Amazon and Hachette announced Thursday that they had resolved their differences and signed a new multiyear contract, bringing an official end to a publishing dispute that blossomed into a major cultural and business brawl.
Neither side gave details of the deal, but both pronounced themselves happy with the terms. Hachette, the fourth largest publisher, won the ability to set the prices for its e-books, which was a major contention in the fight.
“This is great news for writers,” Michael Pietsch, Hachette’s chief executive, said in a statement. An Amazon executive, David Naggar, said Amazon was “pleased with this new agreement as it includes specific financial incentives for Hachette to deliver lower prices.”
The agreement broadly follows a deal Amazon recently worked out with Simon & Schuster, which the publisher said it was pleased with.
What began as a negotiating standoff between supplier and retailer — completely routine, Amazon insisted — became a highly public conflict. Depending on which side you were rooting for, it was a struggle between the future and the past, the East Coast and the West Coast, culture and commerce, the masses and the elite, technologists and traditionalists, predators and prey.
While Amazon and Hachette successfully kept the exact terms of the dispute to themselves, Amazon was widely seen as wanting a bigger share of e-book revenue. Since Amazon also wanted lower e-book prices, that was seen by Hachette supporters as a move that threatened to undermine the publisher’s existence.
When Amazon raised the stakes by discouraging sales of Hachette books, that incited the ire of those authors and then other members of the literary community. Douglas Preston, a thriller writer published by Hachette, formed Authors United, a group that has about 1,500 members, including some of the most prominent and popular writers in the country.
“I’m relieved that Amazon and Hachette reached an agreement,” Mr. Preston said. But, he added: “If anyone thinks this is over, they are deluding themselves. Amazon covets market share the way Napoleon coveted territory.”
Authors United and the Authors Guild are in the midst of writing a lengthy letter to the Justice Department urging an investigation of Amazon on antitrust grounds.
James Patterson was another forceful voice against Amazon during the dispute. “Books and publishing need to be preserved if not protected in this country,” the best-selling novelist said in an interview. “For the moment, this deal helps do that.”
Any peace, he added, would not be permanent. “I am sure there will be continuing skirmishes, if not worse,” he said.
Neither Amazon nor Hachette would comment beyond their statements.
Len Edgerly, who hosts an independent podcast, The Kindle Chronicles, called the last six months of fighting “a painful ordeal.”
“As a longtime Kindle enthusiast, I have been in Amazon’s corner throughout the struggle, but I never doubted the other side’s sincerity in wanting what’s best for authors and readers,” he said.
As part of the deal, Hachette books will be returning to full discount and immediate shipping, but at least some Hachette books still showed shipping delays on Thursday morning. Several popular Malcolm Gladwell titles all showed delays of one to three weeks. Mr. Preston and Lincoln Child’s thriller “The Lost Island” was described as taking as long as four weeks.
