Marketer extraordinaire Seth Godin has released a new book, titled Stop Stealing Dreams, but you won’t be seeing it on the iBookstore anytime soon. Apple has refused to sell his book in the iBookstore because Godin has “Multiple links to Amazon store” within the pages of his book.
And there’s the conflict. We’re heading to a world where there are just a handful of influential bookstores (Amazon, Apple, Nook…) and one by one, the principles of open access are disappearing. Apple, apparently, won’t carry an ebook that contains a link to buy a hardcover book from Amazon.
While, I don’t necessarily agree with the move from Apple, I don’t fully blame them either. Linking to the Amazon store from within your iBook is the equivalent of setting up shop in a Barnes & Noble, and directing people to leave and go to Amazon to buy a digital copy instead. You wouldn’t last 30 seconds before a security guard was escorting you out of the building.
What Godin fails to understand is that the iBookstore isn’t a library; it’s a bookstore. Bookstores have the right to determine what books are sold within their walls. If I was Apple, I’d deny his book too.
Here’s the real kicker, Godin’s post is written on The Domino Project website, which is “powered by Amazon.com.” That probably tells you everything you need to know about his post.
