Amazon to Extend Publisher Charges

Amazon.com Inc., seeking new revenue sources to turn an operating profit by year’s end, said it will start charging publishers for recommending their books in e-mail promotions. The new tactic will extend paid book promotions, known in the publishing industry as co-op placements, from Amazon’s Web site to e-mails sent out to many of its 29 million customers. “What we’ve done is in essence to give publishers the opportunity to have co-op placements in e-mails,” spokeswoman Kristin Schaefer said. Co-op placements, in which publishers pay booksellers to display titles in their windows and throughout shops, are common in the book industry, but the move to extend them to e-mails raised concerns that Amazon could alienate customers by blurring the line between editorial judgment and advertising. Amazon shares fell 81 cents to close at $15 on Nasdaq.