One of the more interesting strands in Brad Stone's new book, The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon is watching how the relationship between Amazon and publishers evolved from one where the new online bookstore was viewed favorably as a potential counterbalance to the retail giants Barnes & Noble and Borders, dependent on Baker & Taylor to fill orders, to the most powerful and feared company in the book industry.
In Stone's view the transition began in 2004 when Amazon's share of book sales grew large enough dovetailed with its need to generate profits, leading the company to become hyper aggressive in seeking better terms from publishers. Bezos believed Amazon was entitled to better financial terms because it carried had the widest selection of titles and had an extremely low return rate.