Germaine Greer says ebooks should ‘cost pennies’ on Amazon

In the UK, author Germaine Greer said that ebooks should ‘cost pennies’ in a discussion on the dispute between Amazon and Hachette on BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Report’, reports the Bookseller. Greer said Amazon’s ebooks should cost less ‘because they don’t have to be put together, stitched, printed, designed, blah, blah, blah. If you skip all that and all you have got is a ribbon of text on a Kindle then it should cost you pennies frankly.’ When Greer was asked why some people were opposed to Amazon’s actions, she said, ‘Because they have an irrational attachment to the [printed] book. They think that a book is somehow a worthy object in itself.’ Also on the program, author Douglas Preston compared Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to Napoleon and said Bezos ‘believes he’s making the world a better place and I think he’s less concerned about making a profit.’ Preston said, ‘if you study history you’ll realise it is the people who believed that they were right, believed it absolutely, who are the ones who do the most damage.’ Author Alexander McCall Smith, published by Hachette UK said, ‘many of my books have been sold through Amazon and if people wish to buy books through Amazon then I am happy to see that. I do hope that they manage to resolve their misunderstandings and their difficulties with the publishers.’

Category: International news