Amazon.com mysteriously removes Macmillan book titles

Updated

Go to Amazon.com. Search for any publication by Macmillan, one of the world’s largest publishing firms. The Prince of Silicon Valley, perhaps, or Sarah’s Key. Or last year’s huge #1 bestseller The Gathering Storm.

Gone, mysteriously gone. We found Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, but his new novel Makers and his popular debut, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, have been removed. Robert Jordan’s entire Wheel of Time series of fantasy novels is gone, except for 2005’s The Knife of Dreams.

You get links to other sellers. But Amazon has stopped carrying them.

Science fiction author John Scalzi, whose books are carried by Macmillan imprint Tor, tweeted that his books are gone from both Amazon’s book and Kindle sections, but he doesn’t seem to have an explanation. “Folks noticing Amazon not directly carrying my books: It seems many Tor books are affected which makes me suspect a glitch.”

Neither Amazon nor Macmillan have replied to requests for comment, but I’ll update with more info as we get it. I’m guessing the Macmillan titles still available were somehow missed in the removal process.

Macmillan is one of Apple’s announced partners for the iPad, heavily hyped as a Kindle killer. But we’re not sure that’s the connection. Please email us with any tips.

Commenter Atul Arora points out that the books are still listed on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca.

Update: Amazon temporarily removed Macmillan titles as a result of an e-book pricing dispute, according to The New York Times.