Authors urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Amazon's supposed monopoly in the book-selling marketv

Amazon's dominance in the publishing industry and full control over the bookselling process could lead to harm for publishers, booksellers, readers, and authors

on Aug 17, 2023

Authors urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Amazon's supposed monopoly in the book-selling marketv

Amazon is facing a potential lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission. A group of authors, booksellers, and an antitrust think tank is calling on the agency to investigate the e-commerce giant’s stranglehold on the bookselling market, as reported by The New York Times.

In a joint letter, the Authors Guild, American Booksellers Association, and Open Markets Institute urge the FTC to investigate Amazon's monopoly in the book market. They cite data showing that Amazon sells over 50% of physical books in retail, 90% of physical books sold online, and over 80% of all ebooks.

Amazon's dominance in the publishing industry and full control over the bookselling process could lead to harm for publishers, booksellers, readers, and authors. Amazon has expanded from selling books online to become a major player in the industry, with its own Kindle e-reader and self-publishing platform. The company also owns the book review site Goodreads and bookselling website AbeBooks.

The letter states that Amazon's algorithm gives them too much power to control what books readers are exposed to. This can lead people to buy books that are less relevant or of lower quality.

In recent months, there have been reports that the FTC is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, which could happen this month. Amazon is expected to have a meeting with the FTC this week before a lawsuit is filed. It is unclear whether the FTC will target Amazon's dominance in the book-selling industry, but some of the arguments in this letter are hard to ignore.