TABLET WARS

In a move seen as retaliation against DC Comics’ deal with Amazon giving its new Kindle Fire a four-month exclusive on digital versions of 100 DC graphic novels (including perennial bestseller Watchmen), Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest bookseller, is removing those 100 DC bestselling backlist titles from its 705 retail stores in the U.S. Books-a-Million, which operates 211 stores in 23 states, followed suit almost immediately, reported ICv2.com.

The bookstores say they won’t sell any versions of the popular graphic novels if they weren't allowed to sell the digital versions as well.

But there’s a little more to the story. DC’s Amazon maneuver made its digital editions off-limits to Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader, which is being introduced this month, and Amazon priced some of the Kindle Fire books at $9.99, half the price of the print editions. In effect, DC seriously undermined the competitive environment.

Quoth ICv2: “We haven’t heard what the term of the DC exclusive with the Kindle is, but there will be a window of at least some months, including the all-important holiday season, with vastly reduced availability of those titles in chain bookstores. This will offer an opportunity for all of B&N’s competitors, and will undoubtedly hurt DC’s graphic novel sales through the end of the year.”