Melville House Books

The American Booksellers Association has called upon the Department of Justice to investigate the price war between Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon, calling it, in a letter made public late yesterday, “illegal predatory pricing that is damaging to the book industry and harmful to consumers.”

“We believe that Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target are using these predatory pricing practices to attempt to win control of the market for hardcover bestsellers,” the letter continued. In the process, it states, they “are devaluing the very concept of the book. Authors and publishers, and ultimately consumers, stand to lose a great deal if this practice continues and/or grows.â€

“What’s so troubling in the current situation is that none of the companies involved are engaged primarily in the sale of books. They’re using our most important products — mega bestsellers, which, ironically, are the most expensive books for publishers to bring to market — as a loss leader to attract customers to buy other, more profitable merchandise. The entire book industry is in danger of becoming collateral damage in this war.”

Thrillingly, the letter does not end there. It goes on to observe: “It’s also important to note that this episode was precipitated by below-cost pricing of digital editions of new hardcover books by Amazon.com, many of those titles retailing for $9.99, and released simultaneously with the much higher-priced print editions. We believe the loss-leader pricing of digital content also bears scrutiny.”

And it all comes to a stirring — and, one hopes, galvanizing — conclusion: “We would find these practices questionable were they taking place in the market for widgets. That they are taking place in the market for books is catastrophic. If left unchecked, these predatory pricing policies will devastate not only the book industry, but our collective ability to maintain a society where the widest range of ideas are always made available to the public, and will allow the few remaining mega booksellers to raise prices to consumers unchecked.”

According to a report by Jeffrey Trachtenberg in the Wall Street Journal, predatory practices cases rarely get to court. Trachtenberg quotes an antitrust attorney who calls them “as rare as Bigfoot sightings.” But it’s hard to imagine the Justice Department can ignore such flagrant behavior.

Meanwhile, according to the WSJ report, both Target and Amazon have refused to comment. A Wal-Mart spokesperson said, “We are reviewing the letter. We work to comply with applicable law.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.