Authors Guild 'met with DoJ officials'

The US Authors Guild has met with officials from the Department of Justice to seek a government investigation into allegations that Amazon is violating antitrust law, it has been reported.

The Wall Street Journal said The Authors Guild met with officials in early August.

A source told the newspaper that the guild “raised concerns that Amazon is violating antitrust law as it puts pressure on Hachette Book Group in a dispute over revenue from e-books”.

The guild attended the meeting after emailing Bill Baer, head of the antitrust division of the Department of Justice, to request an investigation into Amazon.

Also this week Roxana Robinson, president of The Authors Guild, told American television show PBS NewsHour that the organisation found it “unacceptable for a huge marketer who got its start selling books to target writers and make them into victims”.

She said that while everyone had to “accept the fact that most books are sold on Amazon”, it “doesn’t mean we have to accept the fact that they are targeting writers and punishing us for something that we have no control over”.

Authors United, the group of authors headed by American writer Douglas Preston, is also planning to ask the Department of Justice for an antitrust enquiry into the online retailer.
Amazon and Hachette Book Group have been in dispute since May, resulting in delayed shipping and the removal of pre-order buttons for some titles from the publisher.