Amazon and publisher Hachette have announced they’ve resolved their dispute and signed a new multiyear deal, which will take effect from early 2015. Neither side has disclosed details of the agreement but Hachette will now gain the ability to set e-book prices, which had been a major sticking point in the dispute.
Michael Pietsch, Hachette’s CEO, says: “This is great news for writers. The new agreement will benefit Hachette authors for years to come. It gives Hachette enormous marketing capability with one of our most important bookselling partners.”
For the other side, David Naggar, Vice-President for Kindle says: “We are pleased with this new agreement as it includes specific financial incentives for Hachette to deliver lower prices, which we believe will be a great win for readers and authors alike.”
Though the precise details of dispute were never made public, it was widely believed that Amazon was seeking a bigger slice of e-book revenue while also wanting to reduce e-book prices.
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Hachette and Amazon have been battling each other since the beginning of the year with the retailer going as far as discouraging sales of the publisher’s books.
While both companies say they will immediately resume normal trading, there are still shipping delays showing for some Hachette books on Amazon right now.
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