Please take my commentary as seriously as if John Cleese was giving it while he wore a wig.
Imagine, if you will, that Amazon is a witch. They have used magic to make it so your cow’s milk is actually carbonated duran juice. Now, no one in the market will buy from you. Your livelihood is suffering, which stinks because this inexplicable buckle on your hat is getting rusty and you can’t afford to replace it. You rightfully call out Amazon as a witch in public. A few other people step forward and agree with you–they heard from a friend of a friend that Amazon tried to sleep with your cow and your cow refused to cooperate, and jilted, Amazon is pouting in the witchiest way it can. (Keep in mind, Amazon doesn’t usually come to town on this day, and in fact, has specifically slept in on weekends in the past, like that time they made all your gay chickens disappear from the barnyard.) You rally together, storm Amazon’s house, and lynch them. Their hangover might be what prevented them from speaking up for themselves, but they also might just have had no excuses to give. Good thing that friend-of-a-friend knew what was going on, so you didn’t have to depend on Amazon. Good old…well, you don’t know her name, but good thing she was there to explain things.
I have seen the same anonymous source cited repeatedly, and fifty snazillion pissed off authors and readers in an uproar over the disappeared books. They’re right to be pissed off, and I am not disputing that Amazon is a witch. However, because neither megacorporation has commented, we don’t know that Macmillan didn’t decide to quit selling through Amazon!
If we were accused of something so juvenile and petty, wouldn’t we want people to let us come back to work on Monday and tell our carefully crafted and yet transparent lies, not let some anonymous, unauthorized source speak for us? This “source” could be the janitor. Please don’t let the guy who files urinal cakes tell you why I make my decisions. I should get to lie to your face myself! I don’t think we’re exempt from the Golden Rule because we’re talking about a corporation–after all, instead of one person, that’s thousands of people.
Nothing new at BoingBoing, however. The comments section ALWAYS looks like this.
Once again, I’m not saying Amazon is innocent (it’s highly effing unlikely), or even that they deserve to be defended. And this public discussion about e-book prices is necessary and vital, regardless of the validity of the catalyst. Still, I feel like Twitter is being used as a time machine to bring us all back to 1692. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss the tweets about the boring-ass bagel you had for breakfast, since you actually know that happened. (;
Please, mark your speculation as speculation. (Props to Cherie Priest, for doing that very thing.) Call/e-mail Amazon and demand they explain the disappearing titles, and urge that others do so. The faster we have some corporate bullshit answer, the faster I’ll feel it’s morally warranted to decry their new soulless ways (in addition to the heap of other soulless ways). You can contact them using the e-mail form on their website (I think you must be logged in, though), or you can call them at 1-866-216-1072.
Update: This is closer to being evidence. They’ve done it before.
Update #2: Thanks, John Scalzi, for tweeting a link to the official Macmillan letter. And now I have at least half of a story straight from the horse’s mouth, I am willing to say that yes, Amazon is definitely a witch. Pitchfork is ready.
…And in case you don’t know what I’m talking about: