08.09.14 | Lisa Campbell - The BooksellerSpeaking to the Sunday Times, Mundy said that some in the industry believed Amazon was “actively pursuing the destruction” of publishers by its tactics.
He listed Amazon demanding between 30-50% of publishers’ profits, backdating contracts which sealed in July to January, and a drive to sign publishers up to its print on demand service as causes for great concern.
“Amazon can demand 30-50% of their profit and no publisher can live with that very easily,” Mundy said. “It is driving consolidation between the biggest publishers and some houses may well be driven to the wall.”
“Some will say Amazon is actively pursuing the destruction of some of their suppliers. It wasn’t long ago when they seemed like plucky disrupters of the existing order but they are the establishment now,” Mundy said.
Separately, Mundy called for the competition authorities to re-examine the role of Amazon in the industry. The former Atlantic chief, who has recently set up a new agency in association with Ed Victor, told The Bookseller: “The issue that is looming is to do with competitiveness within retailing. Competition authorities have for a long time been understandably focused on consumers and ensuring consumers are protected and that is right, that is how it should be. But the producers also need to be protected and their interests at times may be inline with consumers. I think the competition authorities should take an interest in Amazon in due course, because there are issue at stake which affect the consumers, such as diversity in publishing.”
A spokesperson for Amazon told the Sunday Times: "Amazon has long made it possible for publishers of all sizes to make more titles available to readers than anyone else. Independent publishers can struggle for distribution in other channels and we are proud of the way we've helped them reach a wider audience."
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