As Amazon's publishing arm regroups, they do so with a warning to aspiring authors that they shouldn't expect to be carried in brick-and-mortar bookstores:

My Mother Was Nuts, by Penny Marshall, the first high-profile book released by New Harvest, has so far sold a little over 12,000 copies since its publication at outlets that report to BookScan. In numbers supplied to PW, Amazon reported that total sales of Nuts to date, including e-books, are approximately 120,000. Durham said that while Amazon wants to make its books available to anyone who wants to carry them, “our business model doesn’t depend on distribution outside of Amazon.” She acknowledged that limited sales through retailers mean Amazon needs to provide authors with “a great publishing experience,” noting, “If we were not able to do that, then we’re not going to be the best publisher fit for them.”

This is an about-face for Amazon, which approached the publishing business with typical dotcom arrogance. They seemed to operate under the expectation that their books would be welcomed by independent bookstores. That did not happen, so now they're focusing solely on the channels that they can trust, which are the channels that they own.

(Via Dear Author.)