<i>“This should be a matter of concern and a cautionary tale for the smaller presses whose licenses will come up for renewal,” said Andy Ross, an agent and a former bookseller. “They are being offered a Hobson’s choice of accepting Amazon’s terms, which are unsustainable, or losing the ability to sell Kindle editions of their books, the format that constitutes about 60 percent of all e-books.”</i><p>followed by<p><i>Mr. Suchomel said the publishers were solidly behind I.P.G. “They were almost unanimously positive, saying, ‘Don’t change your terms,’ ” he said.</i><p>First, if the publishers don't care, or if they would simply prefer not to concede to Amazon, is this news?<p>Second, maybe I'm too young and too inclined to believe that technology may cure all ills, or this is just my ignorance of the actual requirements of the bookselling industry showing, but to me that "unsustainable" line reeks of "we're not willing to optimize our processes, customers be damned." If I'm not mistaken Amazon has singlehandedly propped up this industry in the last decade, so unsustainable for whom? If the answer to that question is three tiers of middlemen who are unwilling to take a hit on their profit margins due to some combination of habit, entitlement, and spite, why should authors or readers give a shit?