Although not directly related to the book trade, the highly publicized actions of the New Republic's owner Chris Hughes--which prompted the resignations of two-thirds of the people on the magazine's editorial masthead last week--do have an intriguing Amazon connection. In a detailed article for the New Yorker headlined "Inside the Collapse of the New Republic," Ryan Lizza chronicled the forced departure of longtime editor Franklin Foer, which sparked the mass staff exodus.
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Two weeks after Foer's October 9 piece, "Amazon Must Be Stopped," was published, "Amazon's ad agency sent T.N.R. an e-mail concerning a campaign for its new political TV show, Alpha House. 'In light of the cover article about Amazon, Amazon has decided to terminate the Alpha House campaign currently running on the New Republic,' the e-mail said. 'Please confirm receipt of this email and that the campaign has been terminated.' It was signed 'Team Amazon,' " Lizza wrote.
Hughes forwarded the note to Foer, who sent it to agent Andrew Wylie and to Douglas Preston, head of Authors United. Foer "wanted to make Amazon's suspension of advertising public, but Hughes insisted that he not."
Editors at two news operations with direct connections to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told Buzzfeed News they weren't concerned about outside meddling. Washington Post editor-in-chief Marty Baron said new owner Bezos "has not been involved in any decisions involving our coverage, and I have no concerns at all that he will be."
At Business Insider, where Bezos is one of several investors, editor-in-chief Henry Blodget said, "Our investors have no involvement in editorial. Including Jeff. I actually don't think I've ever even discussed anything we've written with him. And we write about Amazon constantly, good and bad. I've never heard of Amazon pulling ads over a story, but if they have, they certainly wouldn't be the first. Any publisher worth its salt occasionally gets tossed in the penalty box."
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Kindle Unlimited has launched in France and Brazil, bringing to seven the number of countries (including the U.S., U.K., Germany, Italy & Spain) where the e-book subscription service is available. The Bookseller reported that the "big names in French publishing--Hachette Livre, Editis and La Martinière--do not have their titles enrolled in the service for its launch, because no agreement has been reached on the terms." Currently the lineup includes Eyrolles, Media Participations subsidiary Fleurus, Bragelonne, Midady, Le Manuscrit, Encyclopaedia Universalis, Jouvance and Musardine. Also available are the Harry Potter titles by J.K. Rowling in French and English, and a number of self-published titles.
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Amazon has added "a slew of new physical pickup points across Canada," VentureBeat reported, noting that the "aptly titled Amazon Pickup Points are operational at more than 6,000 Canada Post locations."