Let's talk about Amazon.

Barely a month goes by now when the Seattle giant does not either outmanoeuvre a competitor or redefine a sector. Last week was a good example where it did both.

At the beginning of the week it bought 450 children's titles—its first ever acquisition of a publishing list: bought in order to provide compelling, and exclusive, content for its tablet device Kindle Fire (to the inevitable cost of Barnes & Noble). At the end of the week it launched KDP Select, a service for 'indie' writers that locks them up in the Kindle-verse with the promise of ill-defined riches—further establishing its lending credibilities, while moving the goalposts for all other self-publishing companies.

Over the past week I've spoken to many people in and around the book business, and no-one has a good word to say about the e-tailer, even though some admit that as a business it is peerless. Amazon doesn't just want to eat our lunch, is the theory, it also wants to cook it and deliver it to us piping hot for a cost that is less than it would be if we did it ourselves.

But now that we have collectively woken up to the fact that we are all starring in what appears to be The Amazon Show, how do we find the EXIT?

Like any business Amazon will face economic cycles, its shareholders will grow unhappy, and inevitably even the regulators will take an interest. Most important, Amazon does not have a secret formula for success: it is simply very good at what it does and incredibly driven to continue doing it better and better. If companies wish to knock Amazon off this inexorable course then they simply have to improve how they go about competing with it. And no, selling the Booker winner at twice the e-book price that Amazon was selling it was not an example of this.

Furthermore, the rest of the book trade is not without a say in this struggle. Publishers can buy other publishers too; they can develop lists more proactively for tablet devices; they can alter their trading terms in order to safe-guard the wider good; they can make sure rival businesses are given all of the tools to let them compete; they can develop resources that allow them to communicate direct to their customers (i.e. book buyers); they could no-longer ignore 'indie' writers and develop services for authors who for whatever reason are not prepared to go the traditional route. As we learned last week at FutureBook many are already doing this, and even those which are not are certainly prepared to give it a go.

Post FutureBook Conference the conversation is now all about what 2012 will bring: my own view is that it will be the year when Amazon will realise that it is not alone in this game. Both Barnes & Noble and Kobo look up for the fight long term, Google will not sit on the side-lines for ever, while FaceBook could yet make a move. In the UK both Waterstone's and Gardners (with its Hive) will need to decide at what level they are happy to engage. They will need to be bold, as will the publishers who will need to support them, otherwise it really will be "good afternoon, good evening, and good night" for too many.