Retailer group American Booksellers Association and the authors groups Authors United and Authors Guild have sent letters to the U.S. Department of Justice this week urging an investigation of Amazon’s “abuse of its dominance in the world of books.”
The ABA argues that Amazon is hindering the diversity of speech by reducing publishers’ ability to support new and lesser-known authors and publications. “We have already seen fewer titles published by the major publishing houses each year,” the ABA’s letter notes. “And while it might be tempting to chalk this up to a changing economy, the truth is that these changes have been manipulated by one retailer, which uses scorched-earth tactics to extract concessions and kickbacks from publishers in exchange for offering their books for sale.”
Amazon’s market shares in various sectors of the book business, according to the Authors United letter citing published reports, are dramatic:
- 75% of online sales of physical books
- 65% of e-books
- 40% of sales of new books
- 85% of e-book sales of self-published titles
Amazon’s tactics, according to the ABA’s letter, include predatory selling, abuse of its monopsony power over publishers, the Kindle’s closed e-book system, and free riding through encouraging showrooming and other tactics.
Booksellers have long chafed at Amazon’s tough competitive tactics, which often include selling bestselling books below retailers’ costs. But the visibility of Amazon’s pressure tactics in the other direction, on publishers, took a big jump last year when a long-running dispute with major publisher Hachette over e-book terms led to Amazon delaying shipment on Hachette titles, and removing buy buttons from pre-order books (see “Amazon Attacks Hachette, Takes on Disney”).
Amazon was on the other side of a DOJ investigation in a case on e-book pricing, in which Apple was found guilty of restraining trade by conspiring with five book publishers (all of whom settled, see “Court Decision: Apple Conspired to Restrain Trade”).
