Changes to Bloomsbury print and Kindle accessibility

On By Littum

This article has been updated to reflect new details since it was originally published at 17.51 ​​on 23 January.

UPDATE: From 22.30 on 23 January an agreement in principle has been reached between Amazon and Bloomsbury, and Bloomsbury books remain available to our customers.

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Amazon has always put access to reading at the heart of our bookstore mission, partnering with tens of thousands of publishers and millions of authors worldwide to provide readers with the best possible selection and value. We go to great lengths to avoid influencing that committee.

Our contract to sell Bloomsbury titles was scheduled to expire last year. We extended the contract under its current terms several times in an attempt to reach an agreement, but despite our best efforts over the past seven months, Bloomsbury have refused to enter into good faith negotiations to discuss a new contract to sell their titles in our store. Unfortunately, the latest extension expires at midnight on the 23rdrd January and after that time Amazon will no longer be able to sell Bloomsbury print books in the UK, Europe and Australia or Bloomsbury Kindle books worldwide.

Amazon customers will still be able to buy Bloomsbury printed books on our website from our independent sales partners. Availability of Bloomsbury print books in Amazon’s US store is unaffected.

Our expired terms with Bloomsbury were way out of sync with other publishers who sell books through our store. Unlike other UK publishers with whom we have successfully negotiated in recent years, Bloomsbury has refused to recognize our continued investment in bringing books in all formats to readers. Among other investments, we have built extensive distribution across the UK and EU post-Brexit, added innovations in digital reading and expanded our print network and capacity, all of which have benefited readers and authors and proved profitable for publishers.

Publishers in all countries have many avenues through which they can sell their books, and that includes Bloomsbury titles in the UK. Nevertheless, we deeply regret the impact this impasse with Bloomsbury will have on authors and Amazon customers. We hope to quickly reach an agreement with Bloomsbury that will allow us to offer their books to Amazon customers as soon as possible.