Amazon Baits Hachette Writers with “Temporary Windfall”

In an attempt to coax authors and public opinion to its side in its ongoing dispute with Hachette Book Group, Amazon has proposed that both parties give Hachette authors all e-book revenue from sales on Amazon as long as the stalemate lasts.

The offer was made to Hachette yesterday, after it was sent to a small group of writers and agents, among them Authors Guild President Roxana Robinson, who dismissed it as illusory. “If Amazon wants to have a constructive conversation about this, we’re ready to have one at any time,” she told the New York Times. But, she continued, the proposal “doesn’t get authors out of the middle of this.” Hachette also saw through the offer, calling it “baloney.”

Is the groundswell of anti-Amazon sentiment finally getting to the retailer? Guild Council member Douglas Preston’s open letter to Amazon, signed by hundreds of high-profile authors, has been getting its fair share of press in recent days. On the other hand, authors who self-publish through Amazon have started their own petition supporting the bookseller on Change.org.

The bottom line, according to Robinson, is that this dispute must be resolved in a manner that protects authors’ livelihoods. “What writers want is a long-term healthy publishing ecosystem,” she said, “not a temporary windfall.”