HarperCollins Reaches New Agreements With Amazon and Others on E-Book Prices

September 10, 2012, 6:22 pm

By JULIE BOSMAN

HarperCollins has struck new agreements with Amazon and other retailers that allow its e-books to be sold at a discount, the publisher said on Monday.

Some current bestsellers released by HarperCollins, including “The Fallen Angel” by Daniel Silva and “Solo” by Hope Solo, were being sold for $9.99 on Amazon's Web site on Monday afternoon.

The agreements appear to make HarperCollins the first of the three publishers to renegotiate its contracts with retailers, as required by the terms of a settlement the publishers reached with the Department of Justice in April. That settlement was approved by a federal judge in Manhattan last week.

Under the terms of the settlement, the three publish ers may not agree to contracts with e-book retailers that restrict the retailer's “discretion over e-book pricing,” the court said in a 45-page opinion last week. Under previous agreements between major publishers and retailers that began in 2010, publishers set prices for e-books.

Those agreements came under the scrutiny of the Justice Department, which accused five major publishers and Apple of colluding to fix prices. HarperCollins, along with Hachette Book Group and Simon & Schuster, agreed to settle while denying any wrongdoing; two publishers, Penguin Goup USA and Macmillan, along with Apple, did not settle, and face trial next year.

Erin Crum, a spokeswoman for HarperCollins, said in an e-mail that the publisher “has reached agreements with our e-retailers that are consistent with the final judgment,” or settlement. “Dynamic pricing and experimentation will continue to be a priority for us as we move forward,” she said.

Sarah Gelman, a sp okeswoman for Amazon, said in an e-mail, “We are happy to again be lowering prices on a broad assortment of HarperCollins titles.” She declined to comment on any other publisher negotiations.

The agreements call for HarperCollins to set the list price of the book, but allow the retailer to discount the titles. The new prices could give HarperCollins a competitive advantage - at least temporarily - if their books are priced lower than those of other major publishers.