Amazon's battle with Hachette is a fight for readers, writers and retailers | Hugh Howey

As things stand, Hachette is making ebook discounts impossible, and almost everybody else stands to lose, writes Hugh Howey

News: New Amazon terms amount to 'assisted suicide' for book industry, experts claim

How much should an ebook cost? And how should that money be split? These two questions seem to be at the centre of a debate ripping through the publishing industry. How this debate plays out could have lasting repercussions for readers, writers, publishers, and booksellers.

The debate arose as negotiations between Hachette Book Group one of the largest publishers in the world and Amazon, the largest book retailer in the world, began to falter. By all accounts, the sticking point is over who controls the price of digital books. It isn't the first time this clash has occurred over the very same issue. In 2010, Hachette was one of the five publishers that worked with Apple to raise the price of ebooks and force digital retailers onto a new profit model.

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