Author’s Guild Argues That Amazon’s Dominance Comes From Antitrust Laws

Responding to a slew of articles that suggest that eReaders will lead to the death of books, the Author’s Guild argues that Amazon is killing the book business.

The blog details how the online giant is building its empire by fighting with traditional publishers. The blog explains: “Luring a substantial contingent of bestselling authors away from the Big Six seems the only plausible route for an imprint to affect Amazon’s overall business. Amazon needed someone with a substantial industry pedigree to pull this off. Amazon quickly – in time for last spring’s Book Expo America — landed just the man for the job: Larry Kirshbaum, formerly of Warner Books.”

The post continues on to explain how Jeff Bezos used $6 billion in cash to absorb losses for years, and fight the battle for “control of the publishing industry.”

While highlighting the growth of Barnes & Noble’s Nook business, the Author’s Guild blog takes the position that antitrust laws are preventing other book retailers from succeeding and leading to Amazon’s dominance.

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