The Nation on Amazon.com

       The new issue of The Nation has three articles on Amazon.com:

        • Michael Naumann explains How Germany Keeps Amazon at Bay and Literary Culture Alive -- noting that:

In Germany, approximately 90,000 new books are published each year, which per capita is about four times as many as in the United States. Among the new books of 2010 were 11,349 translations, including 6,993 English-language titles. Additionally, average book prices in Germany are the lowest in Europe, with the possible exception of Iceland and Finland. This ignominious "cartel" seems to be working to the advantage of readers, publishers, bookstores and authors, especially those who cannot expect total sales of more than 3,000 copies.

       It's interesting to learn that, however:

One outcome of the fixed-price law has been the growth of a new online market for used books: approximately 100,000 titles are now available. The flourishing of this market is a clear indication that the backlist business of German publishing has declined dramatically since the passage of the fixed-price law. Whereas in the 1980s the backlist accounted for nearly 30 percent of the sales for hardcover books, today that share has fallen to 5 percent.

        • Steve Wasserman on The Amazon Effect, a fine overview of how Amazon has changed over the years and some of the dangers it might pose.
       Lots of good stuff here -- though I'm not sure I'd go as far as he does in claiming:

But as Amazon's six other publishing imprints (Montlake Romance, AmazonCrossing, Thomas & Mercer, 47North, Amazon Encore, The Domino Project) have discovered, in certain genres (romance, science fiction and fantasy) formerly relegated to the moribund mass-market paperback, readers care not a whit about cover design or even good writing, and have no attachment at all to the book as object. Like addicts, they just want their fix at the lowest possible price, and Amazon is happy to be their online dealer.

       Not sure he put this the best way either:

More worrisome, at least over the long term, is the success of Amazon's Kindle Single program, an effort to encourage writers to make an end run around publishers, not only of books but of magazines as well. [...] Royalties are direct-deposited monthly, and authors can check their sales anytime -- a level of efficiency and transparency almost unknown at traditional publishers and magazines.

       I, for one, think 'traditional' publishers could do with a good (indeed, massive -- or, indeed, any) dose of efficiency and transparency, and at least in these areas surely the Amazon-nudge is only to be welcomed (except, of course, by the publishers, who prefer to do things the old, old, old-fashioned way).

        • Anthony Grafton complains that Search Gets Lost -- a modestly interesting case study.