Amazon escalates battle with publishers; Amazon is fuelling anguish about its growing dominance in the book industry by making it harder for customers to buy the books of a publisher it is battling with over pricing

Last updated: May 23, 2014 10:44 pm

Amazon escalates battle with publishers

By Barney Jopson in Washington and Emily Steel in New York

Amazon is fuelling anguish about its growing dominance in the book industry by making it harder for customers to buy the books of a publisher it is battling with over pricing.

The online retailer is facing a wave of criticism for targeting Hachette, the smallest of the top five New York publishers, by charging more for some of its books, sometimes taking weeks to ship them, and making it impossible to pre-order forthcoming titles.

Bookselling is where Amazon enjoys its largest market share, but some manufacturers and rival retailers worry that it could replicate its actions in other sectors where its power is rising.

On Friday Hachette said Amazon had eliminated the option to pre-order its forthcoming books, and Bonnier Media Deutschland, an arm of the Swedish publishing group, confirmed that it was facing problems with shipping delays for its titles.

Hachette said: “We are doing everything in our power to find a solution to this difficult situation, one that best serves our authors and their work, and that preserves our ability to survive and thrive as a strong and author-centric publishing company.”

According to publishers’ estimates, the Seattle-based retailer accounts for 30 to 50 per cent of all US book sales. Its share of the ebook market is above 60 per cent. It also has its own publishing arm, making it a direct competitor of publishers.

One publishing executive said that Amazon was pushing publishers to give it steeper discounts, describing its actions as an abuse of market power.

This month Amazon’s measures have affected authors including Malcolm Gladwell, a bestselling non-fiction writer, and a book on Amazon called The Everything Store by Brad Stone.

Nina Laden, a children’s author whose latest book was affected, accused Amazon of engaging in “disgusting negotiation practice”, which included suggesting to prospective customers that they buy other books instead.

In a message to the company posted on Facebook, she said: “You want authors and illustrators to suffer being used as pawns and we have nothing to do with this.”

In Germany, Bonnier, the publisher of JK Rowling in that country, said some of its titles on Amazon were marked with longer than usual shipping times and confirmed they were related to its negotiations with Amazon.

Amazon declined to comment, leaving unanswered the question of whether it wants to use discounts secured from publishers to boost its own low profit margins or cut book prices for customers.

When the US justice department successfully challenged Apple and several publishers for conspiring to raise the price of ebooks, Amazon said it would use the ruling to reduce prices on its ebooks. The justice department declined to comment on Friday.

Mike Shatzkin, a publishing consultant, said the spat highlighted how publishers now need Amazon more than retailers need publishers. But he said: “I find it really slippery to turn this into some sort of moral or ethical question. I think it’s a practical problem.”

Hachette said: “Amazon is holding minimal stock and restocking some of [our] books slowly, causing ‘available [in] 2-4 weeks’ messages, for reasons of their own.” It added that its titles were “widely and immediately available” on Barnes & Noble’s website and in bookstores.

 

Amazon halts sales of some Hachette books as publishing battle escalates

Hachette author Jeffery Deaver among those speaking out against Amazon’s decision to stop selling certain Hachette titles

Tom McCarthy in New York

theguardian.com, Friday 23 May 2014 18.00 BST

The Amazon sale page for Book of Jezebel warns of a long wait for delivery. Photograph: /Amazon

Stray punches in a corporate slugfest knocked spectacles from authors’ noses and left readers with black eyes this week, after Amazon, the online retailer, stopped selling certain titles published by Hachette, the multinational publisher. The move came after weeks of lesser measures by Amazon to put pressure on Hachette.

Amazon has been fighting with the publisher over undisclosed aspects of a deal under which Amazon brings Hachette’s books to market.

Amazon stopped selling certain Hachette books on Friday, including JK Rowling’s latest detective novel and a new thriller offering by Adam Brookes. Other Hachette books, such as Joshua Ferris’ new novel, appeared to be for sale as usual, although under a large banner advertising “similar items at a lower price.” Still others were being sold at non-competitive prices. A hardcover edition of bestselling author Jeffery Deaver’s new novel, The Skin Collector, cost $17.99 onbarnesandnoble.com on Friday – and $25.20 on amazon.com.

“Because of a dispute with Hachette Book Group, which publishes The Skin Collector, Amazon has chosen to attempt to intimidate publisher, authors and readers alike by significantly reducing purchase price discounts of my books and those written by other Hachette authors,” Deaver wrote on his Facebook page earlier this month.

Amazon also appeared to be slowing the delivery of some Hachette titles. Book of Jezebel editor Anna Holmes called out Amazon on Twitter for “shameful behavior” after the retailer slapped a notice on the book’s sales page advising it “usually ships in one to three weeks.”

“I find it very irritating, because the Amazon buying page for The Book of Jezebel is the one that we have pushed the most since the book came out last October,” Holmes said. “We were always sending people to Amazon, more than any other retailer.”

Amazon, which has declined to comment in the matter, did not return calls for comment Friday morning. A Hachette spokesperson did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Amazon controls about 65% of the US ebook market and accounts for one-third of all sales for one major publisher, according to a New Yorker investigation published in February. Book sales make up a relatively small share of the company’s revenue – 7%, by one estimate, of $74.5bn in revenues in 2013. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post last year for $250m.

Hachette, a multinational conglomerate with headquarters in Paris, is a major player in its own right. The company acquired Time Warner Book Group in 2006 for half a billion dollars. In 2013 Hachette bought Disney’s adult trade publishing imprint, Hyperion. Hachette’s parent company, Lagardère Group, a publisher, broadcaster and retailer whose magazine titles include French Elle and Paris Match, recorded $7.37bn in net sales in 2012, according to its annual report.

Amazon’s current tactics represent the biggest flexing of muscle in the book world by the retailer since it removed buy buttons from books published by Macmillan in 2010, David Streitfeld pointed out in the New York Times. The publisher won that round.

“There are many sources for the book, both online and in brick-and-mortar stores, and I hope you’ll find an alternative,” Deaver, the bestselling author, wrote on Facebook. “As someone who labors hard to make reading my books an enjoyable experience, I’m sorry that some of you will have a less-than-happy time acquiring them.”