Okay, the WSJ has some credible details:
http://online.wsj.com/news/article_e...NTEwMzAxMTMwWj
Quote:
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Under the new e-book agreement, which will take effect in early 2015, Hachette will set the prices of its consumer titles. The companies said Hachette will get better terms when it “delivers lower prices for readers.”
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In other words, Hachette gets a higher cut when the price is lower and less when they reduce volume by going higher. Kinda like KDP Indies.
Should be tolerable for readers.
Amusingly...
Quote:
The standoff became a proxy for a bigger existential battle between the publishing establishment and Amazon over the future of the book business. For many publishers and authors, the fight illustrated how much power and authority Amazon has amassed in recent years, in part because of the retailer’s reliable shopping experience but also because Amazon kick-started the digital books market when it launched its Kindle e-reader in November 2007.
A June 2014 online survey by researcher Codex Group LLC found that Amazon had 40% of the new book market, accounted for 62% of all print books sold online, and controlled 64% of the e-book market.
Some of Hachette’s most prominent authors attempted to cast Amazon as a villain in the contract dispute, saying their sales had been hurt. The Authors Guild, a leading advocacy group, met with Justice Department officials in August seeking an investigation into Amazon’s business practices. Authors United, a group of about 1,500 authors led by Hachette writer Douglas Preston, took out an advertisement in the New York Times.
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Almost realistic, which suggests News Corp won't be vilifying Amazon when their turn comes up next summer. Reasonable, considering Hachette's foot dragging and astroturfing only got them the same kind of deal as S&S got by negotiating in good faith.
So with literature saved and the world made safe for Preston and Patterson pre-orders we can get back to the routine "Amazon is evil" manifestos.
Just in time to save Hachette's fourth quarter financials, too.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/topst...ush/ar-AA7kTco
Things were getting so bad they had to move to cubicles, like mere mortals:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/bu...hing.html?_r=0