Jun 6, 2014 - Bloomberg
An Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center in Phoenix.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)’s sales contracts with some of the world’s biggest publishers, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, are next up for renewal, signaling that skirmishes over e-book pricing are set to spread.
The world’s largest online retailer is already feuding with Hachette Book Group and Bonnier Media. CBS Corp. (CBS)’s Simon & Schuster and News Corp. (NWSA)’s HarperCollins will soon come up for renegotiation, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the contracts are private. That means best-selling authors such as HarperCollins’ Veronica Roth, writer of the Divergent trilogy, and Simon & Schuster’s Stephen King could be entangled in the controversy.
Hachette’s tussle will determine whether publishers can gain leverage against Amazon, the biggest seller of e-books, at a time when demand for digital tomes is surging and physical books are losing ground.
Amazon is seeking a bigger cut of the retail price of a title so it can continue discounting e-books and boost margins, three people said. To ratchet up the pressure on Hachette, Amazon started blocking some book pre-orders and delaying shipments -- affecting titles such as “The Silkworm,” J.K. Rowling’s new novel written under a pseudonym.
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The world’s largest online retailer is already feuding with Hachette Book Group and Bonnier Media. CBS Corp. (CBS)’s Simon & Schuster and News Corp. (NWSA)’s HarperCollins will soon come up for renegotiation, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the contracts are private. That means best-selling authors such as HarperCollins’ Veronica Roth, writer of the Divergent trilogy, and Simon & Schuster’s Stephen King could be entangled in the controversy.
Hachette’s tussle will determine whether publishers can gain leverage against Amazon, the biggest seller of e-books, at a time when demand for digital tomes is surging and physical books are losing ground.
Amazon is seeking a bigger cut of the retail price of a title so it can continue discounting e-books and boost margins, three people said. To ratchet up the pressure on Hachette, Amazon started blocking some book pre-orders and delaying shipments -- affecting titles such as “The Silkworm,” J.K. Rowling’s new novel written under a pseudonym.
More
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