Angering Booksellers is Amazon Source Program

Leave it up to Amazon to make everyday bookstore owners angry. It has long been wondered if and how soon digital books would overtake their physical book counterparts, and with the Amazon Source program, it might begin to happen sooner than originally thought. With this new program, Amazon hopes to give readers the best of both worlds by allowing traditional bookstores to sell various Kindles on top of the print books they already sell. The stores would then receive a small percentage of the sales from every e-reader that was sold. The Amazon Source program will have its first run in the United States.

Tell Us How You Really Feel
Early opinions about the Amazon Source program are anything but positive. One seller had this to say of Amazon’s program: it would be like…”inviting hungry foxes into the hen house.”
Here’s how Amazon pictures the relationship working with the bookstores. The stores would buy a stockpile of Kindles, at 6% off the normal price, stores would then sell the Kindles and receive a small cut of the profits, and then they would receive 10% from any e-book sales from those specific Kindles for 2 years. Sounds like a win-win situation, right?
Melville House decided to seek out opinions on the Amazon Source Program, and you can view them here. After reading down the page, I have yet to see one positive response. One response details how independent book stores do not exist as Amazon franchises, and this individual might have a very good point.
Amazon has found 2 bookstores in the U.S. to attempt this program, and we shall see the results. It remains to be seen whether this will result in Amazon eventually controlling even more of the book world. If it’s up to the book sellers, though, it’s fairly clear that they have zero interest whatsoever in partnering with Amazon. And I, for one, can’t say I blame them.
What do you think? Is this a good idea?