This Just In...
by Patricia Ann Bowen
August Muckenberg, voiceover: “This just in, today, March 15, 2026. Let’s turn our BetaWorld spotlight on Jane for an update on the evolving book publishing industry, or perhaps I should call it the devolving industry.”
Jane Rosen, Show Host: “Thanks, AM. Yes, you may be right. We’re at a roundtable summit meeting at the corporate headquarters of the former Simon and Salmon, recently acquired by Slammazon, Inc. and now called SS&S.
“Things are really changing fast here at 1200 Sixth Avenue in New York City. We have with us Donna Grant, popular memoirist; Nathan Richardson, sci-fi novelist and two-time winner of the Asimov Award; Susan Carl, author and founder of Thriller Writers of America; and KD Nunez, Managing Director of Goody Goody Publishers.
“Normally an event like this wouldn’t garner much attention outside the publishing community, but yesterday nearly one million writers virtually stormed slammazon.com, clogging the site with live clicks and bots, effectively shutting it down for over twenty-four hours in protest of new payment policies to authors. This crowd-capture is having worldwide impact, preventing anyone from buying anything from diapers to diamonds on Slammazon’s website. Susan, why are writers protesting?”
Susan Carl: “Well, Jane, in a nutshell, as of June 1 Slammazon will no longer pay writers for sales of digital book titles. We’ll get paid only for pages read, and then only after readers have clicked through the first thirty pages of that title for free.”
Jane: “Why thirty free pages?”
Susan: “According to Slammazon, the explosion of poorly edited and even unedited self-published writing has too many readers demanding their money back for what they call ‘crap books,’ so Slammazon’s new policy is that after reading thirty pages there will be no refunds to those buyers.”
Jane, turning to KD: “Well, we’ll always have print books, won’t we?”
KD Nunez: “Not for long, I’m afraid. They’re being phased out because the cost of recycled paper is climbing beyond market tolerance, and there’s a new global ban on using rare fresh wood pulp to print new books. Most print books are read once then put on the shelf for years or even centuries.
“Going forward, most books printed in this country will be in circulation only through libraries for as long as the books last. Print book owners are now being encouraged to donate their private collections to local libraries. So, I’m sad to say, my entire career is teetering on the brink, reduced to working with library programs instead of publishers and distribution channels. The writers here, writers everywhere, are hanging out in a profession on the verge of extinction.”
Nathan Richardson, slapping the table: “That’s not even the half of it, Jane. What is a writer these days, anyway? I can barely make a living competing with artificial intelligence tools that are in the hands of so-called authors. The most popular AI authoring tool is owned by the estate of the late James Patterson. It suggests writing in his style with minimal plot input from anyone who can spell slammazon.com. Other popular stylistic authoring tools have been trademarked by Stephen King, Isabelle Allende, Nona Ward and many others.”
Jane, looking around, holding out both hands: “So, how do you plan to get around this change? And where will shutting down slammazon.com, even temporarily, get you?”
KD Nunez: “Oh, we know we can’t shut them down for long. But we hope this very visible move will get us the attention of anyone who wants to be informed or entertained. Slammazon has to stop seeing writers simply as go-betweens to bring in money from readers and advertisers. They’ve trained people to want things that are cheap or free by tolerating an ad in their faces every ninety seconds.”
Donna, raising her hand and facing the camera: “I just want the world to read my stories about immigrant children and the challenges of military families. My granddaughter has also taken up writing for teens and young adults, and she wants to share all of our interesting family history. She’s so talented. I want her to have the same opportunities to get published that I had back in the day.”
Susan: “Some chance that’ll happen, Donna. We’re going the way of the music and movie industries. Remember when we all bought vinyl records, then tapes, then CDs and DVDs? Now all those entertainment vehicles are obsolete. Actors and singers and writers don’t get contracts anymore. Their voices are digitized and their personas are turned into avatars to deny them royalties.
“Today it’s the three P’s that make all the money in music, movies, and books. Simply put, they package, they promote, then they pay the money they’ve collected to the people they decide should have it. After taking their cut, of course. Wake up, people! Slammazon is the three P’s.”
Jane: “OK, team, let’s get back on track. Where do y’all go from here?”
Nathan: “I believe good writers will never stop writing. I won’t just take my awards off the walls and forget about them, forget what it took to earn them. I draw on my muses and on the best of technology and culture to come up with my stories, because my readers want to know about the future. They expect me to come up with imaginative tales of new worlds, new technologies, new ways to live. Heck, I might just come up with a new way to get my stories out there to my faithful fans without needing Slammazon. (Puts his palms on both sides of his head.) Maybe mind-melding.”
Nathan turns to Susan who is laughing, wiggling in her seat, hand raised: “Dream on, my friend. Bad analogy on my part, but your slingshot isn’t big enough to take down this Goliath. I have a national organization of writers under my wing, fifteen thousand strong. They’re mad, and they’re looking to me to speak out to Slammazon for them. They want this payment decision reversed or we’re all going to court with a class-action suit. Slammazon doesn’t give away the first toothbrush for free, or the first lawnmower, or the first diaper. They have no right to give away our written words without our consent.”
Jane jumps in, voice raised: “It seems a bit more complicated than that, though.”
Donna: “I know. Unlike the rest of you, I’m not in this for the money. I want to be heard. I want my granddaughter’s voice to be heard and her words read. So I’m in this fight for her. Let Slammazon set up some standards and screen the first thirty pages themself. It’s about time they took more responsibility, paid more respect to the writers who built their business from the ground up. Heck, Jeff Bizzle started his business by selling books, BOOKS, out of his garage back when I was a girl, and it was writers who launched him to become one of the richest people in the world.”
August (of BetaWorld): “I think we’re running out of time here, Jane and all. I see on the wire that slammazon.com is up and running again. And I think your timing on this stoppage has been prescient. The company may be fed up with all these market disruptions. Yours is not the first, as you know, and it may lead the company to put itself on the auction block soon. I’m going to talk with my dad about picking it up. He’s always on my case about making our company more beta.”
Copyright © 2025 by Patricia Ann Bowen
