Stephen Colbert adds his weight to Amazon book publishing war
On the other side is a leading New York publisher few readers have heard of, Hachette Book Group, and some Hachette authors virtually all readers have heard of: J. K. Rowling, James Patterson, Malcolm Gladwell and, most recently, Stephen Colbert.
On one side of a major publishing feud is Amazon, the industry's biggest book seller.
Saying that he's not just mad at Amazon but "mad prime", Colbert has assailed the online retailer on his Comedy Central programme.
Amazon is in a contract dispute with Hachette Book Group and has been delaying shipments for some Hachette books, including Colbert's America Again, and removing the pre-order option for Rowling's The Silkworm (written under her pen name Robert Galbraith) and other upcoming works.
Colbert twice flipped his middle finger at Amazon during the show and brought on Sherman Alexie, a Hachette author who recommended a debut novel that Amazon will not sell: Edan Lepucki's California.
Colbert, anxious to prove that he could "sell more books than Amazon", urged viewers to buy California from Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, one of the country's leading independent booksellers. Colbert also unveiled a sticker, "I didn't buy it from Amazon", that can be downloaded from his website.