Amazon halts sales of some Hachette books as publishing battle escalates

Stray punches in a corporate slugfest knocked spectacles from authors’ noses and left readers with black eyes this week, after Amazon, the online retailer, stopped selling certain titles published by Hachette, the multinational publisher. The move came after weeks of lesser measures by Amazon to put pressure on Hachette.

Amazon has been fighting with the publisher over undisclosed aspects of a deal under which Amazon brings Hachette’s books to market.

Amazon stopped selling certain Hachette books on Friday, including JK Rowling’s latest detective novel and a new thriller offering by Adam Brookes. Other Hachette books, such as Joshua Ferris’ new novel, appeared to be for sale as usual, although under a large banner advertising “similar items at a lower price.” Still others were being sold at non-competitive prices. A hardcover edition of bestselling author Jeffery Deaver’s new novel, The Skin Collector, cost $17.99 on barnesandnoble.com on Friday – and $25.20 on amazon.com.

“Because of a dispute with Hachette Book Group, which publishes The Skin Collector, Amazon has chosen to attempt to intimidate publisher, authors and readers alike by significantly reducing purchase price discounts of my books and those written by other Hachette authors,” Deaver wrote on his Facebook page earlier this month.

Amazon also appeared to be slowing the delivery of some Hachette titles. Book of Jezebel editor Anna Holmes called out Amazon on Twitter for “shameful behavior” after the retailer slapped a notice on the book’s sales page advising it “usually ships in one to three weeks.”

“I find it very irritating, because the Amazon buying page for The Book of Jezebel is the one that we have pushed the most since the book came out last October,” Holmes said. “We were always sending people to Amazon, more than any other retailer.”

Amazon, which has declined to comment in the matter, did not return calls for comment Friday morning. A Hachette spokesperson did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Amazon controls about 65% of the US ebook market and accounts for one-third of all sales for one major publisher, according to a New Yorker investigation published in February. Book sales make up a relatively small share of the company’s revenue – 7%, by one estimate, of $74.5bn in revenues in 2013. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post last year for $250m.

Hachette, a multinational conglomerate with headquarters in Paris, is a major player in its own right. The company acquired Time Warner Book Group in 2006 for half a billion dollars. In 2013 Hachette bought Disney’s adult trade publishing imprint, Hyperion. Hachette’s parent company, Lagardère Group, a publisher, broadcaster and retailer whose magazine titles include French Elle and Paris Match, recorded $7.37bn in net sales in 2012, according to its annual report.

Amazon’s current tactics represent the biggest flexing of muscle in the book world by the retailer since it removed buy buttons from books published by Macmillan in 2010, David Streitfeld pointed out in the New York Times. The publisher won that round.

“There are many sources for the book, both online and in brick-and-mortar stores, and I hope you’ll find an alternative,” Deaver, the bestselling author, wrote on Facebook. “As someone who labors hard to make reading my books an enjoyable experience, I’m sorry that some of you will have a less-than-happy time acquiring them.”