Amazon and publishing house Simon & Schuster have reached a multi-year deal, sources told Business Insider. This means the tides could be turning in favor of Amazon in its battle against publishers. And that means you’ll likely see cheaper Simon & Schuster books on Amazon soon, though whether or not that’ll be good for the publishing industry is still up for debate.
Hachette, another major publisher, has been waging a very public war with Amazon over book pricing since last year, but it appears Simon & Schuster found the conditions of its deal amenable. The source told Business Insider that Simon & Schuster’s original offer was accepted with very few tweaks by Amazon. Amazon openly messed around with Hachette, and publishers are calling for an anti-trust investigation against Amazon. This agreement may represent a pretty big win for Amazon, since it got a major player on its side. And this could turn up the heat on Hachette.
The specifics haven’t been announced, though we’ve emailed Amazon and Simon & Schuster for comment. [Business Insider via New York Times]
Image by Noelas under Creative Commons license
