Amazon ‘Not Optimistic’ It Will Resume Selling Hachette Books Normally Soon
Amazon.com said it is “not optimistic” that a dispute with publisher Hachette Book Group will be resolved soon and added that it is acting “on behalf of customers.”
The comments, which Amazon made yesterday in an online post, are the first extensive remarks by the world’s largest online retailer about its skirmish with Hachette over digital-book prices. The spat, which came to light in the past week, has resulted in Amazon ordering fewer print copies of existing Hachette books blocking pre-orders entirely for some of the publisher’s forthcoming releases.
Among the books caught in the dispute is “The Silkworm,” the new novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, which Amazon says is “currently unavailable.”
