Barnes & Noble Won't Stock a Single Book Published by Amazon

Posted on January 31, 2012

Barnes & Noble has decided it will not carry any books published by Amazon. Amazon recently partnered with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's New Harvest imprint to have New Harvest distribute print versions of its books. Amazon was probably hoping that having the print version of its books published by the Harcourt imprint would get them into bricks-and-mortars stores, but Barnes & Noble is not about to let that happen in its stores.

Here is the statement from Jaime Carey, Chief Merchandising Officer of Barnes & Noble.

"Barnes & Noble has made a decision not to stock Amazon published titles in our store showrooms. Our decision is based on Amazon's continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent. These exclusives have prohibited us from offering certain eBooks to our customers. Their actions have undermined the industry as a whole and have prevented millions of customers from having access to content. It's clear to us that Amazon has proven they would not be a good publishing partner to Barnes & Noble as they continue to pull content off the market for their own self interest."

Carey also says they will fill a request if customers ask specifically for an Amazon.com title. He writes, "We don't get many requests for Amazon titles, but If customers wish to buy Amazon titles from us, we will make them available only online at bn.com."

Bloomberg Businessweek writer Brad Stone shared the statement from Barnes & Noble on his Google+ account. Stone recently wrote the article, Amazon's Hit Man, about Larry Kirshbaum, the former head of the Time Warner Book Group who now runs Amazon Publishing.