Amazon didn’t exactly make very many friends in the publishing world when it made the decision to sell ebooks from its Amazon Publishing arm exclusively on the Kindle Store, but now it looks like the company may be having a change of heart.
In light of a torrent of complaints, Amazon announced over the weekend that it will be launching a series of short biographies edited by James Atlas, and all of them will be made available outside of the Kindle Store in both ebook and print form.
As you may recall, Barnes & Noble pulled Amazon Publishing titles from its shelves back in February, and several other book stores followed suit. Barnes & Noble argued that by Amazon Publishing making their ebooks exclusive to one platform, the company was undermining the industry.
“Our decision is based on Amazon’s continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent,” a Barnes & Noble exec told The New York Times, adding, “Their actions have undermined the industry as a whole and have prevented millions of customers from having access to content.”
Amazon Publishing’s move to make its content available outside of its own ecosystem is certainly a step in the right direction, but it remains to be seen whether or not Barnes & Noble will go back to offering Amazon-published titles in light of the company’s change of heart.
via PaidContent
