• April 7, 2008

The American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) and the Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN) are protesting a policy change at Amazon.com that requires publishers using Amazon's POD distribution to print with Amazon's own BookSurge.

SPAN is a nonprofit trade association representing over 1,000 book publishers and authors who are vendors of Amazon.com. The group said in a statement to the online retailer that "it is fair to say that almost all of our publishers and authors who use POD to distribute through Amazon.com will be negatively affected by this new policy."

SPAN and the ASJA join PMA, the independent book publishers association, which has spoken out against Amazon's move.

ASJA says it is urging the Washington State attorney general's office to investigate whether Amazon's move constitutes restraint of trade or otherwise violates anti-trust laws.

--Nina M. Lentini