In n+1‘s continuing examination of Amazon, Ruth Curry, co-founder of online bookstore Emily Books, looks at the relationship of the online megastore to publishers. Amazon’s entry into the publishing world was an accident:

Amazon was only incidentally a bookseller: Bezos liked books because online shoppers didn’t have to try them on or smell or measure them. In the online world, books were the ultimate widget, nothing more.

But once entrenched, Amazon quickly began dictating terms. Instead of saving publishing from the grip of Barnes and Noble, the online retailer now threatens both.