Amazon Squeezes Publishers

Publishers who print books on demand will have to use Amazon’s printing service if they want to sell their books on the leading online bookseller's site. Amazon's new policy means print-on-demand publishers will have little choice but to accept Amazon’s prices if they want to sell via the site. It also threatens to steal business from competing on-demand printers, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Print-on-demand allows publishers to print books quickly in response to customer requests, rather than pre-printing large quantities. It’s rapidly expanding in popularity, and nearly all the major US consumer publishers use the technology for some books. Amazon appears intent on leveraging its online bookselling dominance to expand in other areas of book manufacturing and selling.