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According to an article found at

"It’s been a week since it became clear that Amazon is delaying shipments of publisher Hachette’s print titles, likely due to a fight over terms. As Amazon continues to ship many Hachette print titles with delays of two weeks or more, the story is picking up momentum and more authors are criticizing the retailer’s actions."

Has anyone experienced any delays?

How crazy is that??
I have not purchased a actual book from amazon in a long time so I have no clue.
While I love amazon I would rather have a really nice local community bookstore. I hope with all the loss of the big chain stores I am hoping they will return.

I'm behind you on that one Dawn. Unless it's an ebook, I would rather support our local Community book shops, or the library. If there's a particular title I want, the owner my favourite bookstore tracks one down from secondhand sites for me.

I think that if I bought paper books this would make me not buy them from Amazon. It might make me think twice about giving them other business too.

I never buy paper books from Amazon, though now Book Depository is getting expensive. I wonder why?????? Of course, now Amazon own them!!!! :(((((

Well, I'm wondering if eBooks are being delayed as well?

Sandra wrote: "I never buy paper books from Amazon, though now Book Depository is getting expensive. I wonder why?????? Of course, now Amazon own them!!!! :((((("

I wonder if they reorganized or something because amazon brought them out in like 2011 or so but it seems like in the last year they went through a price change. Sometimes their books are cheaper but sometimes it is a lot more and it never makes sense to me.

You know I do like Better World Books

Lisarenee wrote: "Well, I'm wondering if eBooks are being delayed as well?"

Kindle books?? So far whatever I buy from them is on my kindle in less than a minute so I would have to say unlikely.

I buy my paper books at B&N and at Half Priced Books. I don't buy anything online if I can help it, except for e-books of course.

Dawn, I always compare BD & Better World Books, and at the moment its about 50/50.

Mike, I'd love to buy paperbacks locally, but its just too expensive here in Aus. And 2nd hand shops are few & far between.

I haven't noticed any delay in kindle books, sometimes I can't buy a book entirely but that due to region stuff rather than publisher delay.

@Mike I used to try and buy ebooks through Diesel ebooks but now they are out of business too.

The one thing I do like about shopping on amazon is you can buy books from local dealers like goodwill and small independent book stores.

Lisarenee wrote: "Well, I'm wondering if eBooks are being delayed as well?"

I've seen no delay in kindle/ebook delivery for Hachette or its imprints.

Just had an email from Books-a-Million, Hachette pre-orders 30% off online (selected titles only). Worth having a look for those interested.

Nice thanks Sandra!!

Amazon just sent me an email recommending I read a Hachette book, so they're still actively promoting the books.

Katharine wrote: "Amazon just sent me an email recommending I read a Hachette book, so they're still actively promoting the books."

I have to admit, I haven't seen any delay with my books, but if they did delay at one point the negative publicity may have made them think twice. If I thought there would be a delay with my book I'd go elsewhere.

Looks like Books-A-Million, now has a full fledged Hachette Book Group Shop. They say - save 40%.

I saw that. Interesting.

Sandra wrote: "Looks like Books-A-Million, now has a full fledged Hachette Book Group Shop. They say - save 40%."

What an odd thing!
For the majority of the books I read I am not sure I could identify an author or title with a publisher.

I used to be much more conscious of publishers, and if its ebooks I still am, but not so much with kindles or paperbacks. I guess it depends on how you buy books.

Looks like Kim Harrison has waded in with her thoughts. What do you guys think, agree or disagree? I agree with her.

Sorry but I disagree.

There are two things happening here at once...the first is publishing has changed and no one seems to know what that means exactly. What is certain is the old method they used to make money is not working.

The second issue I see is with digital content. Which again no one seems to be able to answer.

Years ago publishers set a price for a book and bookstores sold the book for the suggested price and boom everyone was happy right. Authors moved from being stuck in mass paperback to hardcover and all of that. Then lots of things kind of happenbed at once. We start to see a rise in big store brands who shut out the little independent guy because these guys could buy more books in a bigger contract. The big box stores could sell said content at different prices because they could take a loss on a few books and make up for it when customers brought other books. A few years later we see other stores that are traditionally non-book sellers become a little more aggressive in the book selling games (i.e. target and walmart). Now add a year or two to that and we get a rise in ebooks which lets face it was or is a huge game changer.

The choices publishing made around this time is what makes me unsympathetic to their issues now. In my opinion the bottom line is the model was the problem and they did nothing to change that. For example:

They continued to operate on consignment with an expectation that 40% of all books would be returned...(right cuz that makes sense)...which also means they knew they were over printing books..but did they take the loss into account when issuing cash advances?? In short from what little I know their analytic model sucks..way to many intermediaries and they took no time to cultivate relationships with their customers.

Moving on to ebooks which is totally complicated and I am going to skip most of it for now and say this is all about content. Since publishing never figured out a good formula for pricing books the issue with ebook pricing just got worse. As it stands most consumers are not willing to pay the same price for an ebook as they are for a hard cover. Amazon knew it and they made ebooks affordable and convenient. B&N understood this as well and followed suite. Publishing was upset because well they were loosing money and could not figure out what to do about that. Add in self publishing which means a lot more complications and well it is all a cluster.

SO do I think authors should be paid what they are worth absolutely. In my opinion this fight is about publishing not doing a good job and figuring out how to pay authors what they should pay them with the supports they deserve and figuring out a pricing scheme that is mutually beneficial to both the retailer and the consumer.

Ok one last point DRM screws everyone and shame on publishing for giving away so much power. As it stands now when you buy a book on amazon you sort of own it. Meaning you can read it when you want but you cannot transfer a book from your kindle to your kobo or pass it a long to a friend.

To me this is a huge issue because again publishers were initially ambivalent towards the actions a bookseller chose. They cared more about immediate piracy than then long hall so they agreed to DRM on a machine which gets you tied to a market which ensured Amazons rise to dominating the ebook market. Now they want to hate online retailers both big and small (my favorite ebook seller, diesel, who did sell DRM books for different devices had to close due to publisher issues) now they want to cry and scream because they want the old ways back.

To sum this all up it is their own mess. Publishing screwed themselves and their authors because they wanted to do nothing. I will say not all publishers suck the ones like TOR has actually created a really cool model and I love that when I buy my books from them I can do what I want. They do a nice job engaging me and it seems like they take care of their authors.

Dawn, you do bring up some great points.

I think Kim Harrison makes an interesting point, but as a reader, do I really care if an author is seasoned or if they have a lot of books out? Not so much. I've read amazing first books and I've read amazing 16th books and vice-versa. If an author's book is priced at $12.99, that doesn't mean she or he is necessarily going to make a higher salary at the end of the day. What matters is how many readers want to read/own your book and how many are going to pass if the price is too high or if they can get the book from the library. There are a lot of great books out there for $0.99, $1.99, $2.99, and I would think authors would want to try to compete with those prices.

Looks like J.K. Rowling is weighing in too. I think this situation would be incredible frustrating for an author.

Here's another perspective:

Katharine wrote: "I think Kim Harrison makes an interesting point, but as a reader, do I really care if an author is seasoned or if they have a lot of books out? Not so much. I've read amazing first books and I've r..."

I just don't see .99-2.99 a reasonable price point for a book. A short story? Yes. A whole book? No. A good book requires time to write it, an editor, revisions, a decent cover, marketing. No one is getting paid what they're worth at $3 a pop. Price a novel at $6-7, and for God's sake, hire an editor. If I want to read an unedited mess, I'll go read free stories online.

Becky wrote: "Katharine wrote: "I think Kim Harrison makes an interesting point, but as a reader, do I really care if an author is seasoned or if they have a lot of books out? Not so much. I've read amazing firs..."

I agree that for a traditionally published book $2.99 is an unreasonable price, my point is only that there are good books out there at that price. A mass market paperback is $8, so $12 or $13 for an ebook just seems way too expensive to me.

I've loved all these comments, everyone has great points. Dawn, an outstanding job!

I think the single point that screams at me is Katharine's "A mass market paperback is $8, so $12 or $13 for an ebook just seems way too expensive to me."

If you add the markup they like to charge us here in Aus, ebooks of popular literature/fiction are closer to $20, thankfully, for pnr/uf it is a bit cheaper. Which is why I still buy the majority of full length novels in pb, either new or 2nd hand.

Sandra wrote: "If you add the markup they like to charge us here in Aus, ebooks of popular literature/fiction are closer to $20, thankfully, for pnr/uf it is a bit cheaper. Which is why I still buy the majority of full length novels in pb, either new or 2nd hand. "

The same is true here in Israel. Not only do we have to wait 6 months after publication for paperbacks (hardcovers are virtually non-existent) but the book usually costs 3 to 4 times as much. Mass Market books are around $17. Since getting a Kindle, I've stopped buying books at full price altogether and only occasionally take a trip to the used book store.

While I feel for the authors and agree that Amazon is becoming a monopoly, I can't help but ask why authors (new and well established) aren't being more aggressive when dealing with the huge profits that the publishers are making often at their expense.

This year, a law was passed here that brick and mortar stores are not allowed to put new books published in the last 18 months on sale. The local authors were all for the law and their lobby pushed for it hard. So far all its resulted in is people buying older books on sale and waiting for the newer ones to come down in price. The authors have only harmed themselves.

Lauren wrote: "This year, a law was passed here that brick and mortar stores are not allowed to put new books published in the last 18 months on sale. The local authors were all for the law and their lobby pushed for it hard. So far all its resulted in is people buying older books on sale and waiting for the newer ones to come down in price. The authors have only harmed themselves."

That is an interesting take on things. I can't see why they would think that would work out for them in the long run.

I agree, that's just silly. People, no matter where you are, just don't have the money to splash on full price books, all the time.

@Lauren ..All I can say is wow!!!

@Katharine again WOW and thanks for the link...I always knew ebooks were ripping everyone off including the author. It also makes sense why some of them with a following are self publishing.

Apparently Steven Colbert has thrown his 2¢ in about the whole deal. I find him rude and crude, especially his comments about used books. A friend brought his comments to my attention, as that she knows that I'm a big amazon shopper and she is a huge Colbert fan. Here's the link to an article about his segment on his show, Colbert Nation, and at the bottom of the article there's a link that takes you to Comedy Central's website to view the original clip:


I think part of amazon having a huge part of the ebook market is because more people own kindles or use a kindle app on whatever device they use.

I started out with an old old old B&N site called ereader.com, that I got totally screwed out of several hundred dollars worth of books when they finally changed to nook and sent emails out saying you had one month to switch your library over. I never got that email because I don't check the address it's sent to very often and it got lost in junk mail purgatory. When I emailed B&N to ask what I could do to retrieve the 80 or so books I'd purchased at prices anywhere from $5 (because of a loyalty discount) to $20 (new release Kathy Riechs books), they said I'd missed the deadline and that was the end of their communication. When I tried to respond to that email or even send them another, they didn't respond. Makes me want to tell them where to go. I can't even access the books through the old app on my phone because you have to have the credit card number that was last used on that account, and that card was compromised and no longer exists, and I don't believe even the card number is lying around anywhere. They wouldn't even tell me how to reset the credit card number with in the app, because as far as they're concerned, that format is dead. And while I have a program that allows me to change formats of books, so that I can take from one app or device and put it on another, I still have to have that credit card number to unlock the DMR for the program. I just want to get my books, change them to a kindle format and put them on my kindle. Because they are mine, I paid top dollar for quite a few of them, almost all of them are from best selling authors, so as Harrison said, I paid extra for that even, which I can agree with to a point, but $15 for Undead Pool just ain't happening for me. But because of the publishers insistence to throw DMR on the books, and B&N being comprised of a bunch of jerks, I can't access those books in any way. I could get all those books in completely illegal ways if I chose to, but I'd rather have the books *I* paid for!!!

In the end, what amazon is doing will help us, the consumers, as they get the outrageous prices of some books lowered. The chart on the last link (before mine) shows how the publishers are jacking EVERYONE over, authors, agents and us!! So as long as they are available on amazon, I'll buy whatever books I want or can, but it almost makes me want to boycott Hatchette.

Oddly enough, I agree with both sides to a point. On one hand, as a consumer I spend a lot of money on books. In an average month we spend around $150, that includes $40-$60 on scholastic book orders for three kids. I spend enough money that I should get discounts, like free shipping and the benifits from both Prime and B&N memberships, I paid for them in advance. The fact that the prices for those benifits rarely increase is the main reason I still have them.

On the other hand, I feel for the authors and understand the idea that lower prices means less revenue for them. You should be paid what your worth, but that is an issue between the pubilishing company and the authors, not me, the consumer, and the company I'm purchasing from.

I see this all the same way, I saw the VHS/DVD/BluRay issues. Why should I pay $30 for a new DVD when I still have a perfectly fine working VHS player and could buy the same movie for $15. When they did away with VHS, I still wouldn't pay $30 for a DVD, prices eventually became more reasonable and now I still won't pay over $25 for a new release BluRay. I rarely pay more than $20 for a BluRay and it's usually only a Disney 3D combo pack, that includes the 3D BluRay, BluRay, DVD, and Digital copy, which is generally on sale the first week for $24.95. Why would I pay $27 for a book, regardless of the author. Ebooks should be cheaper than paper books because there is absolutely no cost to publish. In today's world, most authors write on thier computers and it takes 30 seconds to save the file. So explain to me why publishers say that an ebook should cost the same as a paper copy? I've heard that it's so the author gets paid fair value for their book. Okay so set the price for new ebooks at $2.62 since that's what publishers say their work is worth and remove the publishing company from ebooks. Awe but thats where the true problem lies. If the publishing company can't make money off the authors ebook, then chances are they won't publish the book traditionally. So again, this is my, the consumers, problem how? It really comes down to authors and publishing companies and a dispute between them.

Also, I disagree with Kim Harrison, that she should get more because she's an established author. Her books should cost an equal amount to anyone elses. Why should she get to sell her next book for $27, when someone with a better story but not so famous name has to sell their book for $18. Her abilty to write a story people want to read should be what her book is worth, not that her name is attached to it. Maybe if she stopped to think about herself as a consumer and how much she values a book she loves and an author that she can't wait to read, she would understand why people just can't afford to pay so much for a book regardless of how much they love an author. Many of my favorite authors were found at the library because I couldn't afford a mass media paperback, let alone a hardcover of any of Anne McCaffery's Pern series. It's sad that you are buying a person's name in the book world. Kim is a terrific author and I enjoy her books, but I only buy her in mass media or get her out of the library because I won't pay more than $20 for any hardcover. I have a hard time justifying full price for any book when I pay to get discounts.

Oh, and Steven Colbert's assertions that used books are bad because the author doesnt get paid for it...you were paid by the first person who purchased the book. You should be thankful that the slut of the book world is out there because it could have just ended up in a dump heap. This happens to be one of my pet peeves. I undertand that as an author you want to get compenstion for their hard work, but once I purchase you book, it's mine to do with as I please (with the exception of breaking copyright laws) and if I decide to give it away, sell it in a yardsale, or donate it to the library you were compensated for that book. I paid you for it, so stop acting like because someone sold it for $.25, that you deserve a cut of that profit because it's a loss for me. I paid $7.99 for you book, so I lost $7.74 in the deal. Get over it already.

Jacy said, "On the other hand, I feel for the authors and understand the idea that lower prices means less revenue for them. You should be paid what your worth, but that is an issue between the pubilishing company and the authors, not me, the consumer, and the company I'm purchasing from."

That's my thought as well, plus a well known author will sell more books ergo shouldn't, like the big book distributors, there be a bigger profit from a higher volume of sales? I'd think that should go to the author via an increase in the percent they make off of every book sold.

I honestly think that authors should recieve more than publishing companies. The 75/25 split would be fair if the authors got 75% of the profits. The publishing companies should be reimbursed all production costs and then a small portion of the profits.

Another way to do it, would be for publishers to pay authors to write and then reap the sole benifits of profit, similar to how movies are produced. For example, Kim Harrison who is a huge author would get say $100,000 to write her book, but in turn her publishing company gets all the money from book sales. It would make famous authors happy because then they appear to be worth more than the relatively new authors. Also the authors can then build wealth similar to the way actors do. Johnny Depp is paid more for movie appearances than Morgan Freeman, even though they are both big name movies stars. So depending on how big an authors book becomes, the more they can charge publishing companies to write for them. It might just solve the problem because movie tickets and DVD/BluRay prices are pretty much the same, only varing due to formate of theatrical release (3D, IMax, etc.) and included features in the DVD/BluRay release, regardless of who the star is.

Here's what Amazon has to say about the dispute:



At the bottom of their view, there's a blog post by the cofounder of The Press Publishing, an independent publishing house. He explains why he sells to amazon, how his company splits the profits with the authors and so on. My whole theory is like Jacy's, it's all really between the publishers and the authors. To me, the authors should be getting a much bigger cut, because I know I sure as heck couldn't create a whole world full of characters, story lines connecting those characters or even the details of the buildings they visit over and over. If it weren't for their creativity and dedication to making the books something worth reading, the publishers would have only memoirs and text books to sell. And other than Michael J Fox, which I still haven't read or listened to, I haven't bought any memoirs. I barely read textbooks when I was in school, I sure wouldn't spend my money on them now. If anything, I think the split should be the other way, 75% to the author and 25% to the publisher. Because this is the profit we're talking about, not the cost that goes into production of the book, which in ebooks, it goes back to almost everything costing the author, not the publisher. The costs that I could see the publisher having for the ebook is all the PR for a book and the editors that review it. Who you would hope would catch some of the awful mistakes that are made in the ebooks that we read, but somehow they don't. Just about every word program out there anymore even has a grammar option, but lots of authors don't seem to use it. The editors, agents and all the rest that might be working for a publisher should be counted in as cost, not profit, so the publisher should be a lot more generous profits to the author.

As for Amazon Prime that Jacy mentioned, it offers so much more than free shipping, with lending books (though the one a month limit should be a little more generous, even if they offered levels like say Netflix, that to borrow more books you pay a little more), instant streaming video of tons of movies and tv shows, and now even music, which right there was worth the $80 I paid last year, even if I hadn't made my money back from the shipping alone!

In the second article I mentioned, people go on and on about Amazon trying to get a monopoly on online business. I don't believe that to be so, because even within the website, you can order from many different companies, including small businesses that put their merchandise out there for sale. For ebooks, as I said before, it's that people CHOOSE kindle books, rather than nook or iBook formats. There's even smashbooks and Vook to purchase from, though I know getting a smashbook book onto a kindle can be a bit of a pain. I've never used Vook, so I'm not sure how it works. The only thing they have a monopoly on is their own merchandise, which they even sell at other retailers for the same price. It seems it all comes down to the publishing companies wanting a bigger cut in their CEO's pocket.

Sorry Jacy, I didn't mean to repeat what you were saying about the authors and how much they should get. I got a notification of a new post as I was writing, but I didn't check it before I posted mine!

Don't worry about it. Say what you want, it's nice to know that people agree with me ;-)

Jacy wrote: "Oh, and Steven Colbert's assertions that used books are bad because the author doesnt get paid for it...you were paid by the first person who purchased the book...."

I think that comment was meant as satire, I love his show and most of the stuff he says are these very outrageous comments which is stuff people think but are not supposed to actually say. Anyway I took the comment as satire that is supposed to get you thinking but is also funny.

Otherwise I totally agree with you!!

I only read about the interview, I didn't watch it. That can make a big difference in interpretation.

I agree that it is absolutely between publisher & author and that the split should be the other way. I guess, authors being independent operators means there isn't an option of collective bargaining for them.

Saying that, what the heck do they think they are doing with mmp books. A lot of my fav authors now have to publish in hc & ebook and then 12 mths or more later they get published in mmp. I know it isn't the authors' wish as I've seen them say they succumbed to their publishers pressure to do it that way. I like to keep my series together on the shelf, so I've now got to wait to read my fav if I want to continue to do that :(

As to the Amazon thing, I must admit I'm not a keen Amazoner. Don't get me wrong, I buy kindle books as they are easily accessible, sometimes cheaper than ebooks (I only buy PDF or kindle as I HATE epubs), and there are lots of freebies. Being outside US I don't have access to Prime, and not sure on the lending thing.

I know that lately Chloe Neill has talked about all of her books coming out in mmp, and I thought it a bit strange that everything has been coming out every couple months, even though some of them have been out for years. But I can see why that's happening now, after what you've said. The publishers probably just now are getting around to it. Even though I don't think the first few came out in hardback until later in the series. Gotta switch it around when the sales get high enough!

Jacy wrote: "I paid you for it, so stop acting like because someone sold it for $.25, that you deserve a cut of that profit because it's a loss for me. I paid $7.99 for you book, so I lost $7.74 in the deal. Get over it already. "


Well said! The impression that I'm getting from this dispute does not show either the publishers or the authors in a good light. They are both coming across as greedy.

Sandra wrote: "As to the Amazon thing, I must admit I'm not a keen Amazoner. Don't get me wrong, I buy kindle books as they are easily accessible, sometimes cheaper than ebooks (I only buy PDF or kindle as I HATE epubs), and there are lots of freebies. Being outside US I don't have access to Prime, and not sure on the lending thing. "

I go where it is the cheapest. Sometimes that's Amazon, sometimes its Kobo and sometimes another online retailer. As someone who lives both outside of the US AND in a non-English speaking country, my choices are limited in terms of the library and the used book store. Amazon and ebook were a godsend for me and other readers like me.

I really think that authors need to rethink their contracts with the publishing houses. The split there is unfair as many of the commenters here have pointed out. Why should Amazon have to harm consumers and sell the book at full price just so that the authors can get their share. They should be getting their share from the publisher.

Well said, Lauren! On both points! My dad was in the military when I was a kid, so when we lived in Germany, we had the military base to shop from and get books from the library, depending on how big the post was we were at, or for me, at school. But they didn't have much of a selection of anything back then, and amazon or the internet in general would have been so very helpful way back then! I'm glad that you do have the option of getting ebooks and ordering online now, since I know how bad it can be.

Thanks Angie!
If it weren't for my Kindle, I would never have found the majority of books I've read in the past couple of years or Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ for that matter - so I'm really grateful for that :0)

Angie wrote: "I only read about the interview, I didn't watch it. That can make a big difference in interpretation."

You know it really can. I cannot tell you how many times my SO and I have gotten into an argument over a misunderstanding in a text message