That image from Casino Royale illustrates what Amazon has just done: Gone all-in on book publishing.
Amazon Publishing to Publish James Bond Backlist
Amazon.com, Inc. and Ian Fleming Publications Ltd today announced that Amazon Publishing has acquired a ten-year license for North American rights to the entire list of James Bond books by Ian Fleming in print and ebook.
That is what business calls Making A Statement.
This comes just six days after the Department of Justice eBook anti-trust announcement.
Questions:
1) How long was Amazon working on this?
2) Did it take last week’s DoJ announcement to tip the Fleming Estate towards Amazon?
3) Will Barnes & Noble and independent booksellers really refuse to stock James Bond in print because Amazon is the publisher?
4) Will Amazon sell the eBooks exclusively or will they also sell them through Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Sony, and others?
5) Would those others allow Amazon to sell them?
6) Does Amazon care if they will or won’t? There are Kindle apps for iOS and Android, for Windows and OS X, and there’s the Kindle Cloud Reader too!
7) Will anyone care if ePub editions aren’t available? Download the Kindle app — it’s free!
8) If this doesn’t scare the living hell out of the Big Six, what will?
9) And now that Amazon has shown it will do this, what will it do next?
10) The James Bond eBooks were priced at $9.99. What will Amazon price them at? That price will also mean something. See this prior post.
Bond says:
Hey, Big Six: Wake up or say goodbye.
Mike Cane’s xBlog 
Big 6: Do you expect us to talk?
Bezos: No, Mr. Publishers, I expect you to die.
Sorry, couldn’t resist ;)
Stunning, to say the very least.
Pingback: Writing on the Ether | Jane Friedman