Monday, December 04, 2006

Did anyone notice the Publishers Weekly announcement today that amazon.com have installed machines to print copies of books 'on demand' in several of their locations - ie warehouses? This means that amazon can make PDF files of existing books, and apparently, print up to several hundred copies of a book. How on earth will authors and publishers know when they are selling a copy? The only way to police this is to not give amazon the authority to scan a book for Look Inside The Book, so that there is no argument. And for publishers to order a copy of any book which they know to be out of stock which becomes mysteriously available...

It's all too much - the simple publisher with a large back list which they faithfully reprint and keep in stock will have to don a policeman's helmet.

Comment?????