Authors Write Different Ending for Amazon’s Board of Directors

In a recent letter by Authors United to the Amazon board of directors requested to challenge CEO Jeff Bezos to stop the “sanctioning” of Hachette author’s books. In the letter it states that the sanctions include “refusing pre-orders, delaying shipping, reducing discounting and using pop-up windows to cover authors’ pages.” The group charges that this has driven down sales by nearly 90%.

Over 1,000 authors signed the letter in an attempt for the board of directors to amend the current company policies that are in place. The letter was first published in the New York Times. Amazon’s current board members include Thomas Ryder of RPX Corp, Alain Monie of Ingram Micro Inc, William Gordon of Kleiner Perkins, John Seely Brown formerly of Xerox, Judith McGrath formerly of MTV and Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.

This is not the first time the consumer and vendors are urging a board of directors to amend the direction of company policies. Earlier this Summer Market Basket was in the news for the board of directors firing the CEO. The customers and vendors went on strike until the CEO was reinstated and able to purchase the company.

Strong brands and companies are positioned to weather moments of crisis. Board members have many responsibilities and responsibilities to all parties involved. The goal of the board is to position a company to benefit all stakeholders, shareholders, and others who directly or indirectly profit from its success. 

This is not the final chapter for this thriller read of what happens next for Hachette’s authors that include Stephen King, John Grisham and Robert Caro.  The letter was followed by an ad in the New York Times that asked readers to email CEO Jeff Bezos to rewrite the policies towards the group. 

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