Crain’s New York Business reports that the multi-publisher auction that resulted in Amanda Hocking signing a two-million-dollar four-book deal with St. Martin’s Press had one unexpected participant—Amazon.com. Although Amazon has worked several exclusive deals to publish backlist books or specialty projects (most recently signing the Catherine Cookson estate for a 95-book deal), this is believed to be the first time the company actually competed for the right to publish frontlist titles.

If Amazon had won the auction, the print editions of the books would have been published by Houton Mifflin Harcourt, which could theoretically have meant the books would be carried by Amazon competitor Barnes & Noble, too (though there is some doubt that B&N would have been willing to play along knowing who the “real” publisher was).

Perhaps most interestingly, Amazon actually made the highest monetary offer for the book, according to insiders, but insisted on being the exclusive outlet for the e-book edition. Hocking and her agent reportedly found this offer less attractive.

“[Amazon] has less than 65% share of the e-book market and dropping, and 20% to 30% of the print market,” the executive said. “[The author and agent] would have anticipated significant lost sales.”

If Amazon wants to get into the frontlist publishing game, the company may have to compromise on the exclusivity part of the deal. Amazon might be an 800-lb gorilla, but it doesn’t entirely rule the jungle. It seems unlikely that contract terms reducing overall availability will be popular with most authors and agents.

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