Amazon Strikes Deal With Simon & Schuster

Simon Schuster has reached a multiyear deal with Amazon for both physical and electronic books, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said on Monday.

The agreement comes against the backdrop of a bitter fight between the retailer and another major publisher, Hachette. Amazon told Hachette it wanted e-books to be cheaper while also reportedly seeking a greater share of the revenue from each sale. The negotiations were widely viewed by traditional publishers as an attempt to establish a new benchmark that would increasingly diminish their roles.

Simon Schuster, however, seems to have struck a deal it feels it can live with. It will generally be able to set its own prices for its e-books, said the person, who declined to be named. Nor does it seem to be surrendering too much on margin.

Neither Amazon nor Hachette had any immediate comment. The Simon Schuster deal was first reported by Business Insider.

Two Kindle editions of Simon Schuster best sellers were discounted heavily on Amazon Monday. Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See” and Jeff Hobbs’s “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace” both cost $4.99. Other e-books by the publisher were selling for $11 or more. Amazon has argued that e-books should be $9.99 or less to compete with other forms of entertainment.

Amazon and Hachette began negotiating, or failing to negotiate, at the beginning of the year. By spring, Amazon was hindering sales of new Hachette books. By summer, Hachette writers had risen in opposition. Now they, joined by non-Hachette writers, are calling for an antitrust investigation of Amazon.

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