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Amazon Squeezes Publishers

Print with us or sell elsewhere, company tells on-demand publishers

By Laila Weir,  Newser User

Posted Mar 28, 2008 12:42 PM CDT

(Newser) – Publishers who print books on demand will have to use Amazon’s printing service if they want to sell their books on the leading online bookseller's site. Amazon's new policy means print-on-demand publishers will have little choice but to accept Amazon’s prices if they want to sell via the site. It also threatens to steal business from competing on-demand printers, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Print-on-demand allows publishers to print books quickly in response to customer requests, rather than pre-printing large quantities. It’s rapidly expanding in popularity, and nearly all the major US consumer publishers use the technology for some books. Amazon appears intent on leveraging its online bookselling dominance to expand in other areas of book manufacturing and selling.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, introduces the Kindle at a news conference in New York in this Nov. 19, 2007 file photo.
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, introduces the Kindle at a news conference in New York in this Nov. 19, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, uses a projected image of a book to introduce the Kindle at a news conference on Nov. 19, 2007.
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, uses a projected image of a book to introduce the Kindle at a news conference on Nov. 19, 2007.   (AP Photo)
The Kindle device is shown in this photograph released by Amazon.com on Monday, Nov. 19, 2007.  The $399 electronic book device will allow downloads of more than 90,000 book titles, blogs, magazines and newspapers.
The Kindle device is shown in this photograph released by Amazon.com on Monday, Nov. 19, 2007. The $399 electronic book device will allow downloads of more than 90,000 book titles, blogs, magazines and...   (AP Photo/Amazon.com,File)
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com, founder and CEO, takes questions from shareholders during the Amazon shareholders meeting in Seattle on June 14, 2007.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com, founder and CEO, takes questions from shareholders during the Amazon shareholders meeting in Seattle on June 14, 2007.   (AP Photo)
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