This bitter book battle could turn into an epic.
Amazon escalated a war of words Wednesday with book publisher Hachette, saying it is “not optimistic” that a standoff over e-book prices will end anytime soon.
Hachette — which lately has seen its authors, including James Patterson, Michael Connelly and JK Rowling dropped from Amazon’s site — has blasted CEO Jeff Bezos for taking a strictly dollars-and-cents approach to books.
“Amazon indicates that it considers books to be like any other consumer good,” said Hachette. “They are not.”
Amazon has insisted it is simply pushing for the lowest book prices possible to benefit its customers. Critics, meanwhile, charge that the Seattle-based Internet giant is building a dangerous monopoly that doesn’t bode well for prices in the long run.
In addition, detractors say Bezos’ ruthless tactics are endangering the ability of centuries-old print houses to produce quality books while Amazon pushes authors to publish do-it-yourself titles on its own software.
Amazon was tight-lipped on the situation after Hachette titles, including Rowling’s upcoming book “The Silkworm,” started to show up as unavailable on Amazon in recent weeks.
In an online statement late Tuesday, Amazon danced around accusations that it had effectively banned Hachette titles from its site as part of a ruthless negotiating tactic — but nevertheless signaled it’s digging in.
“If you do need one of the affected titles quickly, we regret the inconvenience,” Amazon said, suggesting that customers go to a competitor if necessary.
To deflect accusations that it is behaving like an 800-pound gorilla, Amazon noted that Hachette is “part of a $10 billion media conglomerate,” referring to its parent company, Lagardere.
Amazon’s revenue last year was $74.5 billion.
While the two sides trade barbs, they’re keeping mum on specifics of the dispute over future e-book pricing.
Amazon suggested in its statement that Hachette join it in setting up a pool to compensate authors for royalties lost during the standoff.
That, Hachette shot back, was just more evidence that Amazon’s first and last concern in the world of books and reading is money.
“In addition to royalties, [authors] are concerned with audience, career, culture, education, art, entertainment and connection,” Hachette said.
The dispute is roiling the book industry as it convenes in New York this week for the BookExpo trade fair, with publishers and retailers scrambling to shore up sagging sales and profits.
Amazon noted that Hachette only accounted for a “small percentage” of sales.
“If you order 1,000 items from Amazon, 989 will be unaffected by this interruption,” Amazon said.