Stephen King and Donna Tartt among those petitioning Amazon to 'stop harming the livelihood of the authors'Readers of the New York Times will have to steel themselves this weekend, as the unseemly brawl between Hachette and Amazon erupts on to the tranquil pages of the Grey Lady. Perhaps the most incendiary item in Sunday's edition is due to be a full-page ad paid for by a group of bestselling authors and backed by over 900 other writers calling on Amazon "in the strongest possible terms to stop harming the livelihood of the authors on whom it has built its business".The extraordinary move is the latest salvo in a battle over terms which has seen Amazon delay delivery and remove the possibility of pre-orders on a swathe of books by Hachette authors, including JK Rowling and James Patterson. The online leviathan Amazon says it is attempting to "lower ebook prices"; publishing conglomerate Hachette argues that it is seeking "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". Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]