Amazon Acquires Marshall Cavendish Children's Book Titles

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KalenO

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Full story here.

Wow. No idea what I think of this yet, really, but its blowing up twitter so definitely seems worth discussing. My apologies if a thread for this has been started elsewhere - I looked but didn't see one, and the Roundtable seemed the best place for this topic.

I have to admit at the forefront of my mind I'm wondering how the authors whose titles were acquired feel about this.
 

The Lonely One

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Apparently banks are too big to fail but I didn't know Amazon was trying to squeeze into that category, too.
 

IceCreamEmpress

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Marshall Cavendish certainly produces attractive, well-edited books, but the press release's description of the company as "one of the biggest names in children's and educational publishing" is a pretty big stretch of PR spin.

It's certainly a smart business strategy by Amazon, but it's not like Coke acquiring Pepsi; it's like Coke acquiring an artisanal soda producer some of whose products have been distributed by Pepsi in some markets.
 

shaldna

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Okay, the article loaded weirdly for me, so I might have missed something, but can I just clarify that I got this right:

Amazon have bought over Marshall Cavendish childrens books?

So, all the authors who were signed with MC are now signed with Amazon?

Does anyone know how this works contractually for the authors concerned? Just curious.
 

IceCreamEmpress

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Publishers get acquired by other publishers all the time, which is why the assignment clause is standard in publishing contracts.

Can I ask what is freaking people out about this? It's interesting as a bit of corporate strategy on Amazon's part, for sure, but it's otherwise a completely routine transaction.

Having your title(s) swept up in an acquisition can be annoying; I've had the experience myself where the change of management kind of sapped a newly released book's momentum. But it's one of the vagaries of publishing, and has been since the 19th century.
 
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shaldna

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Can I ask what is freaking people out about this? It's interesting as a bit of corporate strategy on Amazon's part, for sure, but it's otherwise a completely routine transaction.

I think if it were anyone else then it wouldn't be such a big deal.

But I think the issue is with Amazon and getting books into stores - there has been a lot of talk about bookstores and whether they will stock books published by Amazon, who is a major competitor.

If I were an author who got swept up in this particular buy over, I would be worrying about the possiblity that the only place my book will now be available is on Amazon.
 

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shaldna

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Anyone know if any of the other authors who were aquired by Amazon are stocked in bookstores? Or will be?
 

IceCreamEmpress

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If I were an author who got swept up in this particular buy over, I would be worrying about the possiblity that the only place my book will now be available is on Amazon.

In the US, Marshall Cavendish books aren't regularly stocked by bookstores--local sales reps sell them primarily to schools and public libraries.
 

KalenO

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Besides, boycotting books as an attack on Amazon just doesn't work, because overall Amazon is MORE accessible for people than bookstores. The less bookstores stock the books people want to read, the quicker they'll go to Amazon to get them, so its counter-effective. Barnes and Noble tried it with DC's graphic novels when they made a deal with Amazon, and it....didn't really accomplish much of anything for B&N aside from pissing off existing customers.
 

Isabella Amaris

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Can I ask what is freaking people out about this? It's interesting as a bit of corporate strategy on Amazon's part, for sure, but it's otherwise a completely routine transaction.

Can't speak for others, but I wasn't freaked out so much as falling somewhere between impressed/awed/beginning to think Amazon might be over-reaching at the rate it's going:) Interesting times... and yes, interesting corporate strategy hmmmm...
 
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