Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Maine publisher BookLocker.com has filed an antitrust class action lawsuit against Amazon.com.

According to their blog about the antitrust case, a complaint was filed in Bangor, Maine, on 19 May. Publisher Angela Hoy’s synopsis of their decision to file the complaint references what they consider a clandestine effort on the part of Amazon.com to unlawfully force all publishers to use their proprietary print-on-demand technology, using their own market share to advance their printing subsidiary. The complaint alleges that Amazon is demanding an “anticompetitive tying arrangement that violates section 1 of the Sherman Act” and requests a trial by jury.

Hoy’s entry also mentions that one option facing Print on Demand publishers included paying a premium to be part of Amazon’s “Advantage Program:”

However, they did not divulge in the public statement that the terms of the Advantage Program are even worse than their printing contract. The Advantage Program requires POD publishers to give Amazon 55% of the list price, pay them $29.95/year, and pay the shipping costs for books going to Amazon.

Hoy’s suit, which is currently seeking class-action status, “seeks an injunction preventing Amazon from implementing the new policy, as well as monetary damages and legal fees. There are about 4,300 potential print-on-demand class members,” according to Hoy’s attorney, Seth Klein.

Writer’s Weekly has set up a page tracking the progress of the Amazon complaint as well. According to the Writer’s Weekly page, Amazon/BookSurge had been telling other POD folks verbally (never in writing, a sign that potentially something rots somewhere in the north of Europe) that their options were BookSurge or no sale through Amazon.

This promises to be interesting, because Amazon, by virtue of being a publicly held corporation, has one goal: to make money for shareholders. Some of the discussion I’ve encountered reading about the Amazon/BookSurge controversy has almost taken a tone of horror, as if Amazon should be more altruistic, as if they were a library of some sort.

But that’s individuals, not companies being squeezed by Amazon’s decision as pertains to POD publishing. Positioning themselves in this manner to demand use of their own subsidiary to sell books through their marketplace is a curious move, and I really wonder whether it will hold up or if the injunction and potential class action suit will force them to alter their policy. There are other options, and other online booksellers, but few with the buying or selling power of Amazon, which works for them, or against them in this case.

Our site may be offline this weekend, most likely on Sunday, as we host a private wrestling match with a few of our favorite parts of the site, and see who wins. I’m backing the Jell-o wrestling team, but I think Candy may be backing the team that fights using a mixture of ghee and olive oil. Either way, if you stop by and we’re not here, fear not. We’ll be back. 

Christine Brashear, currently at Samhain Publishing and a 5% shareholder in Ellora’s Cave, has filed civil suit against Ellora’s Cave, Tina Engler/Jaid Black, Patricia Marks, and various affiliated individuals and companies.

To read the 19-page PDF of the civil suit filed in Summit County, Ohio, last week, you can search by Last name or you can download your own copy here. Brashear’s complaint asks for “damages and injunctions for breach of contract; breach of statutory and common law duties, breach of fiduciary duties and defamation.”

Say what now?

For those of you who don’t know yet, our new front page has big, big news.

Check it out.

As of 1 April 2008, erotica publisher Dark Eden Press will close its doors.

In an email marked for forwarding and sent to the EPIC groups, owner Debra Durham announced that due to personal health reasons, her publishing house will be shutting down. Her email details the specific reasons why, and also outlines her plan of action for bringing her business to a close.

All of you deserve an owner who is going to be here, who is able to get the things done that need to be done. I don’t want my authors trying to figure out why I haven’t answered emails for a couple of days, or why royalties are late, or wondering when the things that need to be taken care of are going to get done, when the reality is that I will be too sick to do it.

I will spend the next two weeks preparing letters to release your book rights to you, doing March royalties, and closing the readers group. I will then begin shutting down all the DEP email addresses except for my own and forwarding all mail from that to my personal email address.  By May 1st, I would hope all payments have cleared the bank, and on that date I will also close the author group.

Best wishes to Ms. Durham for a speedy and complete recovery.