HarperCollins looks to bypass Amazon

HarperCollins has started selling books directly to readers in the latest move by publishers to regain ground in a market dominated by Amazon.

The relaunch of the News Corp-owned publisher’s US website coincided with a fresh outbreak of hostilities in Amazon’s pricing feud with Hachette Book Group, the publisher owned by France’s Lagardère. HarperCollins’ move puts it in competition with one of its largest retailers. The ecommerce group controls about 60 percent of US e-book sales, publishers estimate, and 30 to 50 percent of all US book sales.