Amazon Removes Titles in E-book Dispute

Fewer Kindle e-books | BCBusiness
Amazon removed more than 4,400 e-book titles from its online marketplace this week in response to a contract dispute with a distributor.

E-reader users now have 4,000 fewer e-book choices as Amazon.com pulls titles during a contract dispute with a major book distributor.

Every morning on the train, I see innumerable riders bury themselves in their e-readers to blot out the daily commute. But your e-reader has narrowed your e-book options to the tune of 4,400 fewer titles.
 
Amazon.com flexed its digital market muscles this week, removing thousands of e-books from their online marketplace when the company couldn’t reach an agreement with the books’ distributor.
 
Independent Publishers Group, one of the largest book distributors in the U.S., says via The New York Times that Amazon tried to low-ball their online distribution terms while negotiating a new contract. But I.P.G. won’t budge, saying the lower terms would deeply affect their bottom line.
 
Such a David-and-Goliath battle in the publishing world could carry over as other distributor contracts come up for renewal. Amazon’s Kindle has cornered 60 per cent of the e-book market, giving distributors and publishers little leverage to battle unfair terms.
 
I.P.G. publishes popular titles such as I’m With the Band and Black Like Me.
 
Amazon is playing with fire, and readers are the ones getting burned. Customers never like it when you take away beloved features (see Netflix’s string of disastrous decisions). We’ll see if Amazon’s tough position sparks the fury of its Kindle users.