Amazon And Hachette Bury The Hatchet -- It's Just Not Clear In Whom

from the moving-on dept

For the past few months, we've been following the whole Amazon / Hachette contract dispute that was full of ridiculous misinformation and economic ignorance. It was interesting to see such a fight play out in public, though it was also a reminder that oftentimes, such public fights become public due to misinformation campaigns.

Either way, the two companies have, well, buried the hatchet, though, as Nate Hoffelder points out, it's not clear in whose back it got buried. Hoffelder does note that from what's being said about the deal, it doesn't appear to be all that different from the one that Amazon recently signed with Simon & Schuster -- without such public anguish -- leading him to wonder what Hachette could have possibly gotten out of going toe-to-toe with Amazon in this battle in such a public manner.

In the end, it seemed like another fight about control and the future -- and, generally speaking, Hachette's desire to stave off where things are heading in the future for as long as possible. But, and this is the important bit, the future has a way of always winning out in the end, no matter how hard you negotiate against it.
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Filed Under: books, contract, ebooks
Companies: amazon, hachette


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2014 @ 10:48pm

    Simple - Hachette got free publicity. To quote P.T. Barnum:

    "I don't care what you say as long as you spell my name right."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Michael, 14 Nov 2014 @ 4:36am

    It's Just Not Clear In Whom

    I'm sure it is in the backs of either the authors or the consumers.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Jeff, 14 Nov 2014 @ 8:18am

    I'm glad we agree that Amazon's financial interests and The Future are inevitably the same thing. The geezers and Luddites will never understand this.

    Sent from my Fire Phone

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    jupiterkansas (profile), 14 Nov 2014 @ 8:38am

    Why the future wins?

    You die because you never change, or you hire new people who understand what the future holds and stay alive.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Scote, 14 Nov 2014 @ 8:50am

    I would have gone with "Amazon Buries the Hachette"...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. icon
    Get off my cyber-lawn! (profile), 14 Nov 2014 @ 10:14am

    Of Course it's Clear

    definitely in the backs of the Authors AND the Consumers!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Nov 2014 @ 10:22am

    Many Hachette kindle edition books have seen immediate price reductions on Amazon of about 35%. The new 9.99 seems to be 6.49. Who knows how long it will last.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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