Amazon.com: Good or Evil?

I admit it.

I have a certain affinity for convenience. We’re talking the “point and click, I’ll take this and this and this in my shopping cart, check out” kind of convenience. Thank you, Amazon.com. Two to seven days after a few mouse clicks (unless I chose to spring for overnight shipping), my purchases of choice show up on my doorstep—and I didn’t have to drive anywhere, stand in line, or go to multiple stores to find exactly what I want. And that’s what Amazon is great for. I don’t venture to Amazon.com to browse. I click over to purchase.

From Amazon.com’s reported success, including their best holiday sales season in history (during a nationwide economical slump, at that), it seems that I’m not the only one who finds Amazon’s business model tantalizing. I feel guilty even admitting it, but it is, for better or worse, the truth.

Rather than threatening the publishing industry directly, I think that Amazon poses a greater threat to the independent bookstore. It’s not the readers, publishers, and authors most affected, it’s the storeowner who just can’t pay the rent because readers have succumbed to the allure of convenience and endless inventory that Amazon has to offer.

For the budding author unable to find someone to publish his or her self-proclaimed “next bestseller,” Amazon’s BookSurge is a godsend. I suppose it all works out for the best—author ends up happy, those who care can get their hands on the book, and Amazon walks away with their little share of the publishing venture. Given the number of books I’ve had pitched to me when meeting someone new and telling them I’m studying book publishing, there’s no shortage of this segment of the population.

All in all, I don’t think this aspect of Amazon really hurts the publishing industry. It’s a strange idea that anyone can publish just about anything (edited or not, but that’s a pet peeve for another time), but if anything, everyone ends up happier because of it. Authors get their work published, readers get another book to read, and publishers (potentially) get fewer unsolicited manuscripts to add to their slush pile. Everybody benefits.

When it comes down to it, Amazon isn't the monster that so many people make it out to be. It has its perks and its annoyances, just like any other business. The greatest difference is that Amazon can get its hands on more inventory than any concrete store can warehouse and with that, the Long Tail continues to grow longer.