Amazon has tried to keep new digital books at $9.99 or less, but publishers are concerned that the price will undercut hardcover sales. Major hardcover releases often go for as much as three or four times that much.
Publisher Macmillan previously announced that it wanted to bump prices of its digital books closer to $15, and Amazon responded by pulling the publisher's books off its online store shelves. Amazon eventually agreed to capitulate, though; it will offer Macmillan books at higher prices. Still, this agreement has yet to come to fruition.
Hachette books — which include The Lovely Bones and titles by authors like Stephen Colbert and Emily Dickinson — are still available in the Kindle store at Amazon's preferred prices, and Amazon hasn't responded publicly to Hachette's newly stated intentions. We don't expect that there will be a sales freeze in this case, though.