Try this one:
http://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/journ...books-for-you/
Now it turns out that by Amazon shutting down pre-orders (of books they may not be contracted to sell when they are released) they are depriving Hachette of vital information they need to decide how many copies to print.
So they're dependent on Amazon's out-of-their-pocket-discounts to promote sales of books they need Amazon to warehouse to get them to readers in a timely fashion and need Amazon to tell them how many to print in the first place?
And they went public with their dispute? So everybody could see how useless they are to authors?
Oh, now I'm sure Nate was right when he said the acquisitions editors at the other BPHs, and especially the Randy Penguin, have to be laughing their heads off. What author would willingly sign with an outfit stupid enough to publicly go to war with somebody they are *that* dependent on?
Of course, that assumes the Hachette folks aren't making things up...
But they're manhattan publishers and they never lie... right? Right?
At least they launched their little soap opera of woe at the right time; it's mostly reruns on TV. Stock up on munchies, this is just getting good.