battle with hachette and the authors that hachette publishes is heating up. >> narrator: as bezos's >> narrator: thousands of authors, including bestsellers like douglas preston, were caught in the middle. >> some authors were losing 50% to 90% of their sales from amazon. it was absolutely devastating to first-time authors. it actually destroyed their careers. >> did you see your sales plummet? >> i did, yes. i saw my sales plummet tremendously. >> narrator: in frustration, preston penned an open letter on behalf of all authors. it was published in "the new york times" with more than 900 signatures. >> we authors have loved amazon. we have enthusiastically supported it, and this is how they treat us? this is not right. >> amazon has been accused of doing everything from raising prices to deliberately delaying shipments. >> is this what happens when jeff bezos decides to flex his muscles? >> narrator: while hachette and amazon were at an impasse, douglas preston, franklin foer, and other authors went to washington, and asked the obama administration to open an investigation. >> i wen

hachette group. harpercollins publishers. ingram content group. macmillan publisher.ews media poetry foundation and scholastic and zibby books. thank for making our work possible. we are so grateful. we are just two years away from a big milestone. the 75th anniversary of the national book awards. in preparation, we've spent the last crafting a strategic plan that culminate in our landmark anniversary, and we are absolutely thrilled to have supporters who believe in us and our big dreams for the future. that's right. we are so grateful to these supporters who have joined us in making significant gifts and multiyear commitments to help us. get to 75. huge thanks to debra wiley, the susan x and kenneth warlick foundation. karen and marcus dole a to stephen m and joyce tatler, charitable trust. stephen reidy. marianne rn and bruno queensland and. paul and carol steinman, thank. i'd also like to thank some of the folks who have helped make tonight and our return to in-person celebrations so fabulous. a huge thanks to our host committee after our party committee and our bo