Entrepreneur takes on Amazon in court – wins first skirmish

It’s fascinating and gratifying to see a business person who began as a home-office entrepreneur take on giant Amazon.com in court over a matter of principal. Angela Hoy, an entrepreneur whose once small website for writers, WritersWeekly, has become a significant resource. Angela is also the owner of Booklocker.com, the thriving ebook publisher and seller.

Angela Hoy, Booklocker guru and champion of independent writers everywhere apparently filed suit against Amazon when Jeff Bezos, Amazon owner first began to outgrow his successful business formula, in my humble opinion. Mr. B and Co., have gotten too big for their britches. They seem to aspire to rule the

According to my newsletter from Publisher’s Weekly, Angela and her husband, as Booklocker, filed an antitrust suit against Amazon. The complaint revolved around Amazon’s decision to make POD (print on demand) publishers use its BookSurge subsidiary to manufacture POD titles if they want to sell their titles on Amazon directly. Publishers that don’t use BookSurge will have their buy button removed. Nice one, Amazon.

Of course, Amazon filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. The courts denied Amazon’s motion and the suit will go forward. I know Angela is enjoying significant success with her businesses. You might call her an overnight success – now that this case is becoming public – but her success has taken years of hard work and diligence. Stay tuned.

Here’s a bit more about reactions to Amazon’s self-pub program and about warnings to writers.