Quote:
Originally Posted by jemc
Because B&N has the book in their warehouse and Amazon has to wait for the "timely delivery" of their order?
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Or because they *choose* not to ship as soon as they get the order.
Remember, in the BPH worldview, people who want their books want just that book, regardless of price. (They don't believe in price elasticity, only reader-spend, which is why they want Agency so badly). So they're betting that if Amazon won't deliver it quickly, readers will rush to get it at B&N. A more pliant vendor these days, at that.
Amazon seems to be betting that if Hachette books are harder to get, the reader will move on to the next title on their wishlist. So instead of business as usual--stockpiling, at their expense, weeks or months of any given title--they treat them like special order items and let Hachette decide how fast to fulfill the order.
The Hachette complaint that it's Amazon's fault for placing "small orders" makes it clear both sides are playing one-upmanship. No good guys, no bad guys, no clean hands: just two giant multinationals jockeying for position. Standard business negotiations.
And as typical for the book business, it is the authors who get stuck powerless in the middle.