Amazon.com mysteriously removes Macmillan book titles

January 29, 2010 | Paul Boutin
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macmillan

Updated

Go to Amazon.com. Search for any publication by Macmillan, one of the world’s largest publishing firms. The Prince of Silicon Valley, perhaps, or Sarah’s Key. Or last year’s huge #1 bestseller The Gathering Storm.

Gone, mysteriously gone. We found Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, but his new novel Makers and his popular debut, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, have been removed. Robert Jordan’s entire Wheel of Time series of fantasy novels is gone, except for 2005’s The Knife of Dreams.

You get links to other sellers. But Amazon has stopped carrying them.

Science fiction author John Scalzi, whose books are carried by Macmillan imprint Tor, tweeted that his books are gone from both Amazon’s book and Kindle sections, but he doesn’t seem to have an explanation. “Folks noticing Amazon not directly carrying my books: It seems many Tor books are affected which makes me suspect a glitch.”

Neither Amazon nor Macmillan have replied to requests for comment, but I’ll update with more info as we get it. I’m guessing the Macmillan titles still available were somehow missed in the removal process.

Macmillan is one of Apple’s announced partners for the iPad, heavily hyped as a Kindle killer. But we’re not sure that’s the connection. Please email us with any tips.

Commenter Atul Arora points out that the books are still listed on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca.

Update: Amazon temporarily removed Macmillan titles as a result of an e-book pricing dispute, according to The New York Times.

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About the Author, Paul Boutin

Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' Personal Tech section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

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  • haase
    Book pricing (like most pricing) is only loosely related to production costs. The interesting thing is that the entire publishing ecosystem is being dragged into the digital age by a mix of bribes and strong-arming from technology companies (like Amazon and Apple). I point out some of the issues at http://blog.sbooks.net/2010/01/14/ebookcost/ (shameless plug). The real sparks may start to fly when the price wars collide with vendor lock-in. It's not clear what kind of DRM we'll see for iBooks. They've mentioned using ePub, but it's not clear if they'll go with Adobe's DRM, like the Nook, or some version of their own. It will also be interesting to see if Apple allows the iPhone/iTouch Kindle reader on the iPad.
  • The cost of producing a book involvies more than just paying the author and the cover artist. There's also the editor, the copyeditor, the proofreader, the interior page designer, the art director, the marketing department, the sales department, the blurb writer, the indexer . . . .

    All of those expenses go into producing a book, regardless of whether ink or electrons are involved.
  • Perhaps an example of market interoperability being sacrificed in the name of two brands? Sounds like the great problem AT&T has right now.

    I can easily purchase a MacMillan book elsewhere on the web, but who's to say I'll be led to it? In this world of noise, Amazon provides findability -- you browse and enjoy product data transparency, multiple classification systems, a way of tagging, a widely recognized recommendation engine, affiliate sellers tied to a reputation system with the best and worse of used and new -- all powered by 60MM+ monthly members galloping in at a rate of 14MM visitors per day. It is too shady to see MacMillan going their own way.
  • brosenberg
    So because Apple releases something that lets publishers artificially rape readers Amazon should just bend over for them? I'm sorry but when a physical book costs $20 there is actual cost in producing it while a ebook's cost to produce is pretty much what the author and the artist who did the cover art were paid .. the rest is what Macmillan should get out of the $10 for the ebook. Again, we have an industry that has been having seed change the last few years trying to hold on to it's practices prior to this metamorphosis.

    People will argue that content providers can charge whatever the wish to charge and that's true but I think it's the authors that should take home the lion's share of the profits not the publishers as they ARE NOT actually providing much value now just like the record companies are not providing much value.

    I would also think that because it's quite easy to crack DRM .. it's just 0's and 1's .. that when citizens feel they are being taken for the uber CEO profit ride that this will encourage thieving of the product. I rarely see people stuffing paperbacks down their shorts in B&N. I believe people want to pay a reasonable price for what they receive. Also, I hate the piracy analogy as we have neither high seas nor Captain Jack type people doing it. :)
  • Zaphon
    So you would rather be forced to pay more for digital content? Last I checked Amazon generally sells the Hard Cover on release for cheaper anyway. I bought a Kindle to lower the amount of books in my house, as I was simply running out of places to put books. I love my Kindle, and the price point is fine right now. Any higher and I'll go back to finding places to put books.
  • rr
    Bezos has treated publishers and authors like red-headed stepchildren for a decade now. He knows that if the publishers decide to sequence e-books behind hardcovers and with/behind paperbacks, his second-rate technology will make him an also-ran in the e-book market. His only play is to build substantial market share quickly, and he's going to try to do it by keeping prices artifically low. This is his Waterloo. Someday, somebody os going to look back and say that Bezos ego lost him the e-book market.
  • katieomer
    This is not a good news for us, the readers. I use Amazon a lot, especially the kindle store. Oh, I hope Amazon doesn't pull out my favorite book, Somewhere carnal over 40 winks.
  • I'm a Macmillan author (from their St. Martin's arm) and I can verify that my direct Amazon sales link has been pulled from the US site as of a couple of minutes ago. You can still find my books through Amazon sellers but not directly from the vendor itself. Meanwhile, a book I have published through Random House retains its direct sales link.
  • snoopy369
    http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/amazon...

    NYT writer is claiming Amazon's pulling it... doesn't entirely seem logical to me, but the only statement by anyone claiming to know I've seen.

    Over on Whatever, Tor editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden posted that he didn't have a clue.
    (See: PNH's blog)
    (Credit "Obs" from Whatever - http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/01/29/macmillan... )
  • Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca both have the book - The Prince of Silicon Valley. Seems to be Amazon.com that does not have the Macmillan books.
  • PaulBoutin
    Thanks a million, Atul.
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