NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The chief executive of book publisher Macmillan said on Thursday his company is still in talks with online retailer Amazon.com Inc over the pricing of its books, even as Hachette Book Group vowed to protect its authors through a new model for prices.
Publisher Hachette said it would transition to a "agency model" for the sale of its e-books, but provided few details and did not name Amazon. Analysts define the model as one that transfers the retail pricing power to the publisher and gives a fixed cut to retailers.
Amazon has come under fire from a number of publishers for the low prices it charges for e-books to spur demand for its electronic reader Kindle, hoping to fend off new rivals such as Apple Inc that are set to join the e-books fray with their own devices.
If you aren't actually in the publishing business, don't own an eBook reader, and haven't tried to buy a book published by Macmillan from Amazon this week, you likely weren't aware that war had broken out. But make no mistake it is a war and the outcome will affect every writer on the planet.
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