Macmillan signs new Amazon sales deal

In the US, Macmillan has signed a multiyear sales agreement with Amazon, reports Publishers Weekly. The deal guarantees the publisher’s print and ebooks will be sold through the online retailer, and is effective from 5 January. Under the terms of the deal, ebooks will be sold under an agency model where the publisher will set consumer prices. Macmillan will also enter Amazon’s subscription model to try to broaden its distribution channels. The deal was reached following the expiration of a Department of Justice decree that required Macmillan to allow retailers to discount its books. In a letter to authors and illustrators, Macmillan CEO John Sargent noted that because of an ‘odd aberration’ created by a separate ruling in the Apple price-fixing case, Apple will continue to discount Macmillan’s ebooks until October 2017, causing Macmillan to ‘occasionally change the digital list price of your books in what may seem to be random fashion’.

Category: International news