Jeff Bezos' open letter on used book sales by Tim O'Reilly Apr. 15, 2002

Jeff Bezos' sent out a letter yesterday to all Amazon used book resellers, a response to recent attacks by the Author's Guild for Amazon's policy of selling used books prominently on its site. Here's Jeff's letter, reprinted by permission, followed by my response. (I agree with him, by the way.

Sunday, April 14, 2002, 10:21:23 PM,
Jeff Bezos (jeffb@amazon.com) wrote:

I'm writing on behalf of Amazon.com to request your help with something I think is important to the used book industry.

As you may have read in the newspapers over the past few days, we've been criticized by the leadership of a small, but vocal organization because we sell used books on our website. This group (which, by the way, is the same organization that from time to time has advocated charging public libraries royalties on books they loan out) claims that we're damaging the book industry and authors by offering used books to our customers. They would have us stop offering used books, or at least put them in a separate section of our store instead of on our high traffic detail pages.

First, their assertion that used books hurt the book industry and authors is not correct. We've found that our used books business does not take business away from the sale of new books. In fact, the opposite has happened. Offering customers a lower-priced option causes them to visit our site more frequently, which in turn leads to higher sales of new books while encouraging customers to try authors and genres they may not have otherwise tried. In addition, when a customer sells used books, it gives them a budget to buy more new books.

Second, and perhaps more disturbing, is the implication that used booksellers don't care about authors. I'm sure this bothers you as well, but let me be super-clear-- Amazon.com is now, and has always been, supportive of and good for authors. We do care about authors, and the way we have operated our business demonstrates it. From the start, we've carried a broader selection of titles and authors than anyone else, and we've expanded that selection through the years via Amazon.com Advantage, a program that's introduced customers to thousands of independent publishers and authors. We've also helped authors by discounting hundreds of thousands of titles by 30% (rather than only discounting a select handful of New York Times Bestsellers).

Third, when someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this.

Finally, and most importantly, offering used books is simply good for customers. It makes out-of-print books available and other books more affordable. Making books affordable is a fundamental good (as are libraries). This is why we've worked so hard (with used booksellers like you) to offer customers a huge selection of used books-- and our customers have voted with their wallets that they find this service valuable. Why would any company that cares about customers bury or hide a service that customers find valuable?

Here's where you can help. Please write an email to the Executive Director of the Authors Guild (the leadership of which orchestrated this campaign) explaining how the sale of used books actually helps the entire book industry. Of course, a polite and civil tone is appropriate-- these are good people who haven't had input on all sides of this issue. You may agree with the points above, or you may have your own reasons, but please share them with the Authors Guild. If you make a living from selling used books, please mention that too. You can email the Authors Guild's Executive Director, Paul Aiken, at:

staff@authorsguild.org

(Please "cc" us at defend-used-books@amazon.com.)

Thanks for all your support and we look forward to continuing to work with you to bring lower prices and better selection to our customers.

Sincerely

Jeff Bezos
Founder and CEO
Amazon.com

And here's the email I sent to the Author's Guild in response:

To whom it may concern over at the Author's Guild:

I am an author and a publisher, and I want to be clear that you guys are way off base in taking Amazon to task over selling used books on their site.

Jeff Bezos' open letter on the subject is right in every respect, except when he says, "when someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this." Everyone apparently doesn't understand this. Congress is chipping away at this right with its ill-intentioned schemes for making resale impossible for eBooks, and now you guys are attacking Amazon for following a time-honored practice.

Publishers and authors have always complained about used books. But given the inefficiency of the book distribution system, and the rapidity with which books become unavailable, used books are one of the only ways that many authors have a chance of being discovered. And having read an author in a used edition, I am far more likely to look for their newest work.

Authors are extraordinarily ill-served by publishers and bookstores for the most part. Amazon has done authors a tremendous service in making virtually any book in print easily available in one location, and now they are extending that to out of print books as well. For every sale that might be lost when someone buys a used book, there are many books read and authors discovered who would be otherwise unavailable.

Just the other day, I was telling one of my friends about a long-unavailable book that I love. She promptly went out and bought it on Amazon.

Anyone who cares about books and authors should be applauding Amazon's expansion into the used book market, which is a real boon for consumers, and frankly, even for authors. As a publisher, I'm willing to take the chance that I'll lose a sale to a used book if that means that books that are otherwise unvailable can be easily found by someone who wants them.

Lawrence Lessig will be joined by Carl Malamud, Tim O'Reilly, and Dr. David P. Reed for the keynote presentation, The Future of Ideas at the O'Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference on Thursday, May 16, 2002.

I'll add here the thought that used books are an important part of the intellectual commons, which Larry Lessig so ably defends in his wonderful book, The Future of Ideas. The idea that reselling used books is somehow bad continues down a slippery slope that our lawmakers, prodded by copyright interests, have already traveled so far.

Tim O'Reilly is the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world, and an activist for open standards. O'Reilly Media also publishes online through the O'Reilly Network and hosts conferences on technology topics, including the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, and the Web 2.0 Conference. Tim's blog, the O'Reilly Radar "watches the alpha geeks" to determine emerging technology trends, and serves as a platform for advocacy about issues of importance to the technical community. For everything Tim, see tim.oreilly.com.

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What do you think about Amazon's resale of used books?
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Comment on this weblog

Showing messages 1 through 13 of 13.

• Amazon's per item environmental cost of e-tailers books
  2008-03-23 06:31:31  wolfway [Reply | View]
  
  
  Hi Amazon
  
  In general I support and use your website A GREAT DEAL - however I find your POSTAGE POLICY when buying from your marketplace sellers is really quite UNACCEPTABLE.
  
  Your PER ITEM postage policy is an utterly NEEDLESS waste of money and has a net stress effect on the environment, that is:
  1) needless EXTRA packaging!
  2) needless EXTRA transportation costs!
  3) needless EXTRA traffic on the roads!
  
  Given the increasingly grave environmental circumstances that we are collectively bringing upon ourselves any PR machine that would attempt to "justify" this needless and entirely AVOIDABLE extra wasteful cost is surely in denial?
  
  I buy a lot(!) of books (and also photography consumables) from you and your marketplace e-tailers. With a postage price PER ITEM SET BY AMAZON when using your e-tailers I'm forced to buy from the absolutely cheapest source because of this additional cost even when I note that one e-tailer might have the same book at only a slightly higher price. It would make alround sense to buy from the same e-tailer where possible if the price differential is minimal and save on the postage and thereby ALSO the net cost to the environment...
  
  Surely Amazon has a green/environmental policy?
  
  Please be aware I am NOT a raving "environmentalist". However, I over the last 20+yrs I have been a freelance trainer/facilitator increasingly involved in assisting organisations with their sustainability issues. I'm hired by organisations within all economic sectors (private, statutory and voluntary). Interestingly, of all the facilitation tools at my disposal when working with organisations I am overwhelmingly called upon BY THEM to use Creative Thinking Tools in order that they may creatively address their local/global economic matters in relation to burgeoning local/global issues of environment for the simple reason that the environmental stresses that we are all collectively driving aren't going to go away anytime soon but, by overwhelming consensus, are getting worse. It therefore behooves us all to do what we can, no?
  
  I would appreciate it if whoever receives this email passes it up the management chain to the very top - to Mr Bezos himself! - for a creative reconsideration of this policy.
  
  Many thanks in advance.
  
  Kind regards,
  
  Wolf White

• just raise the price
  2006-07-14 16:40:06  eliot1785 [Reply | View]
  
  
  If publishers are so worried about more copies of their books floating around, then they should just raise the initial price that they charge to restrict supply. It makes perfect economic sense, and if they do it right it won't limit their profits because people will take into account the possibility of reselling the book when considering the initial price.
  
  PS: Yes, I realize this article is 4 years old ;)

• It's not just books Amazon is selling...
  2003-12-16 15:16:22  anonymous2 [Reply | View]
  
  
  ...it's knowledge! I stumbled on this conversation while scouring on-line resources for a seminal book regarding culture and evolutionary processes that was only published in 1985, but is out of print and essentially unobtainable. I grew up in used book stores, one of my first memorable purchases was Lowell Thomas's With Lawrence in Arabia, I had to put it on layaway and save my allowance until I had the ten dollars to take it home. This was back in maybe 1970, since then I've bought hundreds and hundreds of used books and if anything, the exposure to authors and ideas contained in used books has lead me to purchase more new books. Prohibit, discourage, or infringe used book sales, and what you're doing is killing the growth of new readers of all books, and you're discouraging the spread of knowledge. Jeff Bezos should be commended for empowering readers and making a vast array of books available at one location through one simple process. The idea, by the way, that "most" or many folks are buying advance copies of books is spurious, and even if some few individuals are buying such works, shame on the publishing industry for encouraging the practice by attempting to pump-up the sales of selected authors by flooding all and sundry with advance copies. Bad books drive out the good, these same hot titles of today will be tomorrows faded remainders, next week's dog-eared selection on the hospital book-cart....Jeff Bezos has been brilliant to make readers and independent booksellers partners again, and I have had easy access to many used books--and have bought many new books I might never have known about--because of the incredible ease of using Amazon.com.
  

• Out of Print, Yes. Stripped, NO
  2002-05-06 05:15:24  patobell [Reply | View]
  
  
  To quote Jeff Bezos' letter: "It makes out-of-print books available"
  I have no problem with out-of-print books and author backlists offered at used bookstores.
  
  However, I have found several brand new releases available as Used Books. Why? Not necessarily because the seller is a fast reader, but because the books they are selling were Advanced Reading Copy books, which were given to them for free.
  
  Also, selling stripped books is an illegal practice, yet several dealers available on Amazon's site are making money from books the publisher and author never received sales on in the first place.
  
  Again, before the flames start flying, let me assert that having used books available for backlist and out-of-print is one thing; ARCs and stripped books is another entirely!

• Used book sales may also spur reprints
  2002-04-24 05:41:39  balesd [Reply | View]
  
  
  There have been many books that I have wanted over the years that were out-of-print. Had it not been for the sale of used books, the work of authors with out-of-print books would be lost forever. I applaude Amazon's sale of used books. Ultimately, the statistics from these book sales will spur publishers to reprint books that they long ago considered obsolete. As an author and heavy reader, I consider Amazon's used book sales to be one of the most important mechanisms that exist today for ensuring free speech. Books that were once published, but may no longer be because of political or economic pressures on publishers are still available on the open market because of this kind of service. Thank-you Amazon.

• What's next - ban on used car sales?
  2002-04-23 15:46:51  sya [Reply | View]
  
  
  The Authors Guild's argument that used book sales lead to loss of new book sales is ridiculous. At this rate we will have the auto companies campaigining used car sales. After every used car sales leads to loss of a new car sale.
  The Authors Guild is getting greedy and should be dismissed out of hand.

• Sloppy work
  2002-04-23 01:30:26  lord_puppet [Reply | View]
  
  
  I was disappointed that you failed to provide a link or excerpt of the Author's Guild's position on this issue. The resulting one-sidedness of the argument casts doubt on the validity of your points, since one cannot trust that the AG's viewpoint has been fairly represented.

• Jeff and Tim mischaracterize AG
  2002-04-17 13:10:04  Bruce A. Epstein [Reply | View]
  
  
  Tim you haven't done your homework. Bad Tim!
  
  The author's guild is not opposed to used books or the first sale doctrine. They are simply recommending that their authors not "link" to Amazon for several reasons:
  
  1. No Amazon Associate gets paid a commission on used books.
  
  2. Many of the used books are "fraudulent" insofar as they are not-for-resale copies on which the author (and publisher) never made their due monies (so the "first sale doctrine" doesn't apply).
  
  3. Amazon is promoting used books aggressively in the "new book" page listing. It isn't illegal or immoral, but AG thinks it is counterproductive for authors to reward Amazon for this.
  
  See these links:
  http://www.authorsguild.org/pramazon040902.html
  http://www.authorsguild.org/pramazon041502.html
  
  I think AG overstates the problem, but Jeff Bezos mischaracterizes the AG's position, and you fell for it.
  
  Bruce Epstein (O'Reilly author and editor)
  
• Jeff and Tim mischaracterize AG
  2002-05-08 04:43:28  patobell [Reply | View]
  
  
  Bravo, Bruce!
  
  Not only are many of these books "not-for-sale" advanced reading copies, but stripped books are being sold by used book dealers.
  
  A stripped book is one that has the cover torn off. This is a common practice when bookstores return unsold books and returning the cover is cheaper than the cost of packing up entire books. The book is then (presumably) destroyed or discarded.
  Many times the book will contain a notice that if the cover is missing, you have purchased stolen property. Neither the publisher nor the author ever received money for the first sale, therefore the first sale doctrine doesn't apply.
  
  I cannot believe Amazon is willing to be a vehicle for some sellers to profit from the sale of stolen merchandise! Has their legal staff bothered to investigate their liability?

• Bravo both of you
  2002-04-15 16:20:05  sb@gbn.org [Reply | View]
  
  
  Tim and Jeff, you represent the case for used books on Amazon better than I could.
  
  Today I sold a book on Amazon, after years of buying hundreds there, including my own. It's a real mart now.
• Bravo both of you
  2002-04-15 16:22:03  sb@gbn.org [Reply | View]
  
  
  I neglected to sign the previous post...
  
  --Stewart Brand (author, Clock of the Long Now; How Buildings Learn; Media Lab; etc.)

• Resale
  2002-04-15 15:48:25  steve_wildstrom [Reply | View]
  
  
  Whether "everyone understands" the buyer's right to resell a book is neither here nor there. The right to sell, lend, or do just about anything you want with a book except copy it, a right technically known as the "first sale" doctrine, is enshrined in U.S. copyright law. (This is emphatically not true of copyright law in most other countries.)
  
  Tim is quite correct that the first sale doctrine is under attack in many ways with regard to electronic media including e-books. But no one has seriously proposed restricting it for printed material.
  
  As a writer, I believe strongly in the right of authors to be compensated for their work and I have been cheered by recent court rulings that have held that electronic distribution of printed work requires negotiation of a subsidiary right. But the Authors' Guild is simply completely off-base on this one.

• Good work
  2002-04-15 12:37:17  mcwong [Reply | View]
  
  
  THanks for the good work on this topic. It never ceases to amaze me how often one's impulsive reaction to a proposition (eg: "Selling used books obviously undermines the author's revenue opportunity") is wrong -- things turn out to be far more complex than you'd think, and frequently the reality when you get to it is counterintuitive. No matter how many times I get banged by that reality, I still have trouble being skeptical enough when new slogans are thrown out there.