pay the piper

One hundred prominent German authors have joined in protest with many members of the American literati over the apparently manipulative business model of one of the biggest book markets.
It seems that publishing houses who resist subscribing to the low royalty rates that the online retailer is pushing is finding delays with delivery and long wait-times for the availability of its titles, in addition to problems with negotiating contracts. On the side of the publishers, there have also been accusations of collusion in pricing and pittance to writers—over the pricing pressure that the seller demands. Authors certainly ought to have a say in their livelihoods and creativity should not be made to suffer over the petty embargoes of warehousing and shipping, but it seems that the strife was nascent at the beginning of selling books on-line: a very clever idea that took down those commercial libraries and pulp-cartels and provided a success way for people to expand their reading network (though at the expense of smaller shops). Along came electronic books, however, and the expectation of free or nominal costs for print not bound or committed to paper—and neither seller or sadly author can expect much of a commission. What do you think? Does this on-line book seller (diversified to all sorts of products now) pose a threat to literature—or are these just the advances and terms of a book deal taken to the shop?