Indie booksellers join Hachette's battle with Amazon

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/06/indie-booksellers-hachette-battle-amazon

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Independent booksellers in America are weighing into the dispute between Amazon and Hachette with a series of banners telling potential customers "Thanks, Amazon, the indies will take it from here", while comedian and Hachette author Stephen Colbert is urging his viewers to plaster their books with "I didn't buy it on Amazon" stickers.

The disagreement between the retail giant and the publisher, which is believed to be over terms, has been played out in public since early last month, and has seen Amazon.com delay delivery on more than 5,000 Hachette titles, according to the publisher, including books by Malcolm Gladwell, JD Salinger and James Patterson. It has also removed the possibility of pre-ordering books by authors including JK Rowling, whose forthcoming Robert Galbraith crime novel The Silkworm is not available on the site.

Rowling has highlighted alternative means of purchasing her upcoming novel, tweeting "Booksellers were the secret of Harry's success, now #CormoranStrike is going to owe them big time, too. #buyfrombookstores", and "I LOVE Third Place Books and so does my good friend Robert Galbraith", in response to the news that the independent Seattle store was offering to hand deliver copies of The Silkworm, which it is selling at a discount.

Now independent bookshops have moved to profit from the situation, after the American Booksellers Association produced two digital banners reading "Thanks, Amazon, the indies will take it from here", "Independent bookstores sell books from all publishers. Always", or "Pre-order and buy Hachette titles today". The association said the banners have been shared by hundreds of shops, quoting Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, Vermont, which wrote: "Can you imagine if your local bookstore intentionally delayed selling you books just because we were mad at the publisher? Luckily at Bear Pond we actually like books and respect our customers!"

Apple Valley Books in Winthrop, Maine, shared one of the banners, said the ABA, with the independent store adding: "Not certain how many folks know the damage that Amazon has done to the small, locally-owned independent book stores. I do think the tide is turning and people are understanding the value of having your own hometown bookstore. We, at Apple Valley Books, sure do appreciate our loyal customers!"

Colbert, meanwhile, used his popular TV show The Colbert Report to attack the online retailer, saying he was "not just mad at Amazon … I'm mad Prime", and "Watch out Bezos, this means war". Colbert concluded by showing Amazon his (obscured) middle finger, saying "customers who enjoy this, also enjoy this" as he added his second middle finger.

Both sides in the dispute have released public statements on the issue, Hachette saying most recently that "we will spare no effort to resume normal business relations with Amazon – which has been a great partner for years – but under terms that value appropriately for the years ahead the author's unique role in creating books, and the publisher's role in editing, marketing, and distributing them, at the same time that it recognizes Amazon's importance as a retailer and innovator". Amazon, meanwhile, has said that "this business interruption affects a small percentage of Amazon's demand-weighted units", and that while "suppliers get to decide the terms under which they are willing to sell to a retailer … it's reciprocally the right of a retailer to determine whether the terms on offer are acceptable and to stock items accordingly".

The retailer has offered "to fund 50% of an author pool – to be allocated by Hachette – to mitigate the impact of this dispute on author royalties, if Hachette funds the other 50%", Hachette responding that once it reaches an agreement with Amazon, "we will be happy to discuss with Amazon its ideas about compensating authors for the damage its demand for improved terms may have done them, and to pass along any payments it considers appropriate".

Authors including Patterson, John Green and Malcolm Gladwell have all weighed into the dispute on the side of Hachette – "Right now, bookstores, libraries, authors, and books themselves are caught in the crossfire of an economic war. If this is the new American way, then maybe it has to be changed – by law, if necessary – immediately, if not sooner," said Patterson.

But Amazon.com also has its literary supporters, with the thriller novelist Barry Eisler writing in the Guardian that authors should reconsider their "anti-Amazon ideology, which at root is an attempt to stop the evolution of publishing itself", and bestseller Hugh Howey that "I'm pulling for Amazon as an ebook customer. I hope they win the right to continue to be able to discount ebooks so they remain less expensive than paperbacks. Hachette doesn't want this. Hachette wants higher prices (or at least, for Amazon to take the hit instead of them)."