Monday, September 08, 2014

Authors United threatens next Amazon move


05.09.14 | Sarah Shaffi - The Bookseller

Campaign group Authors United is being “forced to move on to our next initiative” because Amazon has not yet halted its dispute with Hachette Book Group in the US.

The group’s founder, Douglas Preston (pictured), also said he hoped Amazon would not “start targeting” Simon & Schuster books, as the publisher has recently entered negotiations with Amazon. Preston was writing to those who signed Authors United’s letter to Amazon, which was printed in the New York Times.

The letter, signed by writers including Stephen King, James Patterson and Lee Child, called on Amazon “to resolve its dispute with Hachette without hurting authors and without blocking or otherwise delaying the sale of books to its customers”.

In his latest letter to authors, Preston said: “Amazon is continuing to sanction books: 2,500 Hachette authors and over 7,000 titles have now apparently been affected. Hachette authors have seen their sales at Amazon decline at least 50% and in many cases as much as 90%. This has been going on for six months and it has been particularly damaging to struggling debut and midlist authors.”
Preston said Amazon had been “falsely” trying to portray Authors United as a group of "rich authors
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