Hachette announces layoffs amid dispute with Amazon

Publishing giant Hachette Book Group, which handles many top authors including J.K. Rowling, is laying off some of its employees amid a bitter standoff with Amazon.com, the industry's biggest book seller.

New York-based Hachette, whose dispute with Amazon is reportedly over e-book pricing, cited a "changing marketplace" as a reason for layoffs that will affect about 3 percent of its staff. It said the layoffs were planned before its recent difficulties with Seattle-based Amazon, which has restricted the online availability of some Hachette books as the dispute heats up.

Hachette also publishes Stephenie Meyer, Stephen Colbert, Malcolm Gladwell and other popular authors. It released a statement Thursday saying staff reductions were necessary for it to improve "resilience" in difficult times.

Colbert, a comedian and host of the Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report,” assailed Amazon on his program Wednesday night, saying he is not just mad at the retailer, but “mad prime.” Amazon has been delaying shipments for some Hachette books, including for Colbert’s “America Again,” and removing the pre-order option for Rowling's “The Silkworm” (written under her pen name Robert Galbraith) and other upcoming works.

Colbert twice flipped his middle finger at Amazon during the show and interviewed Sherman Alexie, a Hachette author who recommended a debut novel that Amazon currently will not sell: Edan Lepucki's “California.”

Colbert, hoping to prove that he could "sell more books than Amazon," urged viewers to buy “California” from Portland, Oregon-based Powell's Books – one of the country's leading independent booksellers. He also unveiled a sticker reading, "I didn't buy it from Amazon," which could be downloaded from his website.

“California,” which will be published in July, was No. 1 on the Powell’s Books website throughout the day Thursday and on Friday morning.

Powell’s told NPR that sales had “exploded” for “California” as well as other titles, though it would not release sales figures.

"I feel extremely grateful to Sherman Alexie for going to bat for me and for so many other authors," Lepucki told The Associated Press, adding that she believed Colbert had broadened the discussion beyond the publishing industry.

"I had friends who emailed me and said, 'Hey, I wanted to get your book on Amazon and it was unavailable.' They had no idea about the dispute, so it's great that it's opened up to people who didn't know otherwise," said Lepucki.

Hachette publicist Carrie Neill told the AP that the demand for "California" was growing at an "astonishing pace," and that the publisher would likely need to have more copies printed. Amazon declined comment.

Amazon and Hachette are reportedly negotiating terms for e-book sales, which publishers say comprise around 30 percent of the overall market. Hachette author James Patterson has warned that Amazon wants a "monopoly" on the book business, while John Green, published by Penguin Random House, told the AP earlier this week that he worried that Amazon "would bully publishers into eventual nonexistence."

The negotiations follow a 2012 government lawsuit against Hachette and four other publishers, alleging that they conspired with Apple Inc. to fix e-book prices. The publishers all settled out of court and a federal judge ruled against Apple last year. Before the lawsuit, Hachette and others had sold e-books on Amazon and other retailers through an "agency" system that allowed publishers to set the price. Publishers had worried that Amazon's deep discounts, notably charging just $9.99 for top-selling e-books, were hampering competition and lowering the value of all books.

Amazon has said little beyond a statement on its website advising that a resolution was unlikely to happen soon and recommending that customers look elsewhere for affected books. In a tweet Wednesday, Rowling reminded fans that there were "lots of ways" to buy "The Silkworm," as "Amazon kindly suggest(s)."

Other retailers have been trying to benefit from the standoff. Barnes & Noble.com has been spotlighting Hachette books; its "featured author" for Thursday was Hachette's David Baldacci. Walmart.com announced Thursday that overall book sales increased 70 percent last week after it offered a 40 percent discount on Hachette books, with top sellers including "The Silkworm" and T.D. Jakes' "Instinct."

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press