The distressing truth about mega-retailers: relations with authors have taken a turn for the worse

The dismissive review of Highways and Dancehalls quoted above was actually written by someone in the employ of Amazon.com in what appears to be a cyber-spin on the concept of hand-selling. I can only imagine a staff person in a real bookstore talking this way about a title in stock if said staff mem...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inQuill and quire Vol. 64; no. 12; p. 33
Main Author McNaughton, Janet
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Toronto St. Joseph Communications 01.12.1998
Subjects
Bookstores
Warehouse clubs & retailing
Writers
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Summary:The dismissive review of Highways and Dancehalls quoted above was actually written by someone in the employ of Amazon.com in what appears to be a cyber-spin on the concept of hand-selling. I can only imagine a staff person in a real bookstore talking this way about a title in stock if said staff member was really unhappy and getting ready to quit. But this is okay because Amazon.com has no interest in selling particular titles, just books in general. To be fair, Amazon.com does include excerpts from reviews, provided they appear in American publications. Authors are invited to add their own comments about their books, and publishers can provide additional information. In the unedited exchange of information found on Amazon.com's web site, everyone's opinion is of equal value and the mere act of expression is laudatory. This is in the very best tradition of free speech on the Internet, but has little to do with book retailing.
ISSN:0033-6491