In the latest fallout from the ongoing publishing dispute between Hachette Book Group and Amazon, a group of authors has urged the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an antitrust inquiry into Amazon.
According to a report in the Financial Times, Authors United, led by writer Douglas Preston, is asking authors to sign a letter to William J Baer, assistant U.S. attorney-general for antitrust, to "examine Amazon's business practices." The group is supported by major Hachette writers like Stephen King, Malcolm Gladwell and John Grisham as well as non-Hachette authors Philip Roth and Salman Rushdie.
As part of the spat over e-book pricing that began in May, Amazon has delayed shipment and prevented pre-orders of some books published by Hachette.
After taking out a full-page ad in The New York Times in August, Authors United on Sept. 19 sent a letter to Amazon's board asserting the company was "sanctioning" Hachette authors, driving down sales for many by at least 50 percent to up to 90 percent. The letter said, "Efforts to impede or block the sale of books have a long and ugly history. Would you, personally, want to be associated with this?"
The group claims not to be taking Hachette's side in the dispute but is concerned about Amazon's strong-arm tactics that are affecting authors' livelihoods during the negotiations. But soliciting the U.S. Department of Justice moves discussions around the dispute into whether Amazon is abusing its market power.
"Their actions to manipulate behavior [by Hachette] are exactly the reason these laws were created," Barry Lynn, a senior fellow at the New American Foundation, who is advising Authors United on the letter, told The Wall Street Journal.
The Authors Guild, representing 9,000 authors and working closely with Authors United, also confirmed last week that it hosted a meeting on August 1 between a group of authors and the Department of Justice in an effort to draw antitrust scrutiny of Amazon's practices. Authors in the UK and Germany have also lodged complaints with authorities.
Amazon, which hasn't responded to the antitrust discussion, wants to sell most e-books at $9.99, a price it says will drive the most sales and best support authors, publishers, consumers and Amazon. Hachette doesn't want uniform pricing.
In the last big antitrust case in the book industry, the justice department and U.S. courts in 2013 found Apple liable for colluding with five publishers to illegally increase e-book prices, impeding e-book competitors such as Amazon.
- Letter to Amazon.com, Inc. board of directors - Authors United
- Authors to call for Amazon Inquiry - Financial Times (tiered sub.)
- Authors Group Will Ask Justice Department to Probe Amazon - The Wall Street Journal (sub. required)
- Literary Lions Unite in Protest Over Amazon's E-Book Tactics - The New York Times (tiered sub.)
- Authors Guild Met With DoJ to Seek Investigation Into Amazon's Practices - The Wall Street Journal (sub. required)
- Apple settles e-book antitrust case with U.S. states, others - Reuters
- Amazon explains digital pricing elasticity - RetailWire