Price Wars: Amazon Battles Traditional German Publishers
By Isabell Hülsen and Claudia Voigt
Amazon is delaying deliveries in Germany in a bid to raise its share of e-book earnings. A number of the country’s biggest publishers say the strategy amounts to blackmail and are refusing to cave in. But their refusal to compromise could cost them their future.
The battle for the future being fought between the book industry and Amazon began last fall. Every year, after the Frankfurt Book Fair, publishers sit down with the main retailers, such as Thalia and Hugendubel and, of course, Amazon, to discuss new titles, orders and conditions.