“As a result, many of the survey’s conclusions are flawed or contradictory. For instance, the survey also shows that earnings increased almost 17% for traditionally published authors and 89% for independent [self-published] authors, and that full-time authors saw their median income rise 13% since 2013.”
Amazon's two favorite words when it comes to press coverage are "no comment." So when it goes out of its way to publicly dispute something, you know it's important.
Here's the story Amazon wants to push: Amazon isn't taking away money from creators/businesses/brands. It's helping them earn more, and letting millions of new creators/businesses/brands find customers! And it has plenty of ammunition to use to support this story, whether it's questioning dubious statistics from a critic or trotting out selected data points.
What Amazon wants to put off as long as possible are government enquiries into its business, including Congressional hearings, antitrust investigations, FTC enquiries, etc. Tamping down brush fires like author earnings and replacing it with another narrative is crucial to keeping negative buzz from building to a crescendo and resulting in real government action.
My 2 cents.
