Retail giant Amazon has been accused by publishers of playing hard ball to extract more favourable sales terms and increase margins on its popular Kindle ebook reader.
The Independent Publishers Group (IPG) have noted that Amazon decided not to renew an agreement to resell electronic titles of IPG clients in an apparent dispute over wholesale discounts on books.
IPG president Mark Suchomel said that, “They [Amazon] wanted better margin and we were telling them what our terms were. So they took the titles off.”
This move means that around 5,000 titles will be removed from the Kindle store although the print titles are still available on Amazon.
Suchomel suggested that this was part of a pressure campaign to win more favourable terms from publishers and distributors.
The two sides had been in discussions for some time according to Suchomel.
“I’m not surprised they pulled when they did. But of course, I’m incredibly disappointed,” he said. “We’re certainly working very well with them on the print side and I would love to sell them the e-title titles. If they want them they’re certainly available.”
Read the full story at: Cnet.
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