Author Topic: Amazon.com Boycott and BookSurge  (Read 10561 times)

Offline Defend the Sacred

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Amazon.com Boycott and BookSurge
« on: December 12, 2006, 05:07:46 am »
Hey all,

What's going on with the Amazon.com boycott?

I've been observing, supporting and publicizing the boycott since I first learned of it... um... last year?  two or three years ago?  Whenever it was posted on the website.   But I can't recall hearing any updates in a long time. 

A group I'm part of is looking into self-publishing a book (and yes, part of it deals with issues of cultural appropriation).  Initially we were considering going with Lulu.com, but someone just suggested BookSurge.  http://www.booksurge.com

So, if the Boycott is still going on, and BookSurge is connected to Amazon, obviously we won't use BookSurge.  Which kind of sucks, as it seems some of their services may allow for better distribution than Lulu has, while still costing far less than something like Xlibris.   But if there's still a boycott I plan on honoring it.

Anyway, I could really use any updates anyone can share.  I don't really expect Amazon.com to have ethics, so I'll be stunned if they've improved.  I think that in general they remove negative reviews, and have no standards or ethics for what they will sell.  I suspect their general capitalist behaviour leads them to act this way towards anyone or any information that might interfere with their profits.  So I guess the question is whether they are being more egregious towards First Nations authors and political concerns than other groups and issues. 

*sigh*, and here we thought by self-publishing we'd avoid some of problems with capitalist publishing houses...

« Last Edit: January 24, 2016, 01:21:39 am by Yells At Pretendians »

Offline educatedindian

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Re: Amazon.com Boycott and BookSurge
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2006, 05:22:58 pm »
If anything, Amazon has gotten worse. I noticed a while back they no longer allow reviews from anyone who hasn't bought their products through their site. And they've gotten extremely petty, deliberately allowing reviews with ad hominem remarks against anyone who criticizes a product.

We really haven't put much effort into the boycott for a long while. I'd like to ask for opinions. Let it stand? Call it off? Leave it up to individual consciences?

Offline debbieredbear

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Re: Amazon.com Boycott and BookSurge
« Reply #2 on: December 12, 2006, 05:30:50 pm »
Kathryn,

If you do nt ish to use amazon or booksurge, may I suggest booksense.com? They are the independant book sellers. If you have a local store conne3cted to them, you can order your book and pick it up at the store. You can also pay for it there. No shipping charges! No credit card needed! I have used them and usually get my book within 3 days.

frederica

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Re: Amazon.com Boycott and BookSurge
« Reply #3 on: December 12, 2006, 06:35:32 pm »
I would let it stand. Though I not sure how effective petitions really are. There are too many other book sites that can be used. Makes no sense to even fool with them.  The one Debbie suggests looks good. They will located nearest store if possible. frederica

Offline Defend the Sacred

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Re: Amazon.com Boycott and BookSurge
« Reply #4 on: December 12, 2006, 09:35:05 pm »
All of this is really confirming my ill feelings towards Amazon.  I would rather go with a printer and distribution network that isn't abhorrent to me politically. 

Thanks for the suggestion of booksense.com as a distributor, Deb.  However we do the printing, we'll see if we can use booksense as a distributor.

All we really need with this situation is the physical printing and distribution.  We have a long background in publishing, so we're doing all the production work on the manuscript ourselves.  In effect, we're starting our own publishing house.  We just need someone to take the PDFs and cover art and turn it into physical books for us.  We could use a friend's printing press, but we'd rather go Print on Demand as it's more ecological and cost-effective.  We're definitely not using CafePress, who are being boycotted for having hypocritical policies - they state they won't reproduce or sell materials with racism, misogyny or other hate speech, but there are many CafePress stores that sell that stuff.  Also the quality of their T-Shirts is really bad, and I've heard their books are pretty shoddy, too.

If the boycott continues, and I lean towards continuing it, it definitely needs more publicity.  When I first googled for it, all I found were the blog posts one of my friends and I have made about it.  It took me a while to even find the petition, which, as noted, is in a really sorry state.

Offline educatedindian

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Re: Amazon.com Boycott and BookSurge
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2006, 03:06:44 pm »
I think Pritchard might be slipping under their radar because he doesn't sell much anyway. The whole thing was set off by trying to do reviews of H Storm's Seven Arrows. While most scholars and many NDNs know he's a fraud, almost none of the general public does, and Amazon won't allow it. Maybe if someone else wanted to try reposting what's been written in here, they'd have more luck?

Ruel Macaraeg up to his old tricks again, I see.

Offline AndreasWinsnes

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Re: Amazon.com Boycott and BookSurge
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2006, 09:21:02 am »
At least one post has gone missing in this thread, where is it?

Quote
The whole thing was set off by trying to do reviews of H Storm's Seven Arrows. While most scholars and many NDNs know he's a fraud, almost none of the general public does, and Amazon won't allow it.


But Amazon did allow Al's review. It is here:

http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Arrows-Hyemeyohsts-Storm/dp/0345329015/sr=1-1/qid=1166779022/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0350001-9787207?ie=UTF8&s=books

Offline Barnaby_McEwan

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Re: Amazon.com Boycott and BookSurge
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2006, 02:41:55 pm »
Was it written by Ray Writenhour? He seems to have removed all his posts and, in removing threads he started, other people's too.

PS: God jul og godt Nytt År!
« Last Edit: December 22, 2006, 02:44:33 pm by Barnaby_McEwan »