PMA Calls for Amazon to Reconsider POD Stance

-- Publishers Weekly, 4/3/2008 3:27:00 PM

PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, has added its voice to those against Amazon’s move to make publishers print their print-on-demand titles through its BookSurge subsidiary in order to sell directly through the Web site. In a statement released yesterday, PMA executive director Terry Nathan said the policy “imposes a significant financial burden on tens of thousands of small and independent publishers who can least afford it. Without the opportunity to benefit from competitive pricing, small publishers risk at best an expensive and needless overhaul of their manufacturing process, and at worst, the loss of their livelihood.”

Nathan urged Amazon to reconsider the policy, observing that it was Amazon that provided small publishers with a level playing by providing them an opportunity sell their works to consumers. The pod action, Nathan added, converts the playing field to a “members only club to the detriment of those very publishers that have contributed to Amazon’s success.”