James Patterson, the best-selling author behind dozens and dozens of books, recently spoke out against the online retailer, Amazon, for hurting the publishing industry. Patterson said he believes “the future of our literature is in danger.”
His remarks came while accepting an award at BookExpo America, for championing small bookstores around the United States (and world.)
“Amazon wants to control book buying, book selling and even book publishing,” Patterson said, adding that the company “sounds like the beginning of a monopoly.”
Patterson also called out the media and U.S. government for basically turning a blind eye to Amazon’s actions. He specifically mentioned BEA’s media partners, including USA TODAY. (Though USA TODAY wrote an article about the controversy in the past week.)
Currently, Amazon is in the middle of a legal battle with Patterson’s publisher, Hachette Book Group. The fight revolves around a pricing dispute where the company has deliberately limited the supply of books from Hachette, including titles from Patterson and J.K. Rowling (writing as Robert Galbraith).
