prefer, and…
Keep reading!
Michael (T. M. Bilderback)
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