Amazon Wants You To Fight Its Battle With Hachette

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <header style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 class="title" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Amazon and Hachette are officially engaged in a tug-of-war game, and now the e-retailer is reaching out to customers for a little extra leverage for its side.</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="AMAZON EBOOK" class="" data-img-path="http://i0.huffpost.com/gen/1956781/thumbs/n-AMAZON-EBOOK-large570.jpg" src="http://i0.huffpost.com/gen/1956781/thumbs/n-AMAZON-EBOOK-large570.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></span></h1> </header><div class="content" id="mainentrycontent" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On Friday night, Amazon launched <span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ReadersUnited.com</span>, a website dedicated to urging readers to take a stand in its messy contract battle with the French publisher, <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/orwell-is-amazons-latest-target-in-battle-against-hachette/" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">The New York Times reported</a>. The <a href="http://www.readersunited.com/" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">site</a> features a letter from the Amazon books team, asking customers to directly email Hachette's CEO, Michael Pietsch, and tell him to "stop working so hard to overcharge for e-books."</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The move appears to be a direct rebuttal to an earlier letter <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/business/media/plot-thickens-as-900-writers-battle-amazon.html?rref=technology&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Technology&pgtype=Blogs" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">signed by over 900 authors</a> -- including both authors who've been published by Hachette and ones who have not -- that asks readers to contact Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO and founder, and weigh in on the matter. The letter, which is signed by best-selling authors like Stephen King and Barbara Kingsolver, as well as many others, will be published in a full-page ad in Sunday's New York Times, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-08/amazon-hachette-dispute-prompts-authors-ad-in-ny-times.html" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">according to Bloomberg</a>.</span></div> <div class="ad_spot" id="modulous_mid_article" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="ad_wrapper" id="ad_mid_article" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; float: left; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><iframe frameborder="0" height="250" hspace="0" id="adsonar_serve985907" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="adsonar_serve985907" scrolling="no" src="http://ads.tw.adsonar.com/adserving/getAds.jsp?previousPlacementIds=&placementId=1523912&pid=2354767&ps=-1&zw=300&zh=250&ssl=false&url=http%3A//www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/09/amazon-hachette-letter-contract_n_5664540.html&v=5&flash=false&fv=0&dct=Amazon%20Wants%20You%20To%20Fight%20Its%20Battle%20With%20Hachette&metakw=amazon,wants,you,to,fight,its,battle,with,hachette,business" style="border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" vspace="0" width="300"></iframe></span></div> </div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The two letters are the latest shots fired in a dispute between the two companies over e-book prices. In May, Amazon began holding Hachette hostage by <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/03/amazon-hachette_n_5439313.html" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">raising prices and refusing to restock</a> some Hachette titles on its site.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In its letter published Friday, Amazon argued that Hachette is preventing it from lowering e-book prices.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"E-books can and should be less expensive," the retail giant wrote in its letter. "Hachette has already been caught illegally colluding with its competitors to raise e-book prices."</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But in their open letter, the authors maintain that Amazon is unfairly holding <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">them</em>hostage by refusing to sell certain books.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It is not right for Amazon to single out a group of authors, who are not involved in the dispute, for selective retaliation," the open letter, penned by the author <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/08/08/douglas_preston_on_his_open_letter_about_amazon_im_not_a_firebrand_i_fell_into_it_accidentally/" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">Douglas Preston</a>, reads. "Moreover, 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.'"</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In a statement provided to The Huffington Post on Saturday, Preston, who writes thriller novels, said that Amazon's letter misrepresents the authors' views, and the writers "take no position on the dispute between Amazon and Hachette."</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Preston wrote:</span></div> <blockquote style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 15px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What we are united on is this: we strongly object to Amazon blocking and impeding the sales of books, hurting authors, and inconveniencing readers as a negotiating strategy. We authors helped Amazon become one of the largest corporations in the world. Amazon used book sales as the cutting edge to selling everything. And yet, when Amazon gets in a dispute with a publisher over terms, it retaliates against the authors by blocking or otherwise impeding the sales of their books. Surely Amazon has other negotiating tools in its portfolio without targeting authors and damaging our livelihoods every time they get into a rough patch negotiating with a publisher. It's as simple as that.</span></div> <div class="ql" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> <div class="qr" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> </blockquote> <div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Pietsch, Hachette's chief, and a representative from Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">.</span></div> </div> </div>

Amazon Wants You To Fight Its Battle With Hachette

Amazon and Hachette are officially engaged in a tug-of-war game, and now the e-retailer is reaching out to customers for a little extra le...

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