I love reading Seth Godin’s work; his musings on marketing and business practices provide a wealth of ideas for libraries. Recently he launched a new project on transforming schools called “Stop Stealing Dreams” that includes a core manifesto on education. Godin is spreading the free manifesto far and wide, but ran into a bit of a snag when he tried to upload a version to the Apple iBookstore. As he noted in a blog post on The Domino Project: “I just found out that Apple is rejecting my new manifesto Stop Stealing Dreams and won’t carry it in their store because inside the manifesto are links to buy the books I mention in the bibliography.” Sure seems wrong. . . .
But what is the whole story? And does that story still hold up if we consider it within a less emotionally charged item than a book? Would this still be wrong? Would this still be censorship if it was a pizza?
Godin’s links send readers to the Amazon store to buy the books. And indeed, this post was written not on Godin’s own blog or on the Stop Stealing Dreams page but rather on the blog for Godin’s collaborative publishing project with Amazon. In Godin’s view, the link shouldn’t be an issue; the move toward three major online bookstores (Amazon, Apple, B&N) means that they should be required to adopt net neutrality–type standards with regards to content. But does this hold up under the pizza lens?
There are three major pizza delivery chains—Domino’s, Papa John’s, and Pizza Hut. What Godin did was basically order a Papa John’s pizza to be delivered to his local Pizza Hut because there are comfortable booths there. He was surprised when the folks at Pizza Hut wouldn’t let the Papa John’s delivery person through the door. How dare they censor my pizza?
Godin even acknowledges at the start of his post that his concerns fail to hold up in the business world: “The local supermarket has no moral or ethical or business obligation to sell cherry-flavored Cap’n Crunch. If the owner doesn’t like cherries, she doesn’t have to sell them.” And yet he persists in asking for special consideration for his product. His manifesto, as brilliant as it is, is simply a product (even if it is an intellectual product). He asked Apple to host and provide that product for free—actually at a loss, as no charge for the book means no 30% cut for Apple—and then is shocked that Apple didn’t want to sell the cherry-flavored Cap’n Crunch.
There is nothing new here. Godin and others who are shocked . . . shocked, I tell you . . . to discover that money has sullied the sanctity of book selling need to take a harder look at the plight of libraries. Wouldn’t it be easier if we could wave a magic wand and have a new law to force publishers to sell ebooks to libraries the same way print books have been sold? Wouldn’t it be easier if we could tell J. K. Rowling that her signing an exclusive distribution deal with OverDrive for the Harry Potter ebooks is censorship and wrong and preventing my students whose rural schools cannot afford OverDrive’s fees from having digital access to Harry? Wouldn’t it be nice to get a Papa John’s pizza delivered to a comfy Pizza Hut booth?
As HarperCollins stated very emphatically in past meetings with ALA, don’t try to talk philosophy in a business discussion. The publishing world is less concerned with the “rights of the reader” than they are with meeting market expectations and making payroll. As much as we wish there were special consideration for books, they are being bought and sold in the same market as cereal.
And Seth, maybe you could have just linked to the books you wanted to suggest to readers on WorldCat, OpenLibrary, or LibraryThing to avoid the issue? But then it wouldn’t include your reseller kickback, would it? *winkwink*