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Amazon is facing a revolt from authors, book publishers and digital printers after decreeing that all print-on-demand books sold through its US website must be printed by its own in-house printer, Booksurge.

The announcement, made last week, was greeted with disbelief and anger by the burgeoning POD industry, which relies on Amazon as a key source of orders.

According to youwriteon.com, the UK-based Arts Council-funded website for budding writers, the move will mean that publishers will now have to pay Amazon 55% of the book’s list price, compared to 25% before the move.

Edward Smith, who manages the website, has called for a boycott on Amazon in the UK following what he termed Amazon’s “attempts to monopolise the POD industry”.

He said: “Youwriteon.com is inviting all POD authors everywhere to list their books on our site with a free ‘book-buy’ link to any bookseller other than Amazon.”

Terry Nathan, executive director of PMA, the US independent book publishers’ association, said: “This policy imposes a significant financial burden on tens of thousands of small and independent publishers who can least afford it.

“Without the opportunity to benefit from competitive pricing, small publishers risk, at best, an expensive and needless overhaul of their manufacturing process and, at worst, the loss of their livelihood.”

John Ingram, chairman of Ingram Content, the US company that owns transatlantic on-demand printer Lightning Source, said: “We all live in a world where decisions are made about in-sourcing and outsourcing, and free choice is important.”

Booksurge is currently only available in the US and on-demand printers working with the UK site are therefore unaffected. However, there are fears that, if successful, Amazon will roll out the policy across its international sites.

Amazon rapidly launched a defence following the announcement, circulating an open letter stating that through printing all orders with Booksurge it could fulfil orders more efficiently.