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Comment by giaour | Hacker News Reader

So in this dystopian future, the OP had to deal with shitty customer service from a discount publisher for a while and then went with a competitor as a result? And the competitor was still able to distribute copies via Amazon?

I'm just not seeing anything remotely like censorship here.

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Yes, because Amazon doesn't scan paper books, this route still works. But there aren't that many companies that can print books. It's a matter of time before they all scan the content before printing. At least, in the dystopian scenario.

Book printers should be an easier choke point than social media companies, given that they have far less content to screen. It's just that no western government or advocacy group has bother to do the choking, as they are too busy pressuring social media companies to moderate content.

Why would they scan paper books to proactively look for copyright violations? Have you ever heard of a bookstore doing that?

There's a different standard of due diligence if you publish a book vs just selling copies of it.

I did not say: "They will all scan physical books"

I said: "It's a matter of time before they all scan the content before printing."

I think the distinction between printer and publisher is being lost here. KDP is a publisher, and a very cost-conscious one at that. You would have a very different experience with the editorial process of a different publisher, as most don't use Amazon-level automation.

I wouldn't even call them a publisher. They're a printer, drop-shipper and a book store. I am both the writer and the publisher and I hired my own editor. A lot of companies call themselves "publisher" but really aren't.

Indeed the experience with other printers has been better. Same with e-books (so far). In fact at this point I'm quite happy I didn't use Amazon.

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