Authors United
P.O Box 4790
Santa Fe, NM 87502
August 14, 2015
The Hon. William J. Baer
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Assistant Attorney General Baer,
From the beginning of our nation, Americans have understood the central role that open and competitive markets play in promoting freedom of expression and protecting our democracy. The country's founders, Congress and the Supreme Court have repeatedly made it clear that a concentration of private power over any marketplace of information is incompatible with American ideals of liberty, free speech, and the unfettered flow of ideas.
Today a single company, Amazon, has gained unprecedented power over America's market for books. We are not experts in antitrust law, and this letter is not a legal brief. But we are authors with a deep, collective experience in this field, and we agree with the authorities in economics and law who have asserted that Amazon's dominant position makes it a monopoly as a seller of books and a monopsony as a buyer of books. According to published figures, this one corporation now controls the sale of:
• More than 75 percent of online sales of physical books.
• More than 65 percent of e-book sales.
• More than 40 percent of sales of new books.
• About 85 percent of ebook sales of self-published authors.
With its own traditional imprints and its near-total control of self-publishing, Amazon has also become the largest publisher and distributor of new books in the world.
In recent years, Amazon has used its dominance in ways that we believe harm the interests of America's readers, impoverish the book industry as a whole, damage the careers of (and generate fear among) many authors, and impede the free flow of ideas in our society.
- Amazon, to pressure publishers over the past eleven years, has blocked and curtailed the sale of millions of books by thousands of authors;
- Amazon, during its dispute with Hachette in 2014, appears to have engaged in content control, selling some books but not others based on the author's prominence or the book's political leanings;
- Amazon has used its monopsony power, and its ability to threaten punishment, to extract an ever greater share of the total price of a book from publishers; this has resulted in publishers dropping some midlist authors and not publishing certain riskier books, effectively silencing many voices;
- Amazon routinely sells many types of books below cost in order to acquire customers for unrelated lines of business and to drive less well capitalized retailers - like Borders - out of business. This practice, extending over many years, has caused price deflation across the industry and reduced the amount of revenue available for publishers to invest in new books, thus depriving readers of wider choice;
- Amazon routinely uses its market power to steer readers toward its own books and away from books published by other companies;
- Amazon dictates pricing to self-published authors, requiring them to price their books within a specific range or be subjected to a 50 percent cut in royalties.
The present inaction by regulators is not in keeping with the history of government response when a single company has come to dominate a venue for communication. In the 20th century, Congress repeatedly passed laws that prevented a concentration of ownership in vital informational markets, including newspapers, radio and television.
But the precedent for this thinking extends back to the First Amendment and in 19th Century law. In 1866, long before the creation of antitrust law, Congress passed the Telegraph Act, which blocked a private company from gaining monopoly control of this very first electronic medium of communication.
The courts have regularly found that existing antitrust laws can and should be used to protect information markets from private monopoly. Justice Anthony Kennedy, in the 1994 Turner Broadcasting v. FCC case, articulated the reasoning. He wrote: "Assuring that the public has access to a multiplicity of information sources is a governmental purpose of the highest order, for it promotes values central to the First Amendment… The First Amendment's command that government not impede the freedom of speech does not disable the government from taking steps to ensure that private interests not restrict, through physical control of a critical pathway of communication, the free flow of information and ideas."
Americans are just as opposed as ever to seeing private interests gain control of any marketplace of information. In February this year, the FCC, responding to the strong consensus view of the American people, ruled that no private interest should be allowed to manipulate the flow of information across the Internet, and established rules for "net neutrality." Only a few months ago, your Division was reportedly among the regulators who opposed excessive consolidation of ownership in broadband Internet, which halted the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable. As recently as 1999, the FTC made clear that such principles also apply specifically to the book business, and blocked the purchase of Ingram Book Group, the country's largest wholesale book distributor, by Barnes & Noble, the country's largest retail bookstore.
For two centuries, America's book business was the freest, fairest, and most competitive in the world. More than a business, it was a marketplace of ideas, with publishers acting as venture capitalists, advancing funds to give authors the freedom to write books, and thereby hoping to make a profit. In this way the profit motive was put in service of a vital national interest and our fundamental rights. "The best test of truth," Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote in 1919, "is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market." What Americans seek, Holmes said, is "free trade in ideas."
Over the years, Amazon has benefitted readers and authors in many ways. But no temporary price cut can compensate for the costs to free expression and the health of America's book industry that have resulted from Amazon's abuse of its dominance in the world of books. Accordingly, we respectfully request that the Antitrust Division investigate Amazon's power over the book market, and the ways in which that corporation exercises its power, bearing in mind the very special constitutional sensitivities that have historically been applied to any business that has established effective control of a medium of communication.
Sincerely,
The undersigned authors:
Megan Abbott
Robert H. Abel
Devin Adair
Chimamanda Adichie
William M. Adler
Sandra Aistars
William Alexander
Sherman Alexie
Louise Allen-Jones
Jonathan Ames
Rudolfo Anaya
Roger Angle
Kelley Armstrong
Rilla Askew
Rick Atkinson
James David Audlin
Gillian Bagwell
Deirdre Bair
Mishell Baker
Evelyn Barish
Rebecca Barnhouse
Thomas A. Barron
John M. Barry
Thomas A. Bass
Douglas Bauer
Tricia Bauer
Erica Bauermeister
William Bayer
Sam Bellotto Jr.
Janis Bellow
Anne Bernays
Lauren Beukes
David Biale
George Bibel
Constance Bierner
Clara Bingham
Michael Bishop
Linda M. Bland
Cas Blomberg
Roy Blount Jr.
Paul Bogard
Johnny D. Boggs
Carl T. Bogus
Estate of Roberto Bolaño
Raymond Bonner
Betsy Connor Bowen
Jennifer Finney Boylan
Ben Bradlee Jr.
James Bradley
Mike Bradley
Kelly Braffet
Jess M. Brallier
Taylor Branch
Gary Braver
Marie Brennan
Deborah Brevoort
Courtney Angela Brkic
Pope Brock
Harriet Brown
Jennifer Brown
Lisa Brown
Cathy Marie Buchanan
Susan Buckley
William Buckley Jr.
Carolyn Burke
Benjamin Busch
Mel Byars
Ernest Bywater
Pat Cadigan
Chelsea Cain
Susan Cain
Wayne Caldwell
Philip Caputo
Peter Ames Carlin
Ron Carlson
Cynthia Carr
Jim Carrier
Betsy Carter
Carol Cassella
Ernest Cerino
Michael Chabon
Will Charpentier
Susan Cheever
Harriet Scott Chessman
Jaima Chevalier
Tracy Chevalier
Lee Child
Mark Childress
Kate Christensen
Breena Clarke
Jan Clausen
Andrew Clements
Rachel Cline
Mick Cochrane
William D. Cohan
Joel Cohen
Ann Patricia Coleman
Michael Collier
Dan Connell
Tom Connor
Martha Cooley
Artemis Cooper
Karen Coody Cooper
Douglas Corleone
Jane Cornelius
Bruce Coville
Lindsey Crittenden
Dave Cullen
M. Allen Cunningham
Robert Dallek
Katherine Dalsimer
Jack Dann
Saul David
Lindsey Davis
Angela Davis-Gardner
Melissa de la Cruz
Aya de Leon
Helene Gaillet de Neergaard
Barbara Delinsky
Nelson DeMille
William Deresiewicz
Joel Derfner
Edward Dolnick
Beverly Donofrio
James Donovan
David R. Dow
Andre Dubus III
Andy Duncan
Tom Dunkel
Susan Edmiston
Jennifer Egan
Martha Egan
Dave Eggers
Robert Eggleton
Kimberly Elkins
Joseph J. Ellis
Rebecca Emerick
Ken Emerson
Terry England
Hallie Ephron
Louise Erdrich
Pamela Erens
Mark Essig
Sir Harold Evans
Anne Fadiman
James Fallows
Elle Febbo
Brian Feinblum
Ellen Feldman
Robert Feldman
Joshua Ferris
Lucy Ferriss
Joseph Finder
Janet Fitch
Richard Flanagan
Paul Fleischman
William Flesch
Ronald Florence
Franklin Foer
Tom Folsom
Richard T. Ford
Amanda Foreman
Alison Ashley Formento
J.L. Forrest
Connie May Fowler
Ruth Francis
Judith Frank
Thaisa Frank
Laurie Frankel
Ron Franscell
Caroline Fraser
Pamela Freeman
Ru Freeman
Jim Frenkel
Thatcher Freund
Francis Fukuyama
Laura Furman
Amity Gaige
Nicole Galland
Jack Gantos
Nasario Garcia
Barbara Garson
Beatrix Gates
Stephanie Gearhart
Elizabeth George
Nina George
Denise Giardina
Estate of Allen Ginsberg
Kathie Giorgio
Malcolm Gladwell
Krystyna Poray Goddu
Francisco Goldman
Beverly Gologorsky
Arquimedes Gonzalez
Meryl Gordon
Bill Gottlieb
Philip Gourevitch
Heather Graham
Elizabeth Graver
George Dawes Green
Melissa Fay Greene
Lauren Groff
Michael Gross
Talia Gryphon
Melissa Guion
Phil Gulley
Beth Gutcheon
Donald Hall
Loretta Hall
Jane Hamilton
Cathi Hanauer
Elizabeth Hand
Daniel Handler a.k.a. Lemony Snicket
Sharon Hanna
Alyssa Harad
Ann Harleman
Ellen Francis Harris
C. C. Harrison
Carolyn Hart
JoeAnn Hart
Adrianne Harun
Todd Hasak-Lowy
Katherine B. Hauth
Roy Hayes
Lauren Henderson
Paul Hendrickson
Mark Henshaw
Rachel Herz
Carol Hill
Anne Hillerman
Hilary Hinzmann
Gail Hochman
Edward Hoornaert
Nalo Hopkinson
Shel Horowitz
Del Howison
Mary Hudson
Nancy Huston
Elisabeth Hyde
Lewis Hyde
James Hynes
Allan Ishac
Diane Jacobs
Linda Jaivin
Michael Jecks
Jay Jennings
Erika Johansen
Dennis Johnson
Fenton Johnson
Mary Johnson
Brian Jay Jones
Steve Jones
Sam Jordison
S. T. Joshi
Bonita Kale
Judy Karasik
Paul Karasik
Jesse Karp
Joe Kelly
Judith Kelman
Raymond E. Kemble
Joshua Kendall
Katrina Kenison
Kathy Saade Kenny
Diana Ketcham
Frances Kiernan
A.S. King
Dave King
Lily King
Stephen King
Stephen Kotowych
Mark Kramer
Jon Krampner
Bernie Krause
Michael Kurland
Dale M. Kushner
Drawk Kwast
Anne Landsman
Mara Lane
Ruth Ryan Langan
Joe Lansdale
Barbara Kent Lawrence
Lee Adair Lawrence
Ursula K. Le Guin
Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little
Cherie Lee
Con Lehane
Stina Leicht
Emily Leider
Gino Leineweber
Michael Lent
Anne Leonard
Christopher Leonard
John Lescroart
Michael Lesy
David D. Levine
Marc Levy
Katia Lief
Terr Light
Alan Lightman
Jane Lindskold
Kelly Link
Laura Lippman
Jonathan Littell
Aimee Liu
Michaele Lockhart
David Lubar
Jason Erik Lundberg
William Lychack
Barry Lyga
Jennifer Lyne
Barry Lynn
Larissa MacFarquhar
Elizabeth Macklin
Kathy MacMillan
Alexander Maksik
Katrina Maloney
Tim Manley
Ben Marcus
Meredith Maran
Regina Marler
Valerie Martin
Nina Marie Martinez
Pete Masterson
Judith Matloff
John Matteson
Alice Mattison
Claudia Mauro
Erin Lindsay McCabe
Donald McCaig
Lyn McConchie
Jack McDevitt
Michael McGarrity
Michael McGettigan
Mark McKenna
Marion Meade
Jodi Meadows
Mameve Medwed
Brian Meehl
Daniel Menaker
Susan Scarf Merrell
TM Merremont
Karla Linn Merrifield
Christopher Merrill
Corey Mesler
Claire Messud
Lisa Michaels
Deborah Michel
Jack Miles
Sue Miller
Tom Miller
RJ Mirabal
Stephen Mitchell
Seth Mnookin
Honor Moore
Susanna Moore
Theresa M. Moore
Phyllis S. Morgan
Tom Morrisey
Eleanor Morse
Elise Moser
Marcia Muller
Dona Munker
Manuel Munoz
Carol Muske-Dukes
Joan Myers
Laura Nadworny
V.S. Naipaul
Michelle Catherine Nelson
Victoria Nelson
Jay Neugeboren
Jonathan Nielson
Katharine Noel
Lisa Dale Norton
Rory Nugent
Sigrid Nunez
Carol O'Connell
Christine O'Connor
Brigid O'Farrell
Maryanne O'Hara
Joseph O'Neill
James S. O'Rourke
James O'Shea
Patricia O'Toole
Nancy Ohlin
Daniel Okrent
Sally Wendkos Olds
Helaine Olen
Mark Olshaker
Mary Pope Osborne
Nell Painter
Orhan Pamuk
Ann Pancake
Sara Paretsky
Ann Patchett
Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
Greg Patent
Susan Patron
Richard North Patterson
Paula Paul
Andrea Peacock
Doug Peacock
Mickey Pearlman
Shelley Pearsall
Bill Petrocelli
Steven Petrow
Rodman Philbrick
Donald T. Phillips
Jayne Anne Phillips
Jorge Pinto
Lesley Poling-Kempes
Michael Pollan
Maximillian Potter
Douglas Preston
Richard Preston
Bill Pronzini
Alex Prud'homme
Tom Purdom
Anna Quindlen
Elizabeth Raby
Linda Radke
Karen Jeanne Radley
Michael Raleigh
Diane Ravitch
C. L. Rawlins
Christopher Reich
Paul Reid
Andrea Reusing
Gretchen Reynolds
Janet Rhodes
David Rich
Jerome Richard
David Rieff
Cynthia Riggs
David Roberts
Nora Roberts
Madeleine Eve Robins
Roxana Robinson
Gary D. Robson
Michaela Roessner-Herman
Barbara Rogan
Charlotte Rogan
Carl Rollyson
Ronald C. Rosbottom
Joel Rose
Benjamin Rosenbaum
Lucinda Rosenfeld
Elizabeth Rosner
Robert Rotenberg
Philip Roth
David Rothenberg
Penelope Rowlands
Elizabeth Royte
Sarah Ruden
Salman Rushdie
Richard Russo
Amie Ryan
Dana Sachs
Cynthia Saltzman
Lynda A. Sanchez
Luc Sante
George Saunders
Sam Savage
Joan Schenkar
Stacy Schiff
Cathleen Schine
Eva Schlesinger
Paul Schmid
David Schneider
Susan Beth Schneider
Lynne Sharon Schwartz
Edward Schwarzschild
Thomas L. Segerson
Taiye Selasi
Maria Semple
Bob Shacochis
Lawrence Shainberg
Bruce Shapiro
Daniel Sharfstein
Jeff Sharlet
Kathleen Sharp
David Shenk
Aaron Shepard
Jody Shields
Peggy Shinner
Michael Shnayerson
Jennie Shortridge
Anita Shreve
Hampton Sides
Peter Silver
Leora Skolkin-Smith
Gillian Slovo
Ali Smith
Marion Roach Smith
Mark Haskell Smith
Sharon Snyder
Amy Sohn
Andrew Solomon
Deborah Solomon
Sandi Sonnenfeld
William Souder
Scott Spencer
Bob Spitz
Nancy Star
Garth Stein
Thomas Steinbeck
Sabra Brown Steinsiek
Sydney Ladensohn Stern
T.J. Stiles
John E. Stith
Diana Stockton
Whitley Strieber
Elizabeth Strout
Nancy Rubin Stuart
Cheryl Sucher
John Sullivan
Ellen Sussman
Terese Svoboda
Jon M. Sweeney
Duane Swierczynski
Sam Swope
David Tallerman
Dominic Tarn
Nick Taylor
David Thurlo
Lynne Tillman
Amy Timberlake
Tolu Tolu
Sam Toperoff
Peter Trachtenberg
James Treadwell
William A. Turnage
Scott Turow
Cameron Tuttle
Gene Twaronite
Rachel Vail
Amanda Vaill
David Vann
Patrice Vecchione
John E Vernon
Karl von Wendt
Diana Wagman
Allison Wallace
Carol Wallace
Melanie Warner
Eric Weiner
Alan Weisman
Rebecca Wells
David Fairbank White
Dean Whitlock
Leon Wieseltier
T. Dennie Williams
Terry Tempest Williams
Thomas Williams
Robley Wilson
Terri Windling
Kit Wohl
Tobias Wolff
Monica Wood
Patricia Smith Wood
Summer Wood
Stuart Woods
Natasha Yim
Jane Yolen
Louisa Young
Robert Clark Young
Barry Yourgrau
Michele Zackheim
Cynthia Zarin
Michael Zeilik
Alex Zucker
Mitchell Zuckoff
Marlene Zuk
Kerry Zukus
Maritess Zurbano