Amazon’s fight with Hachette is starting to draw criticism

For months now, Amazon has been trying to put the screws on Hachette, the smallest of the Big Five publishers, by discouraging people from buying its printed books. Amazon’s goal: force Hachette to give it better terms on e-books. Retailers have always pushed publishers for better terms. Barnes & Noble in its prime was famous for throwing its considerable weight around. Just last year, in perhaps one final assertion of its dwindling powers, B&N stocked fewer Simon & Schuster books because it felt the publisher was not doing enough to “support” the chain. Two things make Amazon’s confrontational stance toward Hachette unusual. First, there is the overwhelming power Amazon has in the marketplace. I usually write that it controls a third of the American book business — new, used and e-books — although other estimates put it as high as half. Barnes & Noble at its peak had to be mindful of Borders, whose stores were just a short drive away. But Amazon has blown away its online competition.