Is this why indie bookstores are dying out?

[John Bailey]

Interesting argument I would have had more faith in had I not read a
counter-argument yesterday:

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/14/amazons_selfish_defender_hugh_howeys_short_sighted_ayn_rand_ian_argument_harms_book_culture/

I really enjoyed the first installment in Howey's Wool trilogy. But
I'm increasingly distrustful of the whole social media/sharing
economy, since its basically Amazon/Uber/AirBnB marketing unregulated
business models as if they're grass-roots community farmers markets.
It's the libertarian meritocracy argument - if you work hard you'll
get great reviews from your peers on Urbanspoon and Tripadvisor and
Goodreads and the cream will rise blah blah blah. We'll charge you a
tiny fraction along the way (that adds up to a whole lot), you'll have
no legal protection and in some cases ownership of your own work,
won't be able to refute criticism, and sometimes we'll allow people to
buy their way above you without letting anyone know. We also sell your
data to advertisers, which is where the real money is.

Feel free to share.

On Sat, Oct 18, 2014 at 8:02 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-thompson/is-this-why-indie-booksto_b_5991982.html?utm_hp_ref=books&ir=Books
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l