The intense battle between Hachette Book Group and Amazon is over.
After trading barbs for the past six months over pricing and profit margins for e-books, the two companies reached a multi-year agreement this morning for e-book and print sales in the U.S.
Specifics of the deal were not disclosed. In a statement, Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch said that “this is great news for writers.”
“The new agreement will benefit Hachette authors for years to come,” he said. “It gives Hachette enormous marketing capability with one of our most important bookselling partners.”
The deal ends a bitter back-and-forth spat that saw Amazon remove pre-orders for Hachette books and delay delivery to customers since May.
The dispute was somewhat of a PR nightmare for Amazon. A group represented by Hachette called Authors United — which included people like John Grisham, Stephen King and more than 900 others— publicly lambasted Amazon’s negotiating tactics and posted a full-page ad in the New York Times to defend its position.
Stephen Colbert, who publishes his books through Hachette, even became involved and compared Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to Lord Voldermort, the villain in Harry Potter.
And just yesterday, Malcom Gladwell went on Bloomberg to talk about his frustration with Amazon’s strategy and why the company “chose to screw over the people bringing revenue to their business and customers to their site.”
“It breaks my heart a little,” Gladwell told Bloomberg’s Emily Chang. “… I have sold through Amazon, millions of books. I have contributed mightily to their bottom line. I would have thought they had seen me as an asset. Me and other writers have brought people to their site in droves. Now they’ve turned on us. It is, to say the least, a puzzling strategy for a business to turn on its assets. I would love to have a conversation with Jeff Bezos about the self-destructive nature of his particular strategy.”
But Amazon held its ground, making a case for lower e-book prices via public letters. The company encouraged people to send their own letters to Pietsch, a move that Hachette called “punitive.”
Now, though, it appears both sides are happy with the agreement. As part of the new deal, Hachette will be able to set e-book prices.
“We are pleased with this new agreement as it includes specific financial incentives for Hachette to deliver lower prices, which we believe will be a great win for readers and authors alike,” Kindle VP David Naggar said in a statement.
Amazon last month reached a similar agreement with Simon & Schuster.
The new ebook terms with Hachette will take effect early in 2015. Here’s the press release:
HACHETTE BOOK GROUP AND AMAZON REACH NEW EBOOK AND PRINT BOOK AGREEMENT
November 13, 2014 – Hachette Book Group and Amazon (AMZN) today announced that the companies have reached a new, multi-year agreement for ebook and print sales in the US.
Michael Pietsch, Hachette Book Group CEO said, “This is great news for writers. The new agreement will benefit Hachette authors for years to come. It gives Hachette enormous marketing capability with one of our most important bookselling partners.”
“We are pleased with this new agreement as it includes specific financial incentives for Hachette to deliver lower prices, which we believe will be a great win for readers and authors alike,” said David Naggar, Vice President, Kindle.The new ebook terms will take effect early in 2015. Hachette will have responsibility for setting consumer prices of its ebooks, and will also benefit from better terms when it delivers lower prices for readers. Amazon and Hachette will immediately resume normal trading, and Hachette books will be prominently featured in promotions.
