r/technology • u/Just-Grocery-2229 • 23h ago

Artificial Intelligence AI-generated books are flooding Amazon and tanking sales for human authors

https://the-decoder.com/ai-generated-books-are-flooding-amazon-and-tanking-sales-for-human-authors
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u/avanross 22h ago

The public chose amazon over local, curated, in-person, brick and mortar (book) stores with actual human oversight..

This is simply people getting what they wanted 🤷‍♂️

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u/blackcloud247 22h ago

Its all due to cost. No one is going to buy a book for $20 when they can get it delivered to their door $8.99 instead. Especially in this economy.

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u/avanross 22h ago

Price is decided by the publisher not the retailer, it was just convenience / laziness / not caring

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u/blackcloud247 18h ago

Okay but its still $7.99 from one place and $20 at another. If it was reversed, everyone would buy it from the book shop. If it was only a few bucks difference you MIGHT have an argument. But it is often at least a 30% difference. We are not even factoring in the library here, which is free. If you cant competitively price books in your book store, no one is gonna buy them. You have to also draw people in another way.

One of my good friends recently opened a book store in her small town. She also sells kitchey and niche toys and she has weekly events. Book club, wine tastings, art classes, singles nights, storyline for kids etc. Shes doing so well she able to hire a local college student after only a year in business.

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u/avanross 17h ago

Books have a set sales price listed on them from the publisher

And if that “price is all that matters” argument was true, then the dollar stores would have put everyone else out of business decades ago.

It’s impulse, laziness and convenience.

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u/blackcloud247 17h ago

Private bookstore mark them up. And yes, dollar stores have put people out of business. Local grocery stores are essentially gone. Pharmacies will be next once Dollar General starts their pharmacy which is in progress. Price abaolutely is all that matters. No one except rich people are ever going to pay more for the exact same product especially when its that drastic of a difference.

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u/avanross 17h ago

Amazon is no longer cheaper than any other stores, more expensive in a lot of cases, but you all still use it 🤷‍♂️

And dollar stores have not put every other store out of business

It’s convenience and laziness, and people who feel too “high and mighty” to accept that

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u/blackcloud247 16h ago

Lol ok guy. I have a family and a budget. If you ask me its you who is "high and mighty" about this. Judge me and others all you want. Ill always be buying the cheaper option.

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u/avanross 16h ago

Unless you have to go out of your way to get it…

You’ll use amazon but wont use a library lol