Before the launch of the Kindle, Amazon asked publishers to create e-book versions of their titles and, according to Stone, threatened those that didn't deliver with being put down further in Amazon search results. After Amazon received e-book versions of many of the books they had been looking for and the Kindle was released, publishers realized Amazon had withheld a crucial detail from discussions: the fact that every e-book title would be priced at $9.99. "It left an incredibly bad taste in our mouths, that they would slip that one by us after hammering us for months and months with their ... lists [of e-books they wanted]," one publishing executive told Stone. Another said, "I think we were absolutely naive in agreeing to supply those files without any caveats around them. If I could rewrite history I would have said, 'Thanks so much, I love the idea of the Kindle, but let's have an agreement that says you will not sell below the cost.' I feel like I was asleep at the tiller."
Amazon/AP
