Apple vs. Amazon :The Kindergarten Fight. – I will not publish your book coz you speak about my enemy…

In an ironic twist in the war for ebooks market shares. Apple recently refused to publish author Holly Lisle, an author known for her online writing guides.

Her crime? She had dared to put live link to Amazon website in her ebook. Properly chastened, Holly Lisle dutifully removed all the live links. Yet, she dared leaving the mentions of Amazon in her book, though stripped of links.

That was not good enough for Apple, who persisted in refusing to publish a book mentioning Amazon.

Does that mean that writing or publishing guides published by Apple have to refrain from mentioning Amazon? Would you buy a publishing guide knowing that it is required to omit the absolute leader in self-publishing and retail for ebooks?

As a former kindergarten teacher, it reminds me of fights between children. “You played with John! I will not invite you to my birthday party!”

Obviously, Apple’s decision makers kindergarten teacher never got round to explain to them that this is not an attitude that leads to community building. In the Internet age, an era more and more defined by community, this behavior by Apple is akin to community suicide.

Frankly, forcing authors and, incidentally, readers into taking part in their market war when all they want to do is write as best they can or get access to good informative books is a “crime against community”.

No, there is no such term in the legal jargon so far, but in a social media rich environment, it is a crime that should be noted.

The damage to consumers is that such a policy by Apple means they have to ensure that the book they intend to purchase from Apple’s bookshelf is not related to any subject that might lead Apple to censor the content in a defensive move.

As readers, we just want to buy a book as exhaustive as possible, not a book that abides by Apple’s fear of competitors.

Actually, as Amazon is now so ubiquitous, does Apple intend to also refuse to publish fiction books where a character does something as “morally inacceptable” as buying a book online from Amazon? Should writers their books to ensure that only negatively connotated mentions of Amazon appear in their stories?

Welcome to BraveNew World…

UPDATE

It seems that Apple turned around on its decision and allowed Holly Lisle to publish her guide with the live links. They flaimed they made a mistake and realised belatedly that she was not trying to sell products with her live lilnks.  As they previously also refused to publish her book without live links, it is anyone guess to know whether the initial refussal to publish her guide was due to a genuine mistake or whether their turnaround is the result of the outcry their d=initial decision cause on the Inernet…