Hachette has claimed that Amazon is slowing delivery on some of its bestselling titles as part of a negotiation tactic, as the two work out the latest terms of their partnership.
Everybody’s Got Something by Robin Roberts; American Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t by Stephen Colbert; The Closer by Mariano Rivera and Wayne Coffey are among bestselling print titles that estimate 2-5 week ship dates on Amazon. The same titles ship from Barnes and Noble within 24 hours.
The New York Times broke the story last week. Here is more from the story:
“We have been asked legitimate questions about why many of our books are at present marked out of stock with relatively long estimated shipping times on the Amazon website, in contrast to immediate availability on other websites and in stores,” said Sophie Cottrell, a Hachette spokeswoman. “We are satisfying all Amazon’s orders promptly.”
But, she added, “Amazon is holding minimal stock” and restocking some of Hachette’s books “slowly, causing ‘available 2-4 weeks’ messages.”
