Was Kindle Designed To Aid Amazon’s Market Discipline?
Or did Hachette simply piss off the “boss” by preparing to offer books in the right format for the Sony Reader? This might be a long one - resources aplenty on this topic :)
Doreen Carvahal wrote in The NY Times recently;
Small Publishers Feel Power of Amazon’s ‘Buy’ Button
In the latest in a series of disputes over the division of revenue from online sales, Amazon has disabled the “buy now with 1 click” icon on its British Web site for hundreds of books published by the British unit of Hachette Livre, from back-list Stephen King novels to, naturally, “The Hachette Guide to French Wine.”
The button allows registered users to purchase titles instantly, with free shipping. Customers can still buy the affected books, but they have to navigate to an open marketplace that links them to third-party sellers of new or used books. And they have to pay for shipping.
The struggle comes at a time that Amazon’s power as a bookseller is increasing, with sales growing online in an otherwise tepid global book market. Some publishers fear that with the introduction of Amazon’s Kindle electronic reader, the company will rise into a position to be able to demand more concessions.
“The buy button is their weapon of choice and that’s how they impose market discipline,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, an American trade group that also briefly lost the buy icon, for titles sold from BackinPrint.com, a print-on-demand service for infrequently purchased works. “This is such a clear indication that once they have the clout they are willing to use it to the full extent that they can. It’s ugly with Amazon and will probably get uglier.”
Amazon is saying little about its tactics. But bloggers have been organizing letter-writing campaigns and petition drives accusing Amazon, which bills itself as “Earth’s most customer-centric company,” of transforming itself into the bully of the publishing industry.
The dispute seems to particularly focus on Amazon’s aggressive low pricing on lead titles which is having an effect on ordinary high street bookstores.
Amazon UK have not responded publicly about the dispute but their continued heavy handed practice of dealing with publishers continues in light of the recent moves against some print-on-demand publishers.
At bNet we find;
According to reports, Amazon.co.uk has removed some titles published by Hachette from sale on its website. The bookseller is thought to be seeking to put pressure on Hachette to give it a greater percentage of profit from the sale of its titles.
Hachette’s group chief executive in the UK, Tim Hely Hutchinson, has written to the company’s authors to say that the company does not intend to meet Amazon’s demands.
Could this
Numilog, a major e-book distributor and retailer in France, will be acquired by Hachette Livre, a subsidiary of the Lagardere Group, if a proposed deal goes through.
So reports Le Figaro, a major French newspaper.
What’s more, Hachette, the country’s largest publisher, is prepared to offer books in the right format for the Sony Reader in France, although it will not be the company introducing the machine there this year (correction, May 21: thanks to Hadrien Gardeur at Feedbooks for pointing out the difference).
have been the motivation for Amazon?
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