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Amazon and Hachette bury the hatchet

17 November 2014

It's a great relief to all parties that Hachette and Amazon have come to an amicable settlement after many months of wrangling in a dispute which has been very much in the public eye, even though it was never made public exactly what the argument was about. Amazon claimed to be fighting for lower ebook prices and Hachette wasn't saying, by they were generally regarded as fighting a rear-guard action against Amazon's attempts to improve their discount.

The outcome is a reworking of the agency model, which Simon & Schuster had recently settled with Amazon for, which allowed the publisher to set ebook prices, and presumably also a new agreement about print discounts. Both parties seem content, although Amazon as usual isn't saying. There's a good account of the whole business in the Bookseller.

And this has been the cue for authors to renew their call for an increase in ebook royalties from the 25% which is currently standard.

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