1y ago

Cory Doctorow: Kickstarting a book to end enshittification, because Amazon will not carry it

pluralistic.net Pluralistic: Kickstarting a book to end enshittification, because Amazon will not carry it (31 July 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

From the author: My next book is The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation: it's a Big Tech disassembly manual that explains how to disenshittify the web and bring back the old good internet. The hardcover comes from Verso on Sept 5, but the audiobook comes from me – because Amazon refuses to sell my audio.

Technology @lemmy.world

Kickstarting a book about Enshittification since Amazon will not carry it

pluralistic.net /2023/07/31/seize-the-means-of-computation/

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Should note that it's not Amazon that doesn't want to carry the book, it's the author hot having them carry it. The headline makes it sound way more antagonistic than the reality is, it's just one author choosing not to publish on Amazon. As they are free to do.
- Amazon choosing not to sell it without DRM is Amazon refusing to sell. They are free to do so, but they are the one refusing and not the author.
  
  That's like saying someone wants to publish an app on the iOS app store but the 30% cut and forced DRM prevents them. It's just a choice.
  Given that Amazon does digital distribution of some items you could probably list it on the site and just have them give "digital access" to the ebook files. I've never gone through the process but i'd be quite surprised if this wasn't possible, though it may not show up in the books section of amazon this way.
  
  Choosing not to sell through Amazon because of the 30% cut is a completely different thing than Amazon requiring that the product be changed to add DRM.
  
  They have a platform and process for selling digital access to audiobooks and ebooks. Selling access to that type of content in an way that circumvents those DRM requirements is against their Terms of Service.
  
  True. But it still amounts to them refusing to sell his audio. If you want to be pedantic, Amazon doesn't sell ebooks or audiobooks at all. They sell licenses to access the content. You can argue that Doctorow should be saying that he refuses to market his content in accordance with their policies. But I'm in favor of him framing it this way. It underscores who the real shitheels are here.

34 comments