For authors and publishers across the country, hackles have been raised regarding Amazon.com's disturbing ultimatum that POD entities and independent publishing companies must now use Amazon's own enterprise, BookSurge, for all of its printing orders or else incur higher costs to have books available for purchase online. This is clearly both a restraint of trade issue and conflict of interest that could severely impact the independent publishing industry. To that end, I'd like to share some suggestions offered by my husband and in-house counsel, Mark Webb. Please feel free to forward this article and its links to anyone you know who may be affected by Amazon's slick gamesmanship to create a monopoly.
My wife is an author affected by the recent Amazon actions. In terms of options, may I suggest three. The first is to contact the California Attorney General (www.ag.ca.gov). California has a very strong unfair competition law (Business & Professions Code Sec. 17200) and Amazon would be subject to its provisions. The second is to contact Idaho's Attorney General, Lawrence Wasden. AG Wasden is this years President of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) which coordinates multi-state enforcement actions. I suggest you look at their website, www.naag.org.
If you have pro-active members in Idaho, it may prove easier to get a meeting with Mr. Wasden and try to get this on NAAG's agenda, but I would also try to get California engaged because their law is very conducive to deal with this situation.
Finally, on the federal level, you may want to contact the Fair Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov). The FTC also deals with anti-competitive conduct. Since time is of the essence, I would suggest trying this through the auspices of a Senator or Representative.
- Mark Webb