Amazon restocks Macmillan

The stalemate between Amazon.com and Macmillan appears to be coming to an end. Late Friday, Amazon started to restore titles from the publishing house to its virtual shelves.

Paperback and hardcover copies of Macmillan books such as "Texas Sunrise" by Elmer Kelton and "How the World Makes Love" by Franz Wisner were back on the site as of Saturday morning. The Kindle versions also were back, though the prices were not consistent. "How the World Makes Love" was available for $9.78, while "Texas Sunrise" could be purchased for $14.97. Meanwhile, The New York Times Bestseller, "Sarah's Key," was priced at $9.99 for the Kindle.

“I am delighted to be back in business with Amazon,” John Sargent, chief executive of Macmillan, told The New York Times.

A dispute arose between Amazon and Macmillan last week over the pricing of electronic copies of books for the Kindle. Amazon preferred to set its own price on the books at $9.99, while Macmillan said it had the right to price its books. It preferred a price point of $14.99 for new releases and best sellers.

The dispute was interesting because it highlighted a power struggle between a retailer and a supplier. It also came on the heels of Apple introducing the iPad, which will include its own electronic book application. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has said that the company will allow book publishers to set their own pricing on electronic books, an interesting twist given the model Apple has employed with its iTunes store where music tracks are set at a price of 99 cents.

Other large book publishers have also balked at Amazon's pricing, including Hachette and Harper Collins. That prompted Gizmodo this week to declare that the $9.99 Ebook is "dead."

The fight between Amazon and Macmillan prompted an interesting debate on TechFlash. More here.

About Eric Engleman

ERIC ENGLEMAN is senior technology staff writer for TechFlash and the Puget Sound Business Journal, covering online retail giant Amazon.com. Engleman tracks Amazon's increasingly complex business, spanning ecommerce, Kindle, cloud computing, and more. He's been covering technology and other industries for the Business Journal since 2003.

READ FULL BIOGRAPHY

206-876-5430

@ericengleman

Recent Sponsor Posts

Seattle University Software Engineering

Chinwe Okeke (MSE’08) pursued her graduate degree while working as a developer and technical analyst for the Boeing Company. She picked the SU-MSE program for small class sizes and real world learning opportunities offered through the academic service-learning and capstone projects.

The MSE program at Seattle University is geared for working professionals with classes offered in the evenings. The program builds upon the computing experience of its students and offers courses in a variety of technical and management areas of software engineering, with an emphasis on teamwork and a disciplined approach to problem solving.

MORE INFORMATION

Marchex is Hiring!

Marchex is one of Seattle’s largest ad technology companies with 300+ employees providing call and click based performance marketing products, and managing over $100m in ad budget for tens of thousands of advertisers. Our customers range from local businesses to the Fortune 500.

Our talented and creative product engineering group is hiring.

If you are an innovative software design engineer interested in solving difficult problems at scale, across a wide array of technologies from Lucene to Hadoop to Asterisk and SIP then we’d love to hear from you!

Apply now.

MORE INFORMATION

Technology Tax Planning – Did You Take The Deduction?

Technology companies require professional advisors who can assist in all aspects of the business. The BDO Technology Practice provides a full range of services tailored to help address the changing needs of domestic and international companies. In addition to core audit and tax services, BDO professionals can assist technology companies with:

· Revenue recognition

· Business combination accounting

· R&D tax credits

· Compensation and benefits

· Business valuations

Backed by 38 national offices and an international network in 110 countries, we have the domestic and global footprint to serve growing technology companies. Contact sphilpott@bdo.com (audit partner), mreeves@bdo.com (audit partner), psmith@bdo.com (tax partner), tzambito@bdovaluation.us.com (valuation), tfiscus@bdo.com, Director, 206.624.2020

MORE INFORMATION