Over the last week details have emerged of bitter disputes Amazon has with Hachette in the U.S. and with Bonnier in Germany. While the specifics are unclear, it seems that Amazon is demanding more control and money when it comes to e-books; and to force the publishers to capitulate, Amazon is declining to keep many of their physical books in stock or to enable pre-orders.
To be sure, what Amazon is doing is of the brass-knuckle variety, and while I get that authors are upset, the reality is that it is publishers who have made a Faustian bargain.
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