# Amazon vs Hachette: Who's Really the Villain?



## Kyle R (Sep 29, 2014)

It seems unanimous in the media coverage that Amazon is the "big bad corporation," and Hachette is the innocent publisher fighting in defense of author's rights.

Hachette did, after all, create the group "Authors United," collecting the support of hundreds of big name authors such as James Patterson and Stephen King, all speaking out against Amazon's alleged immoral "bullying" practices. If our favorite mega-authors are up in arms against Amazon, shouldn't we be, too?

However, what many don't seem to know is why all this began. How did Amazon and Hachette come into conflict in the first place?

It began when the United States' Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Hachette for conspiring with Apple, illegally, to raise the prices of e-books and to fix those prices so that retailers (like Amazon) could not lower them.

US attorney-general Eric Holder described shadowy back-room meetings, where, each quarter, Apple met with publishers to discuss "confidential competitive matters" and set the prices of their ebooks.

What did the United States government take Hachette and Apple to court over? The charge that, in the words of Eric Holder, "executives at the highest levels of the companies...– concerned that ebook sellers had reduced prices – worked together to eliminate competition among stores selling ebooks, ultimately increasing prices for consumers. As a result of this alleged conspiracy, we believe that consumers paid millions of dollars more for some of the most popular titles."

Notice the specific wording: "worked together to eliminate competition among stores selling ebooks." Now Hachette has created a group of authors working together to bring down Amazon—a store selling ebooks. Seem consistent?

Hachette, instead of defending themselves in court, agreed to a settlement. US attorney-general Holder defined the terms of the settlement with Hachette, which would require the publishers "to grant retailers – such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble – the freedom to reduce the prices of their ebook titles."

Hachette then began negotiations with Amazon to secure a new contract. Amazon wanted to sell Hachette's ebooks at the low price of $9.99, a price their market research concluded produced the best sales. Amazon also offered Hachette 70% of the revenue. But while other publishers negotiated successfully with Amazon, Hachette refused. They dug in their heels. They resisted several future negotiation offers from Amazon, while accusing Amazon of refusing to negotiate.

All the while they waited for Amazon to make a wrong move.

Amazon finally took the bait, refusing preorders and delaying the shipping of Hachette books ordered by customers.

The refusal of preorders makes perfect sense. Why should Amazon accept preorders for Hachette books that aren't in stock if there's a possibility that no future contract with Hachette is ever reached?

The delays in shipping, however, caused an uproar. Amazon was accused of withholding books from the public as a form of censorship, an intentional move to put pressure on Hachette to come to a contract agreement.

Hachette cried of "sanctions" and compared Amazon's practices with censorship. And so began the war, and Amazon's public-relations nightmare.

In the next few months, Amazon offered more negotiation terms, which Hachette refused. Amazon then said of Hachette, _"What they're really making clear is that they absolutely want their authors caught in the middle of this negotiation because they believe it increases their leverage. All the while, they are stalling and refusing to negotiate, despite the pain caused to their authors."_

Hachette went for the throat and accused Amazon of harming the lives of authors, a ploy for sympathy that struck a resonant chord with many Amazon detractors, "_Amazon chose to involve 2,500 Hachette authors and their books. It could end these sanctions tomorrow while continuing to negotiate. Amazon is undermining the ability of authors to support their families, pay their mortgages, and provide for their kids’ college educations."
_
One can easily imagine Hachette executives licking their chops, eager to see how this all plays out. If they can wrestle the retail rights away from the giant that is Amazon, who knows how high book prices could skyrocket.

If Hachette wins, it'll be a tremendous victory for publishers, a profitable triumph for big name authors, and a terrible blow to costumers, who could very well find their favorite author's books priced upwards of $50.00 a pop with the caption, "Price set by publisher."


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## movieman (Sep 29, 2014)

Neither. It's just business.


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## Schrody (Sep 29, 2014)

I never thought Hatchette is all innocent, and Amazon a big bad wolf. We'll see who will win, I just hope it will be the best for authors and customers


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## shadowwalker (Sep 30, 2014)

Amazon has a history of acting in bad faith with publishers and suppliers. Consider the Gazelle Project: http://www.businessinsider.com/sadistic-amazon-treated-book-sellers-the-way-a-cheetah-would-pursue-a-sickly-gazelle-2013-10 

Do I think Hatchette is the innocent little lamb? No. Do I agree with the Justice Department? No. Do I think this will be bad for consumers? No. Do I think books will leap to $50? Absurd. Do I hope Amazon gets it butt kicked? Absolutely.


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## Caragula (Oct 1, 2014)

I wish someone would kick Amazon's butt, it's not healthy, the dominance Amazon has, for any of us, even if Hachette aren't the heroes here.


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## movieman (Oct 1, 2014)

Caragula said:


> I wish someone would kick Amazon's butt, it's not healthy, the dominance Amazon has, for any of us, even if Hachette aren't the heroes here.



Certainly. Competition is good for everyone other than CEOs who want a guaranteed income.

The problem is that none of Amazon's competition is much cop.

B&N: Website is a disaster, rumoured to promote trade published books over self-published, and ebooks are an afterthought because they want people to buy from their brick and mortar stores.
Apple: What do you mean you're not using Apple hardware? Is there even such a thing as non-Apple hardware?
Google: Pushed self-publishers away with random price changes that cause Amazon to price-match. As a reader, there's no way I'm giving my credit card to Google as yet another way to track me.
Kobo: Was the best of the bunch until they pulled all self-published books during Pornogeddon. Lot of authors pulled their books permanently after that.


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