Amazon escalates standoff with publisher Hachette

NEW YORK - If you're hoping to pre-order books by J.K. Rowling, Michael Connelly and other Hachette Book Group authors, you'll have to go somewhere besides Amazon.com (AMZN).

An ongoing standoff between Amazon and one of the leading New York publishers has escalated. The online retailer has removed pre-order buttons for such books as Connelly's "The Burning Room" and Rowling's "The Silkworm," a detective story she wrote under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

Hachette issued a statement Friday saying it hopes to "find a solution to this difficult situation." Amazon declined to comment.

Amazon and Hachette are reportedly at odds over terms for e-book sales. Amazon had already been delaying the delivery of some Hachette releases, including J.D. Salinger's "Nine Stories" and Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian."