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This has been going on for a while,(recommending other titles that are similar/cheaper for example) but Amazon has withdrawn books from sale causing a bit of an uproar. The upshot is it's highlighted the strangle hold the company has.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/amazon-steps-pressure-hachette-us.htmlFurther more, a large amount of the book buying population are now boycotting the 'everything store'. Not the best practice for a company seeking to increase its profits.
Comments
http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/amazon-v-hachette-dont-believe-the-spin/
It's a long read, but worth taking the highlights, especially the part about who owns these publishing companies, and just what clout they have as a result. This isn't an Amazon Goliath versus the little guys at all - they're all very big hitters.
This stems from the price-fixing case in the US, where all of the companies have been ordered by the court to go through the same process of renegotiating retailer-publisher contracts, one by one (to avoid collusion again).
See also Hugh Howey on the subject:
http://www.hughhowey.com/more-thoughts-on-hachette-amazon/
Not so clear cut as Hachette et al would have us believe, perhaps.
The point of concern must remain with Amazon. If they decided to say to all the Indie pubs out there, "Actually we want 70%" and "We want you to deliver more stories faster." Any indie author out there has already experienced the power that can be pressed by the "big" houses when all the "adult" content was removed from Kobo.
Amazon. Kobo, BN & publishers, manufacturers of our daily consumption - should any share holding company have this much power?
Charlie Stross (Author) throws a whole load of considerations into the mix here. http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/05/amazon-malignant-monopoly-or-j.html
I did learn two useful words from Hugh Howey: canard and jeremiad.