Hundreds of authors, including Stephen King and Lee Child, have signed on to novelist Douglas Preston's letter directed towards readers to galvanize them into action over Amazon's dispute with publisher Hachette Book Group.
In the letter, Preston calls out Amazon for targeting the publisher's authors as a way of getting Hachette to bend to their agreement. The author notes that the move to stop accepting pre-orders, not discounting prices and delaying delivery hurts them.
"It is not right for Amazon to single out a group of authors, who are not involved in the dispute, for selective retaliation," Preston writes. "We call on Amazon to resolve its dispute with Hachette without hurting authors and without blocking or otherwise delaying the sale of books to its customers."
He notes that customers unhappy with Amazon during the feud should directly contact Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos. The document, which is also asking for authors to support in the hopes of taking out an ad in the New York Times with all the names contained, already has nearly 10 pages of signatures.
Preston spoke with The Associated Press and said that he isn't calling for a boycott of Amazon, saying he wants the dispute to come to a "friendly" end.
He also noted that despite the problems, he remains an overall supporter of Amazon and said he will continue to be a customer.
image courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com