Craig Dilger for The New York Times. Douglas Preston, a best-selling author with Hachette Publishing, at his writing shack in Maine.

We started paying attention to this issue here. It relates to our longstanding belief that reading and books are essential goods. So who we trust with books matters:

Plot Thickens as 900 Writers Battle Amazon

By DAVID STREITFELD

Douglas Preston, a Hachette author, wrote a letter to his readers asking them to contact Jeff Bezos. Nearly 1,000 other writers have joined his cause.

Read that whole story in today’s New York Times. Against all odds–who can outwit Colbert?–prior to today’s news it already had gotten curiouser:

Over the past month, the online retailer Amazon has engaged in a public dispute with the publishing company Hachette, which owns the Little Brown imprint, among others. In an attempt to negotiate a bigger share of e-book royalties, Amazon has instituted shipping delays of three to five weeks for the books of many Hachette authors, including J. K. Rowling, James Patterson, and me. Amazon is famously closemouthed, and no Amazon executive has been willing to appear publicly to defend the company’s position. Until now, that is. A few days ago, in an arrangement brokered by Dick Cavett, David Hill, the newly appointed director of “fulfillment” for Amazon, agreed to participate in a face-to-face meeting with me, at the company’s Manhattan warehouse. The best word I can use to describe what you are about to see is “unbelievable.”