Amazon removes Hachette buy links from its stores.

Interesting, I'm seeing something similar in the how-to craft book world as well, have friends whose books are out on the market and have been for months, but if you go to amazon you will get a message that it's not available yet.

They're doing this because they think they can afford the loss of sales better than Hatchette can, I assume.

Glad I have a nook and get most of my books from B&N. I'll definitely make a point of getting my hardcover books I would have gotten from Amazon from places like Powell's now, though, and not just when they're Hatchette group titles.

Dmbeucler said:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/...ts-battle-against-hachette/?hpw&rref=business

Amazon did this with Macmillan in 2010?

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They did. Barnes & Noble did something like this last year in their stores by not stocking books put out by Simon & Schuster. Maybe this was something that used to happen in the stores, and we just didn't know it?

shelleyo said:

They did. Barnes & Noble did something like this last year in their stores by not stocking books put out by Simon & Schuster. Maybe this was something that used to happen in the stores, and we just didn't know it?

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As a former craft store owner I know there were times when it was impossible to get certain books even though there were warehouses full of them!

shelleyo said:

They did. Barnes & Noble did something like this last year in their stores by not stocking books put out by Simon & Schuster. Maybe this was something that used to happen in the stores, and we just didn't know it?

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I wonder. Very annoying. When you walk into a brick and mortar store, you don't generally assume that every single title will be in stock, so it may not seem so strange if some books or authors are missing.

May just be buying more books from independents and putting them on my ipad if I want them in e form.

shelleyo said:

They did. Barnes & Noble did something like this last year in their stores by not stocking books put out by Simon & Schuster. Maybe this was something that used to happen in the stores, and we just didn't know it?

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That's a really interesting point. Maybe this has been going on forever. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, about what a powerhouse Amazon is and how its taking over the publishing industry. Wrote up a post on my blog about it today actually: http://thewildestedge.wordpress.com...-of-books-is-in-your-hands-hachette-v-amazon/

Michael Sullivan, a Hachette author, discussing how he found out about the current feud between Hachette and Amazon.

The matter got worse in early March when I started seeing stocking issues. From March 9th until May 8th my wife, and business manager, was having constant emails and phone conversations with my editor, publisher, and Amazon over these issues. We were getting very mixed messages. On April 29th, during a phone call with Amazon’s Author Central, the Amazon representative indicated they had more than a dozen purchase orders placed from April 21st – 24th which had not yet shipped. At that time, Hachette was indicating ship dates of May 2nd – May 10th. Hachette has continually assured us all orders were shipping “in a timely manner” and Amazon was to blame for placing small orders. We’ve asked for copies of the purchase orders and confirmation of the shipment dates from my publisher but have been told, “It is not information we would like to be shared with any third party at the current time.” Hachette would be foolish to delay orders while simultaneously accusing Amazon of doing exactly that, but perhaps their definition of “in a timely manner” is not the same as it was before the dispute.

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So, Amazon may not be the (only) bad guy here.

Almost certainly not, it's just the biggest game in town, so when they do it, it's more noticeable. You expect them to have any title you want and to be able to ship it to you within two days. If they don't do this, you know something nefarious is up, whereas a smaller retailer (even B and N) is more likely to run out of a given title or encounter delays in shipping for all kinds of reasons.

Thing is, there are other places to buy the titles you want (so long as you're not looking for a kindle book), so if I try to order a book from a given retailer and they say there will be a two week delay, guess what? I'll hunt around and find it somewhere else.

Both companies have be very careful here. Book buyers can have long memories.

It’s easy to say that publishing vs. Amazon is just about corporate greed on both sides. And it is. But, it’s also about thousands of authors who rely on distribution to make a living via their intellectual property. Amazon, by continually asserting its dominance and forcing publishing into agreeing to its terms, is doing harm to the writer and reader. Honestly, I don’t much care whether Hachette survives. What I care about is whether writers can continue to make a living. Because if they can’t, then we’re all going to be worse off, devoid as our lives will become of good, well produced books. But, as long as Amazon dominates the marketplace the way it does we’re going to continue to see writers exploited by the Company Store.

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This quote from here sums up my feelings pretty well.

Roxxsmom said:

Thing is, there are other places to buy the titles you want (so long as you're not looking for a kindle book)

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Which is why I don't permit the content deliverers to control my hardware. Amazon and BN can keep their nifty little devices (and, granted, they *are* nifty). I'm sticking with OEM hardware for as long as I can.

Let these people have their spats. I'm going where I need to in order to find what I want. And I'm buying it in the format that keeps me in control of how I read it.

I feel awful for those authors. Right before TGF was released, Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster had a contractual falling out. Every bit of leg-up and promotion that had been arranged evaporated.

It felt terrible.

But, right, wrong, or otherwise, if you think you're screwed without B&N these days, you're really screwed without Amazon access.

Capitalism is alive and well. Amazon is using its dominance of the book retail market to try and force publishers to renegotiate contracts. Not too different from what Standard Oil or US Steel did. This is what always happens when you have a monopoly or a business with a dominant market share. They try and force companies that are dependent on them to agree to deals that maximize the big company's profits.

robjvargas said:

Which is why I don't permit the content deliverers to control my hardware. Amazon and BN can keep their nifty little devices (and, granted, they *are* nifty). I'm sticking with OEM hardware for as long as I can.

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I have a Kobo, which is similarly owned by a "bookstore" I guess. But a problem arises when a book is only available on Amazon - such as AW's williemeikle's latest. (I can read it on my phone or iPad I guess, with a Kindle app, but I prefer an e-reader.)

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8874189&postcount=24

So, what then? Amazon has readers by the short hairs, it seems. Buy from them, using their nifty device, or don't get the book at all. But oh yeah - only buy the books Amazon wants you to buy.

Roxxsmom said:

Almost certainly not, it's just the biggest game in town, so when they do it, it's more noticeable. You expect them to have any title you want and to be able to ship it to you within two days. If they don't do this, you know something nefarious is up, whereas a smaller retailer (even B and N) is more likely to run out of a given title or encounter delays in shipping for all kinds of reasons.

Thing is, there are other places to buy the titles you want (so long as you're not looking for a kindle book), so if I try to order a book from a given retailer and they say there will be a two week delay, guess what? I'll hunt around and find it somewhere else.

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I think this is why I don't buy that Amazon was the reason for the shipping delays. Who would be hurt? Most people don't care who publishes the book, they only know the retailer delayed shipping. Amazon would be blamed, not Hachette. So, customers just go somewhere else to purchase the book.

I don't think either side has clean hands in this mess. I read Michael Sullivan's take, and was honestly shocked by how large a percentage of book sales come from Amazon. I don't see Hachette winning this fight.

Dmbeucler said:

There are quite a few facts that don't sync up with painting Amazon as manipulated by Hachette. The one I am focused on is that Hachette is not the only publisher right now that is having the exact same problem. Namely, Bonnier a German publish company.

I can't see a connection between the two publishers. (Although I am sure if I have missed one someone here will know). But unless there is a connection with the two publishers to delay their own books, the simplest explanation is that Amazon is causing it.

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This issue has been going since late last year, but has only recently received a decent amount of press.

The underlying issue is that the two year moratorium on pricing changes imposed by the DOJ 2010 settlement agreement runs out in a few months, and Hachette wants to sell it's books using the 2010 Agency Pricing structure. Barnes and Noble has already agreed to this pricing structure. If you goto Barnes and Noble and look at any of the Hachette books you can't preorder right now om Amazon, and compare their retail list price to the 2010 Agency prices, they're exactly the same. Amazon knows if they agree to the Hachette proposal, the other big publishers will want the same thing, and thats the last thing Amazon wants to do.

Dav

juniper said:

I have a Kobo, which is similarly owned by a "bookstore" I guess. But a problem arises when a book is only available on Amazon - such as AW's williemeikle's latest. (I can read it on my phone or iPad I guess, with a Kindle app, but I prefer an e-reader.)

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8874189&postcount=24

So, what then? Amazon has readers by the short hairs, it seems. Buy from them, using their nifty device, or don't get the book at all. But oh yeah - only buy the books Amazon wants you to buy.

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Calibre softwear can covert a kindle format ebook to epub or Kobe reader or whatever on a computer, but there's still DRM. However, I've been told there's a plug in (DeDRM, I think it's called) that takes care of this issue.

Perks said:

I feel awful for those authors. Right before TGF was released, Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster had a contractual falling out. Every bit of leg-up and promotion that had been arranged evaporated.

It felt terrible.

But, right, wrong, or otherwise, if you think you're screwed without B&N these days, you're really screwed without Amazon access.

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QFT. I have a friend with a Hachette book coming out in July that's gotten great early buzz, a big-name award, a recent NYT blurb, etc., and the Amazon pre-order links that have been pushed are now all dead. Amazon is screwing with authors' livelihoods and careers.

My guess, because I'm a suspicious individual, is that it's partly hoping the authors will put pressure on the publisher to resolve this quickly, and thus at terms more favorable to Amazon.

I think this is part of Amazon's long-term strategy to own the retail book business, print or digital. They have steadily bought the competition for ebooks, and potential ebook retailers tied to book communities. They have purchased ereaders that are software based, rather then tied to a hardware platform, and then they've killed them.

I think they're betting on digital becoming dominate, across the board. I think they don't care if they cause writers, publishers, and book stores pain. I think they also think that books are commodities, so Mystery Novel A is the same as Mystery Novel B.

Note that Hachette = Little, Brown, and Grand Central, better known under its former title of Time Warner, and Orbit, among others.

Is there some difference between US and UK here? I ask because my own books and a couple of other Orbit ones seem unaffected on Amazon UK (pre order buttons are there for books not out yet and ones already out will be shipped in 1-5 days which is about normal) but are affected on Amazon US (no preorder links, ships in 2-5 weeks, or is "currently unavailable". Although oddly you can get book two of my trilogy in 30hours but not the others?). There doesn't seem to be the same issue on these books in Germany either

Just wondering if there is a difference (different laws about something or other perhaps?)

ShaunHorton said:

Michael Sullivan, a Hachette author, discussing how he found out about the current feud between Hachette and Amazon.



So, Amazon may not be the (only) bad guy here.

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Two things about Michael.

While I respect him as an author, he did not voice his concern for his fellow authors when things were going down hill with his wife's publishing house, Ridan, through which he was published. As far as I know, to date, he still has not talked publically about Ridan's down fall or how the other authors were treated.

Secondly, in his statements about the Hachette/Amazon situation, he suggest a fair split of 35/35 between the publisher and author and 30% with Amazon.

I am not sure how he figures that he should get a equal split with his publisher when they have done all the work, plus, he got an advance. Six figures if I remember right. His publisher Orbit, a Hachette sub, did the final editing, the formatting to the various e-formats, the cover design, and got the reviews, not to mention the art work, and paid for the printing of the paper versions.

This is not to say Michael could not have done so himself, as he has in the past. But when he went with the big boys, he agreed to their terms and now he is whining because Amazon wants more of the pie and Hachette/Orbit is digging in?

As Michael said, even if self published authors lose the 70% from Amazon and are reduced to 35%, that is still more than what he would be getting from Orbit at 17.5% at his current deal with them. But I don't think he or many other SP are thinking about how much they have to spend to equal what the big boys do. Especially in time as Michael has had the time to devote to writing full time, and do less social media type stuff than he did when he was on his own, or with Ridan... That has got to be worth something...

I'm a little confused by all this angry rhetoric at Amazon.

While I'm not going to say they're innocent of any sneaky tricks in this, I want to point back up to the link I shared earlier and state that I have no doubt the publisher's hands are definitely no cleaner.

This is just another example of the power trade publishing companies have lost in the past several years. Could this stuff have been going on before and we just never knew it? Undoubtedly. Although, previous to Amazon and the digital revolution, it was more than likely the trade publishers holding the feet of brick-and-mortar bookstores to the fire with ever increasing prices, minimum order sizes, and things of that nature.

Amazon is just trying to make life hard for authors trying to make a living? You say that like it's their sole reason for having this negotiation battle. Amazon is a company. Their goal is to make money for themselves and they do this by giving people what they want, which is low prices. What people don't want, and what we will probably see (again, with the DOJ moratorium against the trade publishers for their price collusion almost up, another reason I doubt Hatchette's hands are anywhere near clean in this) is $8 - $12 ebooks. Also, as has been said, if Amazon gives in to Hatchette, they're going to be facing down the same fights with all the other big trade publishers. It's not Amazon's job to be concerned about the third parties it's suppliers have deals with.

Also, I want to share this bit of JA Konrath fisking Scott Turow and James Patterson over their comments on the situation.