In my option, in e-book business, a company like Macmillan is unneeded middle-man. "unneeded" is probably too big word, I don't know publishing industry. But their added value to an e-book is much less than in case of printed books distributed via traditional sales channels.<p>In long term, economics is on Amazon side. Macmillan is loosing power so they play hardball to survive.<p>By analogy, think about Apple app store and developers. Developers do not need middle-man companies like Macmillan.