“We’re not against Amazon. And we’re not for Hachette at all.”
Douglas Preston’s new Gideon Crew novel with his longtime co-author Lincoln Child is titled The Lost Island. It’s to be released Tuesday — 5 August — in both the UK and the States.
At Amazon.co.uk, you can pre-order the hardcover and audiobook for 5 August. You can also pre-order the paperback for its later release, March 31 of next year. No Kindle edition is listed.
In the US at Amazon.com, you can pre-order only the audiobook from Hachette Audio ($18.38 at this writing) or an audio CD edition produced by Blackstone Audio ($40.64). Neither the hardcover nor paperback can be found: for those, you’re invited to request an email “when this item becomes available.” No Kindle edition is listed.
Preston says he doesn’t know why the Hachette Audio edition of The Lost Island may be available for pre-order in the States when other editions are being suppressed at Amazon.com.
“I’ve heard from other people that it’s hard to figure out which books are being affected,” he says. “I don’t have an answer for that.”
He notes that he isn’t in nearly so vulnerable a position as other authors are.
“Unfortunately, Amazon’s actions are hurting, most of all, the debut and midlist authors who haven’t yet built up a loyal audience. I’m okay, and the bestselling authors, we have an audience and they’re going to find our books one way or another.
“But for someone who’s labored for years to produce a book and that first book is coming out, and then all of a sudden Amazon does this. It’s crushing” for such authors to run into Amazon’s suppression of Hachette pre-orders, delivery slowdowns of Hachette books, and removal of usual discounts.
“But we’re not against Amazon. And we’re not for Hachette at all. We’re really trying not to take sides. We’re just asking Amazon to resolve its issues with Hachette without affecting authors, without dragging us into it.”
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By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson
The FutureBook: Douglas Preston: On Amazon, Hachette, and Indie Authors
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