Dear Colleagues,
I thought you all might find this worth reading and maybe acting on...
Annie
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>
>>>> SFWA ONLINE UPDATE <<<<<<<<<<< No. 28<<<<<11/08/98<<<<<<<<<<
>>>> An electronic publication of <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>>>> Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>> Man the Barricades:
>> Barnes & Noble's Purchase of Ingram Seen As Danger
>
> Friday's announcement that bookselling giant Barnes & Noble is
>acquiring book distribution giant Ingram for $600 million in cash and
>stock has set off alarm bells across the publishing and bookselling
>world. The purchase would put Barnes & Noble in control of the primary
>distributor for its chief online bookselling rival, amazon.com, and for
>most
>small chains and independent bookstores throughout the
>country.
>
>"So it's true," Publishers Weekly reported in its online
>newsletter. "The days of speculation end with the shocking
>announcement that B&N will buy Ingram for a cool $600 mil.
>
>"The purchase, which will consist of $200 million in cash and
>$400 million in B&N stock, will make the entire Ingram Book Group,
> which consists of Ingram Book Company, Retailer Services Inc.,
> Ingram Periodicals, Spring Arbor Distributors, Publishers
> Resources, Inc. Ingram International, Tennessee Book Company,
> Lightning Print and Ingram Library Services, a wholly-owned
> subsidiary of B&N. The deal is expected to be completed within
> 45 days, pending approval by government agencies. Steve Riggio,
> vice-chairman of B&N, said he did not expect any anti-trust
> problems with the transaction."
>
> The American Booksellers Association has issued the following
>official statement (available on the ABA BookWeb site at
>http://www.bookweb.org):
>
>"The American Booksellers Association (ABA) considers the purchase of
>Ingram
>Book Company by Barnes and Noble, Inc., to be a devastating development
>that
>threatens the viability of competition in the book industry, and limits
>the
>diversity and availability of books to
>consumers. The Board of Directors of the ABA call on the Antitrust
>Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade
>Commission to investigate the proposed acquisition and to take prompt
>and
>decisive action to stop this blatantly anti-competitive
>combination.
>
>"This acquisition, should it be allowed to take place, is just one
>more example of the large scale corporate consolidation that has
>infiltrated every corner of our culture. As the desire intensifies to
>increase bottom line profits no matter what the other consequences, so
>does
>the concentration of power in the book industry. Consumers are left with
>an
>environment in which fewer and fewer people are deciding which books get
>
>published, and ultimately, which books Americans can read and buy.
>
>"Barnes & Noble, a $3 billion company and the largest US book
>retailer, recently entered into an alliance with the $14 billion media
>giant, German-owned Bertelsmann AG. Ingram Book Company is the largest
>book
>wholesaler in the United States, with over a billion dollars in sales to
>
>independent bookstores and other competitors of Barnes &
>Noble. Now, with Barnes & Noble's proposed acquisition of the billion
>dollar Ingram Book Company, there can be little doubt that the book
>industry is falling prey to the same anti-competitive ills that
>currently plague the computer software and other industries. This deal
>would make independent bookstores virtually dependent upon their
>largest competitor, one which the ABA alleges in pending antitrust
>discrimination litigation in San Francisco has had a long-standing,
>systematic strategy of driving independents out of business to stifle
>competition.
>
>"While there are some smaller, unaffiliated book wholesalers that
>provide independent booksellers with excellent service, Ingram Book
>Company is a primary distribution source for the vast majority of ABA
>member stores, and we consider this development to be deeply
>troubling. We will use all of our strength and available resources to
>fight it."
>
> ABA President Richard Howorth has asked member bookstores to write
>to
>Attorney General of the United States Janet Reno and Federal Trade
>Commission
>Chairman Robert Pitofsky to protest the acquisition, and the ABA is
>providing
>a model letter (echoing the positions in the statement above) on its
>BookWeb
>site:
> http://www.bookweb.org/news/pressroom/1477.html
>
> SFWA Vice President Paul Levinson called the purchase of Ingram
>"bad news, indeed" and announced that SFWA will be supporting the ABA
>campaign
>with a letter signed by the Board of Directors and, insofar as possible,
>the
>past presidents of SFWA. The Board will also be contacting the Authors
>Guild
>as part of its review of other options.
>Liaison Committee Chairman Steve Carper will explore the possibility
>of coordinating our efforts with HWA, MWA, RWA, and other genre
>writers organizations.
>
> Levinson and SFWA founder Damon Knight are calling on individual
>SFWA members to add their voices by writing their own letters of
>protest. Key addresses (formatted for cut-and-paste) are:
>
> Attorney General Janet Reno
> Department of Justice
> 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
> Washington, DC 20530
>
> Robert Pitofsky
> Chairman
> Federal Trade Commission
> Pennsylvania Avenue & 6th Street, NW
> Washington, DC 20580
>
>The ABA is requesting courtesy copies of all letters to Reno or
>Pitofsky; their fax number is 1-914-591-2720, and mailing address is:
>
> American Booksellers Association
> 828 South Broadway
> Tarrytown, NY 10591
>
> More news and background information on the Barnes & Noble
>purchase of Ingram can be found in the following reports :
>>USA Today:
> http://www.usatoday.com/money/mds012.htm
>>CNNfn:
> http://cnnfn.com/hotstories/deals/9811/06/books/
>>New York Times:
> http://search.nytimes.com/search/daily/homepage/bin/fastweb?search
> [search ALL for INGRAM, select "Barnes & Noble to Acquire Nation's
> Top Wholesaler" from hit list]
>
>In addition to BookWeb, a prospective source for ongoing developments is
>the
>Publishers Weekly web site at:
> http://www.bookwire.com/pw/pw.html
>
> "This is the real writer's enemy right now," said former SFWA
>president Jane Yolen, adding that midlist careers were at risk along
>with editorial diversity and the health of independent bookstores. "If
>it goes through, it may be the final nail in a number of coffins."
>
>(SFWA Online Update is copyrighted. Permission to quote is normally
>expressly denied. In this case, it may be copied without limit as long
>as it is copied
>in full and properly attributed. SFWA believes this is an issue that
>should
>interest anyone who reads.)
>
>--
>.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
>Janet Holmes
>[log in to unmask]
>http://webpages.mr.net/holmes
>.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
>
____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
________________________
Annie Finch
http://muohio.edu/~finchar
Assistant Professor of English/Creative Writing
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio 45220
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