Last year’s battle between Amazon and Hachette over book prices and online sales seems only to have been a portent of an ongoing crisis between publishers and the online retailer. While HarperCollins was able to rather quickly negotiate a deal earlier this year with the online retailer, Amazon is now in a similar showdown with Penguin Random House. Penguin Random House was formed by the merger of two already huge publishers, Penguin and Random House (who disappointingly did not become Random Penguin). This negotiation with Amazon is its first as a combined company. Melville House breaks down the latest sticking points of the negotiation, including rumors that Penguin Random House might block book sales on the site.
Amazon Faces Off Against Penguin Random House
Ian MacAllen
Ian MacAllen is the author of Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American (Rowman & Littlefield, April 2022). His writing has appeared in Chicago Review of Books, Southern Review of Books, The Offing, 45th Parallel Magazine, Little Fiction, Vol 1. Brooklyn, and elsewhere. Find him at IanMacAllen.com.