Talking about David Sedgwick's new book The Fake News Factory: Tales from BBC-land, I think you'll find this seriously alarming:
David's piece begins:
Now read on...When I heard through a third-party that the BBC was planning, and I quote, 'to sink' my new book about them I wasn't that surprised. After all, the theme of 'The Fake News Factory: Tales from BBC-land,' is BBC dishonesty. Indeed, it made perfect sense. Although friends scoffed at the idea, I have since discovered that this was no idle threat.
That’s scary?!? He should publish the proof on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteWhy go with Amazon? Their Europe HQ is in Luxembourg where they enjoy very attractively reduced vAT rates for e-books (last time I checked it was 3% against the UK standard rate). With the BBC and their pro EU crusade, I shouldn't wonder that they have friends in high places.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't Sedgwick go with a UK based publisher, who would have handled the distribution of review copies reliably. A good publisher would have had digital prints produced discreetly and couriered them to their destination.
Unless of course UK publishers were not prepared to publish! - now that is scary.
The commercial realities are that if you want a wide distribution and want to make money you have to use Amazon in some shape or form.
DeleteAll UK publishers, distributors and wholesalers sell at least 2/3 of all their books via the amazon website or their third party sellers. Fact.
That's true, but a good UK publisher would negotiate a distribution deal with Amazon at an agreed discount, but equally they would keep control of the publishing rights.
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