Business

Best-selling authors petition Amazon in Hachette dispute

Amazon continues to feel the heat from its feud with Hachette over pricing on e-books and its move to delay shipment of books by many of Hachette’s best-selling authors until the dispute is resolved.

More than 300 writers have signed a petition — which best-selling techno thriller writer Douglas Preston is circulating — urging Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to settle the dispute for the good of publishing.

After the letter went viral on Wednesday, Preston told Publishers Weekly that Stephen King, Nora Roberts and David Maraniss joined a petition that already included David Baldacci and James Patterson.

As part of the dispute, Amazon stopped accepting pre-orders on books from Hachette authors, including Baldacci and James Patterson.

Also, if Amazon did not have a Hachette book in stock, it could take up to two weeks for a consumer to receive it.

“I’m not against Amazon,” Preston told Publishers Weekly, but it can’t “treat authors and books the way they treat the manufacturers of toasters and televisions and computer cables.”

Amazon spokesperson Sarah Gelman said, “Our focus has been to build a bookstore that benefits authors and readers alike. We take seriously and regret the impact it has when, however infrequently, a terms dispute with a publisher affects authors. We look forward to resolving this issue with Hachette as soon as possible.”

That last line is considered a good sign, since back on May 27, Amazon had signaled that a settlement was not expected anytime soon.