The Amazon publishing boycott: an unexpected effect.

A war has begun. It is a war between unlikely combatants. On one side there are the world’s physical bookshops and on the other, there is the online store, Amazon. It is not a war of weapons, or of blood, but still, in one sense, it is no less deadly, for these organizations are fighting to survive. Already the Borders book chain has closed up shop, in the USA. The remaining bookshops are certainly under strain. Yet, this war has only just begun. The latest move is the decision by Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and Indigo (the Canadian chain of 247 stores), to refuse to stock any book published by Amazon. They are basically boycotting all Amazon books.

Now, at first sight, this might appear to be a damaging move for Amazon. Any book published by Amazon will not be able to get distribution in these major chains. Thus, any book published by Amazon, would have restricted distribution, reduced sales and much lower likelihood of success than otherwise. Furthermore, any author considering a deal from Amazon Publishing, would have to reflect that their book would not be seen in major bookstores if he or she accepted the deal. This might lead authors to decline Amazon publishing deals. So, yes, at first sight this does appear damaging to Amazon. Yet, is it?

Consider this. If a book is not available in any of the major bookstores, a reader simply cannot buy it in a physical bookstore. Yet, this reader may very well have read of the book, in reviews, or online, or heard about it from friends. They may, therefore, wish to secure a copy of it. Where would they go...but to Amazon, of course. This would mean that the reader, on discovering that no physical bookstore stocks the book, would log on to Amazon and discover it there. They would then order the book from Amazon. What does this do? It is another step towards creating a habit in the reader, to buy their books from Amazon. Furthermore, the observed fact that all the physical bookstores did NOT have the book – but Amazon DOES, would reinforce the impression that Amazon is superior to physical bookstores in having a broader stock. Thus, this move by the major bookstores in boycotting Amazonian books, is actually an extremely self-defeating move. It would only prove to the reader that physical bookstores don’t have a wide range. This would increase the likelihood that, when moved to look for a book, the FIRST place that the reader will go to, would be Amazon. The major bookstores, by refusing to stock Amazon Publishing titles, are actually taking one more step towards their doom.

Remember this: most readers will not know of the war between Amazon and the physical bookstore chains. The only thing they will come to know is that the physical bookstore chains don’t stock the book they seek – but Amazon does. So, the only real effect of this boycott, is to lower the reputation of the physical bookstores. Clearly, the major book chains have not thought this move through. It is not the act of a genius of a general, but the act of a foolishly short-sighted person, who is behaving spitefully, rather than intelligently. Seeing this decision, I can only say that my estimation of the survivability of the major bookstore chains, has been lowered. I really do not think that they are being run by intelligent people. This decision is childish, short-sighted, and somewhat suicidal in flavour.

Also look at the bigger picture effect of this snub, by the major bookstore chains, on Amazon. Since Amazon is no longer allowed access to the bookstores, there is now no need AT ALL, for Amazon to permit the existence of the bookstore chains. Were Amazon’s books stocked in the major book chains, it would have reason enough not to compete too much with them, and to keep them alive, since their distribution abilities would then be useful to it. Now, however, with this boycott, the bookstore chains become superfluous to Amazon – indeed, they have become nothing more than direct competitors. In this situation, the best thing for Amazon to do, is to eliminate the competition altogether. I can therefore see that this boycott by the major bookstore chains, is going to have a contradictory effect. Instead of weakening Amazon, it is going to weaken the bookstores (for it will lower their reputation for being well-stocked and it will encourage online book purchases) – and it will also strengthen Amazon’s resolve to bring them down.

The major bookstore chains are likely to go out of business, in years to come, not because of Amazon, entirely, but because of themselves. They are not being led by wise men (or women) and their business strategies are actually self-defeating or suicidal, if viewed with a deeper understanding of all their ramifications. The major bookstore chains are doomed to die – not from competition, but from stupidity.

At this time, it looks very much like Amazon will win this war and that the major bookstore chains will leave the scene, one by one. This, however, could have been avoided if only both sides had worked out a way to co-exist. This could have been done quite simply: all the major bookstore chains had to do, was to stock Amazon’s books...then Amazon would have reason to keep them alive, or not to push them out too strongly. Now, however, it is very much a Last Man Standing scenario...and that “man” is almost certainly going to be Amazon.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Do words have value anymore?

I write. At one time, relatively few people wrote. In such times, words had value...and those who wrote them were viewed as special in some way. Indeed, there was once a time in which to be able to read and write would have been seen as almost magical. Now, however, everyone – well, almost everyone – can read and write. In fact, almost everyone seems to be doing so, simultaneously, on the Internet. Everyone seems to have a blog and everyone seems to be pouring their thoughts – such as they are – onto it. So, we have reached an age in which almost everyone is a “writer”...in the sense that they write. At this point, I am reminded of the line in the Incredibles cartoon, in which it is said something like: “When everyone is superhuman, no-one will be.” So it is today, with writing...when everyone writes, no-one is well regarded for doing so.

Yet, the ubiquity of writing is not my primary concern. The fact that so much of that writing is free, is. Blogs are free, in general. They are seen as something given away to the ether, for nothing. Do people value free writing in this way? It seems not. In an effort to defray my costs and input of time and energy into my blog, I urged people to make a donation...very few have done so. In fact, two people have. This does suggest that people, in general, do not place much value on that which they can get free (even if it cost someone something to put it out there.)

Some blogs are really well written. Some blogs are as well written as anything newspapers have to offer. This, again, is worrying for how it forms people’s attitudes to paying for writing: if they can get so much good writing for free, will they stop paying for good writing?

Then there is Amazon’s new promotion – the KDP Select programme. This is an initiative in which authors agree to offer their books on Amazon, exclusively, for 90 days, and then, in exchange Amazon will allow them to give their books away for...you guessed it...FREE...for five days each 90 day period. The idea is that by giving their books away for free, authors would be able to promote themselves. The theory is that, by doing this, authors will gain many new readers and will propel their other works higher in the rankings, as interested readers seek out their other works – and pay for them. Again, however, I am unsure of the wisdom of this. Writers who have participated in the KDP Select free giveaways, have seen their work massively pirated subsequent to give aways, as pirates pick up their work for free and load it up onto their torrent sites. Also some writers have seen relatively little change in the sales of their other works. Though, it must be said that some writers have seen significant sales of their works, subsequently.

My problem with KDP Select’s free books, is that it trains readers to believe that the real value of a book is zero. Readers, given access to a deluge of free books, will quickly come to value ALL books, at nothing. They will become people who believe that they have a right to access any book they wish, for precisely zero cents. This is already a problem with those who pirate books. They have a sense of entitlement to other people’s hard work, such that they feel they should never pay for it. In fact, some have an almost religious belief that it is “wrong” to charge for intellectual property. It never occurs to them that the creators of such property need to earn a living to allow them to continue to make such works. Without the possibility of a living from creative works, there will be no future creative works. The world’s supply of creative works will dry up. That, unfortunately, seems to be the destination of all present trends on price and remuneration for creative works. A world that does not pay for creative works, is a world that will not have any worth having – even for free.

The writing of a good book, often takes years, sometimes even decades to accomplish. Such books should not be given away for free, under any circumstances. Unfortunately, too many people are coming to value books at very little. They are willing to pay less and less for them. This is an act of massive collective stupidity, since it will destroy the very thing which they enjoy having (even though they don’t want to pay for it).

Blogging is dangerous. The KDP Select programme is dangerous. Piracy is dangerous. Each of these phenomena entrains people to believe that writing is free and not worth paying for. The cumulative effect of all of these influences, over time, may be a world in which there is no more shared culture. Many writers would choose not to share their work with the world, if there was no compensation for doing so. The question is: do we really want such a world? Do we really want a world in which creative people cannot make a living from their work? Do we want a world in which creative people fall silent? If not, then we should start paying creators for their works, on a consistent basis. They should be rewarded for the efforts they put into their work. So, I would urge you to ensure that you pay for the creative works you acquire – for not doing so, will usher in a future in which there are no more new such works. Is that really what you want?

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Eden Wormer: when bullying should be a crime.

Eden Wormer, 14, committed suicide on Wednesday, after being relentlessly bullied for two years, at Cascade Middle School, in Vancouver, Washington.

From her photos, in the article I saw, in the Daily Mail, in the UK, Eden seems like a bright girl – at least her eyes tell such a tale. Those who knew her referred to her as “talented”. She was also evidently quite good looking. I am led to wonder if it was these attributes that led to her being bullied: the fact that she was most probably brighter than the others, and better looking than some of them. It is said she struggled to “fit in”, trying by changes of personal styling, hair colour and the like, to do so. So, it is clear that she was “different”. She paid a high price for her difference. She was bullied mercilessly by her fellow students – until she could take it no more. Her final words to her father were, “I love you Daddy, goodnight”...followed by a goodnight kiss. She was found dead in the morning.

Now, what gave me pause about all of this, was a statement from the Vancouver police. “We haven’t found any evidence that the bullying rose to the level of a crime.” Really? How much evidence do you need...the girl is DEAD! The stupidity of the police statement really gives credence to their image as donut eating dopes. Eden Wormer felt that the bullying was of such an unbearable intensity that she preferred not to continue living...her own action, in killing herself, is irrefutable proof that the bullying was of a criminal level. I realize that the world’s police forces typically do not attract the brightest people, but even they should understand that the effects of bullying are subjective – they are determined by what is felt by the victim. In this case, the victim was persecuted to death. Her death is proof that a crime took place, in my view.

The Vancouver police have seemingly indicated that they are not going to do anything about this death. Well, they should. Every one of Eden Wormer’s bullies should be arrested and charged with murder – for that is what they have committed. They murdered Eden Wormer and their weapon was psychological abuse. They abused her to death, abused her so much that she could not take it anymore and fled life, to death, to escape it. They murdered her as assuredly as if they had shot her. So, they should face the same penalty as murderers in her nation. I also believe that they should be charged as adults, since anyone, even a teenager, can understand that bullying is hurtful – after all, that is its intent and purpose, so, of course, they understood that they were hurting Eden Wormer.

I did some background research on this story by entering the terms “bullying and suicide” into Google. I was disturbed at the vast number of bullying related suicides that came up as news items...some of them from kids as young as 10 years old. Yet, it is clear that very little is done to stop bullying. Bullying was rampant at my school, King’s College School, Wimbledon – both of the physical and the psychological kind. I personally experienced one or the other (usually the latter) on most days of my entire school career in the senior school there. The culture was truly awful...one of bullying the brightest or those who stood out in some way. It was mindless, cruel and malevolent – and ever persistent...it just went on and on, on a daily basis, grinding away at one’s core. Somehow, I endured it...but it wasn’t fun being the brunt of so much hostility. So, I can fully understand what Eden Wormer went through. I fought back in various ways and adopted an outward persona that was so intimidating, in its own way, that it made many of my bullies back off...it worked. I created a barrier for myself, that kept away much of the bullying...a psychological barrier of my own – one in which it became less likely that anyone would challenge me. Yet, of course, though the physical bullying was snuffed out by this, mostly, the psychological bullying remained – the sneers, the whispered words, the social exclusion, and so on...that was unstoppable...but at least I found my own way to close down the physical aspect of the bullying. Eden Wormer, it is clear, found no way to deal with what she was going through. She found no means to protect herself. So, in the end, she felt she had no choice but to kill herself.

Schools, in general, the world over, seem to do little to address bullying. They seem to see it as an accepted part of the child’s world and don’t intervene too much. Yet, bullying is highly destructive. It can make childhood hell for its victims. King’s College School, Wimbledon, was hell for me, for much of my time there...but I endured it, because I had a very strong sense of myself. I understood that those who disliked me, did so out of jealousy for what I had shown I was able to do. Intelligence was not a characteristic that made one popular at my school. Indeed, it seemed to be a liability, particularly if combined with enough creativity to make one “different”. That always courted a venomous response. I remember one other boy, who was physically and psychologically different – though I shan’t name him to spare him embarrassment. He was laughed at, on many occasions...the other boys (it was a boys’ school), would just jeer at him, when he opened his mouth, when he expressed his view, when he simply talked. Partly this was because his speech was odd, in sound – but in general I think it was because he was different. He seemed to ignore it all – but really, it must have been hell for him, to have such almost universal disdain directed at him, on a daily basis. The one thing that seemed to protect him, was that he believed he was smarter than other people. I thought this a little misplaced, at times, though. He once said to me, when I asked him about a physics question: “Oh, you wouldn’t understand.”. That was funny because in S level physics, I received a grade 1 Distinction – and he ended up with a grade 2 Merit...so perhaps he was the one who wouldn’t have understood! Nevertheless, though he was not quite right in his view of superiority, it was good that he had this belief to protect him – for no-one ever intervened on his behalf.

It is time for bullying to be treated as a crime. If a victim commits suicide owing to the bullying, then the bullies should be arrested and charged with murder – for their psychological and perhaps physical abuse, had killed someone. Ethically, and legally, bullying should be regarded as an attack with a psychological weapon, where no physical attack is involved. It should be recognized that psychological abuse, on a persistent long term basis, can destroy a person’s will to live. In short, bullying can kill. It should, therefore, be treated in the same way as all other intentional behaviours that lead to the death of another. It should be treated as murder. Were bullying punished in this way, by those sentences appropriate to murder, whenever it results in a death, bullying would rapidly decline, in all nations that implemented such punishments. If the bullies understood that they could spend a very long time in prison, or in some severe cases, perhaps, receive the death penalty themselves, they would not be so keen to bully others. The world’s bullies must be led to understand that they place themselves at personal risk of very severe punishments, whenever they bully anyone else. There are simply too many deaths related to bullying, for the world’s societies to stand idly by. Punish bullies for their very real crimes. Stop bullying now – and save the next “Eden Wormer” from suicide.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)