About a week ago we reported that Amazon’s dispute with publisher Hachette had led to Hachette-published books either being delayed or being taken down. This is due to Amazon and Hachette unable to work out a deal with one another regarding pricing of ebooks. That being said, Amazon has since confirmed the feud with Hachette in a note published on their website.
According to the note, Amazon defends their actions and claims that they have the right to not sell Hachette’s books, much like how an actual bookshop has the choice of what kind of books they want to carry. Amazon also states that they are still trying to work with Hachette to try and come to an agreement, but also mentioned that they are not optimistic that it will be happening anytime soon.
The company states that their feud with Hachette only affects a small amount of books listed on their website, despite Hachette being one of the major publishers out there. Amazon noted, “If you do need one of the affected titles quickly, we regret the inconvenience and encourage you to purchase a new or used version from one of our third-party sellers or from one of our competitors.”
It’s a pretty interesting tactic, to drive customers to a competitor, but we guess this is supposed to indicate to Hachette that Amazon is taking this very seriously and that they have no qualms about losing business just to drive home a point. This hardly seems very professional and no doubt affects both readers and authors, but hopefully they will be able to resolve this in due time.
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