Amazon is not so scary.

Amazon’s decision to pull Macmillan titles from its virtual bookshelves last weekend sent publishers whirling. E-book price disputes have been raging between Amazon and the six large U.S. publishers for some time, and this was the first time any one publisher took a stand against Amazon’s low e-book prices—and for a moment seemed to lose. That must have been a terrifying moment.

At the end of the forty-eight hour standoff, however, was a small victory for publishers everywhere. In an article published by the New York Times on January 31, titled Publisher Wins Fight with Amazon Over E-books, we learn that “under Macmillan’s new terms, which take effect at the beginning of March, the publisher will set the consumer price of each book and the online retailer (Amazon) will serve as an agent and take a 30 percent commission. E-book editions of most newly released adult general fiction and nonfiction will cost $12.99 to $14.99.” This new deal is what publishers were asking Amazon for in the first place, and is the same deal they expect to make with Apple for the new iPad format.

Amazon definitely put fear in the hearts of book publishers everywhere when they stopped selling Macmillan books, but all quickly breathed a sigh of relief when they realized this was a game Amazon could not win.

I mention all of this to demonstrate my position on this week’s blog topic. We were asked to consider Amazon’s dominance in the literary marketplace and what dangers and benefits that poses for publishers. Amazon is the largest bookseller in the world, and thus a vital customer for publishers. They currently dominate the market in e-reader sales. Their print-on-demand services allow them to essentially act as publisher to anyone who gets the notion to publish a book. The literary marketplace would not be what it is today without Amazon, and because of this a publishers’ success is directly linked to Amazon’s. That’s a little scary. Codependent relationships are always fraught with dangers and challenges.

But the keyword there is codependent. Despite Amazon’s dominating stature, they still need publishers to provide them with the books they sell. They didn’t think so, but they learned this was true last weekend. They own the format the supports dominant sales in the marketplace, but they don’t own the content. And like it or not, they are going to have to cooperate.

I think in the coming months, the playing field will level. Everyone is on edge right now with the e-book price war being waged, and a potentially game-changing new e-reader platform being introduced (the iPad, of course). Change is scary, and the industry has been in the throes of change for a number of years now. People are exhausted and are making drastic decisions (or throwing temper tantrums…however you want to look at it). I think a point will come however, when reader loyalties will settle between the iPad and the Kindle, and the players in the literary marketplace will realize that each separate entity is essential to the success of the whole.