Publisher accuses Amazon.com of deliberately delaying sending its books

Titles by authors including Malcolm Gladwell, James Patterson and Iain Banks are taking weeks to be sent to readers from Amazon.com, as the online retailer is accused by the books' publisher Hachette of delaying delivery "for reasons of their own".

The New York Times found estimated delivery times of two to three weeks in the US on a range of books published by Hachette, including titles by Gladwell, Stephen Colbert and JD Salinger. Other affected Hachette titles include Banks's Consider Phlebas, Kate Adie's memoir The Kindness of Strangers, Antony Beevor's The Second World War and Cressida Cowell's How To Train Your Dragon, which are all marked as taking at least a week to reach readers, when Amazon usually offers delivery in days. Hachette's books on Amazon's UK website are not affected.

The New York Times quoted publishers who said Amazon was "determined to squeeze as much margin out of its suppliers as possible". Trade journal the Bookseller said the delay came "as the two companies seek to come to new terms", while US book news site Publishers Lunch reported that the move "appears to be designed to exert pressure on Hachette regarding revised terms of sale, which is the 'agreement' that is being negotiated".

In a statement provided to the Guardian, Hachette US said that while it is the publisher's "normal policy not to comment on negotiations under way with any retailer", it had been asked "legitimate questions about why many of our books are at present marked out of stock with relatively long estimated shipping times on the Amazon website, in contrast to immediate availability on other websites and in stores".

Hachette said that while it is "satisfying all Amazon's orders promptly, and notifying them constantly of forthcoming publicity events and of out-of-stock situations on their website", the retailer is nevertheless "holding minimal stock and restocking some of HBG's books slowly, causing 'available 2-4 weeks' messages, for reasons of their own".

Hachette said that it was "grateful for the patience of authors and all Amazon readers as we work to reach an agreement and to encourage Amazon to be back to offering Hachette Book Group's books within normal shipment times".

The online shopping site has a history of adopting tough tactics during negotiations with the books industry. In 2010, Amazon removed the "buy new" buttons from Macmillan titles as the duo wrangled over terms for the price of ebooks. In 2012, it clashed with independent publishers over terms and removed thousands of independently published ebooks from sale.

Philip Jones, editor of the Bookseller, said the latest stand-off "shows how once again, and contrary to its PR, how Amazon is more than willing to disadvantage its customers and authors, in order to put the squeeze on its suppliers. Since its ebook business is now beginning to go off the boil, I'd imagine this is just the beginning of what will be a tough round of new negotiations for publishers and their authors."

Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.