Never one to bear a grudge or indulge in overly aggressive, unreflective self-promotion, Andrew Wylie can’t seem to forgive Amazon for the failure of his Odyssey JV with them – or in general, for failing to acknowledge that nothing moves until Andrew Wylie says so. And now he’s blaming Amazon for depriving writers of a decent living. “Writers will begin to make enough money to live,” he claims, according to his keynote address at Toronto’s International Festival of Authors, if only the Big Five have the cojones like Hachette to stand up to Amazon, who he doesn’t hesitate to compare to ISIS.
Hold on, shurely shome misshtake here. Isn’t it the UK Society of Authors, in cooperation with the UK ALCS, that has demonstrated conclusively that traditional publishers have robbed most Brit authors at least of any kind of decent living? While fattening themselves on the teats of Big Media? As part of a publishing establishment that once upon a time included Andrew Wylie? Whose chief talent appeared to be predation? And remember that back in 2010, Wylie was garnering support from authors for his Amazon tie-up because they claimed traditional publishers had been paying too little in royalty rates for ebooks. And now things have turned round and the Big Five are the heroes again? Forgetful creatures, jackals.
It’s no surprise that Wylie also chose to unload on self-publishing, which he described as “the aesthetic equivalent of telling everyone who sings in the shower they deserve to be in La Scala.” After all, if authors can publish themselves, who will ever want to go through Andrew Wylie. Or even listen to him? I’m surprised anyone still does, but I guess Hachette will welcome any old toothless jackal to bay for them…
