Publisher's Pride collects insights and perspectives for the book trade.
“[You’re] not talking about the business of widgets when you’re
talking about books. … You’re talking about the culture of ideas, you’re
talking about making art, you’re talking about speaking truth to power. Amazon
has, pretty successfully, over the course of its eighteen year history, turned
the concept of the book into a thing that has a set value. No matter what the
book is, it’s only worth $9.99. This has nothing to do with the content of the
book, and [it’s] a dangerous idea to have in the marketplace of ideas.”
Interviewer: But why not make
books affordable?
“If you ask me, or if you ask anybody in publishing, we’ll
tell you, books are underpriced as it is. It’s always been a low-margin
business. I don’t know anybody that got into the book business, before Amazon,
to make money. They got in it to fight the good fight, because they love
literature.”
From Dennis Johnson’s
appearance on Democracy Now, August 7, 2013
