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There are enough contractual issues floating around in this question that I might use it to write my next final exam.
As to the NDAs, I would be interested to know if they actually have an NDA just to cover the contract negotiations. I know what sort of things happen here in terms of evidentiary law, but I am simply curious to know how Amazon treats these sorts of meetings. I wonder if signing an NDA is part of your ticket to even to get to the table. Do parties even have a choice?
As to the contract itself, there is a difference to me in leverage and in something that is patently unfair or signed under what would be termed duress. Does Hachette have any other option besides Amazon? It would be hard to show duress here as would the issue of fairness.
The print on demand option is the most troublesome issue for me because I, as a consumer, would believe I had been sent the wrong thing were I to get a cheaply bound paperback when I ordered a deckle-edged hardcover. I think that presents a real issue of material change in what is provided. Publishers would be right to challenge as it could materially harm a publisher's business if that copy of the book would be held out as the publisher's own. (Might be nice for brick and mortars though who DO have the nice copy in stock).
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