Amazon giveth and Amazon taketh away. The rise of the world’s biggest bookstore online has all but squashed the competing mom and pop bookstores. There were half a dozen in Portsmouth when I arrived thirty years ago and today there is one. Small stores just can’t compete on inventory with a home delivery service that carries every book ever written at slatshed discount prices. Then Amazon released the Kindle, a paper-like electronic reader that delivers books wirelessly in seconds even cheaper. Used books cost as little as one cent (plus $3.99 delivery) and thousands of e-books are free. But with each move Amazon makes to wipe out publishing as we once knew it, they create fresh new ways to discover and obtain books. (Continued below)

So what do Stephen King, Sarah Palin, Dan Brown and yours truly have in common? We all have our own author page on Amazon.com. The others may not notice, but I’m thrilled to be in the club. Our online bibliographies look pretty much the same. The author’s photo is on the right with a short bio. The author’s books are lined up on the left with colorful clickable thumbnails of each cover.

Amazon didn’t have to create Author Central, a new feature for published authors. They could have let things carry on as they have for decades. Big authors have big publishers and publicists who trumpet their work. Little authors have little publishers who barely scrape by. It’s all a numbers game and precious few writers, good or bad, ever climb to the top of the game.

By creating a massive book list and putting it online, Amazon at least gives the little guy a fighting chance. We may not make it into many bookstores and libraries, but our work is searchable and accessible through an incredible network of independent Amazon booksetters. Autho Central takes the next step by inviting writers to claim, organize, and promote their work with a powerful set of software tools. If the publisher won’t or can’t do the promo work, Amazon allows the writers to market themselves.

The whole process is as easy as picking DVD titles off Netflix. After signing on (and hopefully reading) a lengthy legal disclaimer, authors are allowed to select books they have written and post them on a special page. This is a great gift since often our works are spelled or categorized incorrectly by sellers. Authors can fix errors and gather their work. If Amazon does not have a photo of your book cover, we can upload that too. Authors submit a photo (please, Amazon pleads, no pictures with pets, or friends, or shots that go all the way to your feet). Authors control their own biographies. We can post a blog or list upcoming public appearances (as long as they comply with a pre-programmed list of venues). And authors can update their own information quickly, even doing an end run around the publisher. Even commercially successful authors find that their works are largely abandoned by the publisher within weeks or months of its primary sales. Author Central allows writers to keep books in the public eye even after they go out of print.

But that’s not the half of it. Amazon then gives untold millions of book buyers access to these accurate, updated author catalogs, creating a resource available nowhere else on earth. Libraries can’t do it. Bookstores and publishers can’t do it. Not even the Library of Congress can create a database that taps into the very writers themselves. Online resources are often terribly out of date. Author Central is as fresh as the writer’s latest posting.

Currently the Author Central service is in a beta phase. That means it may develop further, or it could be phased out. (Lord, please don’t let them quash this thing.) If you like it, tell Amazon. They actually seem to be listening. When I had a problem with my Kindle last week, I sent in an email query. Three people from Kindle support called on the phone to discuss solutions. I rarely get that kind of service from companies right here in town.

To see the software in action, click to a favorite book by a favorite author. If the writer is signed on, his or her photo will appear when you place your mouse on the author’s name. A pop-up will allow you to click to the author’s bibliography page. Or scroll to the bottom of the web page and click on the author’s photo. Or type the author’s full name in quotation marks in the search box on Amazon.

I find it fascinating as a reader to know a little about the author’s background BEFORE buying a book. I probably buy a book a week and every new piece of information helps me choose. Lots of readers, once they find an author they like and trust, go back and buy another book by that person. This feature allows readers to see an author’s entire catalog at a glance, even if the books are published over a wide range of years by many different companies. My guess is that it will stimulate sales of older books and use books. Sadly, authors don’t get a dime when their books are resold. Amazon does, of course, but whatever promotes a writer’s "brand" has to be helpful in the long run.

Sure Amazon is a juggernaut. But from my desk, so far, it seems to be a benevolent monster. I read more than I ever did before. And since purchasing a Kindle, I find myself buying more books in stores too. It seems counter intuitive, but it’s true. Some books are better on paper, others in disposible digital form. Sometimes I will only buy a book if it’s a bargain. Other times I’m happy to pay full price. I don’t buy into the panicky theory that equates the rise of Amazon and ebooks with the demise of writing. If the consumer wins, writing wins. And Amazon needs writers to profit and grow. Amazingly, they seem to have figured that out.

Author Central is just one more way for writers to showcase their work – and so far the service is free. It doesn’t create a level playing field, but it sure brightens the hole we’re in.

© 2009 J. Dennis Robinson. All rights reserved.