It appears as if the stalemate between Hachette and Amazon has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties. Amazon has given Hachette control over the prices of its ebooks, and has promised to not only restore Hachette titles to its inventory, but to feature them during the holiday season.
Is this the end of the Amazon vs Everybody Wars? Probably not. While discontinuing its extortionist tactics, at least for the time being, Amazon is still building a monopoly. History has shown time and time again that monopolies are good for nobody - except the people running them.
With that in mind, Authors United is still going ahead with its plans to ask the Department of Justice to start an antitrust inquiry into Amazon.
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Amazon-Hachette Deal: The Reaction
Publishers Weekly, November 13, 2014
News broke Thursday that the two companies had reached new sales terms--after a stalemate in their negotiations became public in May--with Hachette Book Group CEO Michael Pietsch telling authors and agents in a letter that the agreement gives the publisher "considerable benefits." Chief among those benefits, is that Hachette can sell its ebooks on Amazon using a model he called "Agency," giving the publisher "full responsibility for the consumer prices of our ebooks."
Pietsch, in a statement about the agreement, noted that Hachette's the new ebook terms won't take effect until 2015 but that, in interim, its titles will return to "normal availability" on Amazon. (During the stalled negotiations, a number of Hachette titles were unavailable for pre-order, or faced long delivery times.) Additionally, with the agreement, Hachette titles will now be featured in Amazon promotions for the holiday season, which Pietsch called "a very positive development." It could be until the middle of next week, however, for Amazon to be fully stocked on all HBG titles.
News broke Thursday that the two companies had reached new sales terms--after a stalemate in their negotiations became public in May--with Hachette Book Group CEO Michael Pietsch telling authors and agents in a letter that the agreement gives the publisher "considerable benefits." Chief among those benefits, is that Hachette can sell its ebooks on Amazon using a model he called "Agency," giving the publisher "full responsibility for the consumer prices of our ebooks."
Pietsch, in a statement about the agreement, noted that Hachette's the new ebook terms won't take effect until 2015 but that, in interim, its titles will return to "normal availability" on Amazon. (During the stalled negotiations, a number of Hachette titles were unavailable for pre-order, or faced long delivery times.) Additionally, with the agreement, Hachette titles will now be featured in Amazon promotions for the holiday season, which Pietsch called "a very positive development." It could be until the middle of next week, however, for Amazon to be fully stocked on all HBG titles.
Read the rest of this article HERE.
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