Amazon, Hachette Settle Their Dispute

Suddenly, and without much of the fanfare the actual dispute had, Amazon and Hachette have settled their differences. The two companies announced Thursday morning they've signed a new multi-year contract which will (naturally) see Hachette-published books on Amazon. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but both parties were complimentary of the agreement. In Amazon's original complaint, they said their aim was to keep eBook pricing low. In announcing the deal, Amazon executive David Naggar noted "financial incentives" for Hachette to deliver on low-priced eBooks.

Hachette's concern was with Amazon's price war against no one, and reports they wanted a larger percentage of eBooks sold via Amazon only meant authors and publishers were being squeezed. Amazon supporters noted scale would likely make up for any percentage issues, and lower prices would brong that scale.

That may be the angle Amazon sold Hachette on, too. CEO of Hachette, Michael Pietsch, said the deal "gives Hachette enormous marketing capability with one of our most important bookselling partners."

Financial incentives to keep pricing low and unique marketing. That reads like Amazon and Hachette now have a closer relationship than before; not that they've agreed to disagree on eBook pricing.

Authors were outspoken about the original spat, so it will be interesting to see if we get another author-supported page dedicated to this agreement. They're the ones with the most to gain or lose in all this, after all.

Source: The New York Times