![The Kindle edition of Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See,” Simon & Schuster best seller was discounted heavily on Amazon Monday.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141022173542im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2014/10/20/business/20bits-schuster/20bits-schuster-articleInline-v3.jpg)
Simon & Schuster has negotiated a multiyear deal with Amazon for both print and electronic books, the publisher told its writers Monday.
The agreement “is economically advantageous for both Simon & Schuster and its authors and maintains the author’s share of income generated from eBook sales,” said a letter signed by Carolyn Reidy, the publisher’s chief executive. A copy of the letter was obtained by The New York Times.
“With some limited exceptions,” the new contract gives control of e-book pricing to Simon & Schuster, the letter said.
Those two issues — pricing and profit margins — are at the heart of a long-running confrontation between Amazon and another major publisher, Hachette. While the publisher did not explicitly say the deal maintained its own share of income, a source with knowledge of the negotiations who was not authorized to speak publicly pronounced the publisher happy with the terms. Negotiations began early in the summer.
Neither Amazon nor Simon & Schuster commented on the deal, which was first reported by Business Insider.
“Our new deal assures that your books will be continuously available for sale at this major retailer through this year’s holiday book buying season and well beyond,” Ms. Reidy wrote.
It is a measure of how much the Hachette negotiations have reshaped expectations that such assurance was necessary.
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.
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.
Perhaps Hachette’s refusal to commit helped inspire Amazon to make an agreement with Simon & Schuster. If so, a deal might inspire a settlement with Hachette. A Hachette spokeswoman declined to comment.
Simon & Schuster e-book prices range widely. Kindle editions of two 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.