Amazon urges customers to demand cheaper books as publishing rivalry intensifies
Amazon has is seeking to turn its huge customer base into an army of foot soldiers as it seeks to take a fight over ebook publishing costs direct to its rivals.
The online giant is requesting that members of the public pen emails to the chief executive of Hatchette, Michael Pietsch,demanding that it reduce the cost of its books in line with its own rates.
It is the latest salvo in a concerted effort to force Hatchette to lower its prices after 900 of its authors; including Stephen King, John Grisham and Jennifer Egan, signed an open letter critical of Amazon’s aggressive tactics.
These include an unofficial ‘boycott’ of their work by making titles unavailable on its website, delaying deliveries, reducing discounts and even suggesting readers try non-Hatchette authors as alternatives.
In a written response to these moves the authors protested: “We feel strongly that no bookseller should block the sale of books or otherwise prevent or discourage customers from ordering or receiving the books they want.” The authors — many of whom are not published by Hachette — argue that “by inconveniencing and misleading its own customers with unfair pricing and delayed delivery, Amazon is contradicting its own written promise to be ‘Earth’s most customer-centric company’.”
Amazon counters that lowering the unit cost of ebooks from as much as $19.99 to just $9.99 would actually serve to raise industry revenues as readers would buy more titles in bulk.
It also argues that ebooks do not carry the associated costs of printed books as there are no printing, transportation or warehousing costs associated with the medium.