--- title: Amazon Invited Authors to Turn Against Their Publisher in E-Book Dispute description: Amazon promised a "big windfall" to authors who were willing to pressure their publisher, Hachette, to settle its dispute with Amazon over e-book prices. canonical: https://time.com/2966998/amazon-e-book-hachette-prices/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-08T20:03:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:02:43.595Z article:section: World og:title: Amazon Invited Authors to Turn Against Their Publisher in E-Book Dispute og:description: Amazon promised a "big windfall" to authors who were willing to pressure their publisher, Hachette, to settle its dispute with Amazon over e-book prices. og:url: https://time.com/2966998/amazon-e-book-hachette-prices/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27669ab35952e134/69869aeb361760c2c690cf7f/86435461.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Debuts The New Kindle DX At NYC's Pace University og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Amazon Invited Authors to Turn Against Their Publisher in E-Book Dispute twitter:description: Amazon promised a "big windfall" to authors who were willing to pressure their publisher, Hachette, to settle its dispute with Amazon over e-book prices. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27669ab35952e134/69869aeb361760c2c690cf7f/86435461.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Amazon Offered Hachette's Writers 100% Profits in Latest Salvo Against Publisher  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jul 8, 2014 8:03 PM CUT  Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks about the new Kindle DX at a press conference at Pace University May 6, 2009 in New York City. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks about the new Kindle DX at a press conference at Pace University May 6, 2009 in New York City.Spencer Platt—Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jul 8, 2014 8:03 PM CUT In a move designed to turn the tables against Hachette amid an ongoing contractual dispute, Amazon offered the publisher’s writers 100 percent of the profits from their respective e-book profits. The New York _Times_ [reports](http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/amazon-tries-to-woo-authors-in-hachette-dispute/?utm%5Fsource=twitterfeed&utm%5Fmedium=twitter "undefined") that Amazon executive David Naggar sought to break the impasse between the retailer and the publisher by appealing directly to Hachette’s stable of writers. Naggar sent a letter highlighting the terms of a deal that was rejected by Hachette. The letter argued that the writers would directly benefit from the deal, noting that it would offer them all of their e-books’ sale prices and resume timely shipments of their books. Amazon stalled those shipments and cut inventories after an unusually public [falling out](http://time.com/124456/amazon-hachette-response/ "undefined") with the publisher. The letter also blamed Hachette for walking away from the negotiating table, claiming that Hachette ignored a January request to resume talks. \[[_NYT_](http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/amazon-tries-to-woo-authors-in-hachette-dispute/?utm%5Fsource=twitterfeed&utm%5Fmedium=twitter "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2966998/amazon-e-book-hachette-prices/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2966998/amazon-e-book-hachette-prices/"},"headline":"Amazon Offered Hachette's Writers 100% Profits in Latest Salvo Against Publisher","datePublished":"2014-07-08T20:03:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:02:43.595Z","description":"The highly public dispute between Amazon and Hachette targets authors caught in the middle","url":"https://time.com/2966998/amazon-e-book-hachette-prices/","keywords":["Technology","Tech","Amazon","hachette"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27669ab35952e134/69869aeb361760c2c690cf7f/86435461.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27669ab35952e134/69869aeb361760c2c690cf7f/86435461.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Debuts The New Kindle DX At NYC's Pace University","caption":"Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Debuts The New Kindle DX At NYC's Pace University","creditText":"Spencer Platt—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/technology/","name":"Technology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2966998/amazon-e-book-hachette-prices/","name":"Amazon Offered Hachette's Writers 100% Profits in Latest Salvo Against Publisher"}}]}] ```