NEW YORK — New copies of Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall,” Andrew Young’s “The Politician” and other books published by Macmillan were unavailable Saturday on , a drastic step in the ongoing dispute over e-book prices.
Macmillan chief executive John Sargent said he was told Friday that its books would be removed from , as would e-books for Amazon’s Kindle e-reader. Books will be available on Amazon through private sellers, Sargent said.
Sargent met with Amazon officials Thursday to discuss Macmillan’s new pricing model for e-books. Under that model, to be put in place in March, e-books will be priced from $12.99 to $14.99 when released, and prices will change over time. Publishers have criticized Amazon for charging $9.99 for best-selling e-books on its Kindle e-reader, a price publishers say is too low and could hurt hardcover sales.
Sargent wrote in a letter to Macmillan authors and literary agents Saturday that the plan would allow Amazon to make more money selling Macmillan books and that Macmillan would make less. He characterized the dispute as a disagreement over “the long-term viability and stability of the digital book market.”
Amazon wants to keep a lid on prices as competitors line up to challenge its dominant position in a rapidly expanding market.
