Amazon.com (AMZN) struck a new book selling agreement with CBS’s (CBS) Simon & Schuster unit on Monday, demonstrating just how little sway it holds over the publishing industry.

The agreement returns control over ebook pricing to the publisher, just as the publishers achieved back in 2010 when they colluded to raise ebook prices using so-called agency pricing. Amazon, which got back some control in court-ordered settlements of the collusion case, will now be permitted to discount ebook titles only in “some limited exceptions,” according to Simon & Schuster, whose authors include Stephen King and Walter Isaacson.

Authors will get the same 25% of 70%, or 17.5%, cut of the retail price that they received under agency, according to Publishers Lunch, a web-based industry newsletter. Amazon, which pays self-published authors a 70% royalty rate for ebooks under $10, has said big publishers should pay out at least 35% to authors.

Agency pricing has been terrible for consumers. In April, 2010, prices of ebook best sellers that Amazon had sold at $9.99 jumped overnight to $12.99 and $14.99. Prices have come down somewhat since the Justice Department won settlements from all of the big publishers, but not to the same level as before the price-fixing collusion. Publishers, who did not admit guilt in the settlements, said low ebook prices devalued their products and hurt sales at physical book store chains.

Both sides on Monday hinted at possibly lowering ebook prices under the new agreement. The deal “creates a financial incentive for Simon & Schuster to deliver lower prices for readers,” a spokeswoman for Amazon said. Simon & Schuster will have “flexibility to deliver great prices for readers,” CEO Carolyn Reidy wrote in a message to authors that was obtained by Bloomberg. Neither side chose to elaborate.

Undue influence

What should be abundantly clear is that despite Amazon’s continuing standoff with smaller publisher Hachette, the online giant does not have undue influence over the publishing industry.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was among the anti-Amazon opinion leaders undercut by the quick, pro-publisher deal. Monday morning, Krugman wrote that Amazon had too much power over publishers and was abusing its position. Less than 24 hours later, Simon & Schuster retook control of ebook pricing from Amazon.

The agreement was hammered out over several months, largely on the terms initially proposed by Simon & Schuster. Amazon never took measures like those it is using against Hachette, such as stopping pre-orders, cutting discounts or reducing inventory, which causes shipping delays.

CBS CEO Les Moonves made clear over the summer that he wasn’t afraid of Amazon and didn’t expect anything like the bitter and fractious stalemate between the online retailer and Hachette, which is owned by French media conglomerate Lagardère Group.

Not only does Simon & Schuster sell considerably more books than Hachette, but its parent also produces other products that Amazon needs, such as television shows, movies, and popular music. The same is true of News Corp’s (NWSA) HarperCollins, which should face few bumps when it next negotiates with Amazon.

Penguin Random House, owned by German media giant Bertelsmann, is the biggest bookseller and therefore also unlikely to get the tough guy approach from Amazon. It may be only Macmillan, owned by German publisher Georg von Holtzbrinck, which possibly faces a similar fate to Hachette.

Krugman also missed the fragile position of Amazon as a seller of digital goods. Although Amazon dominates the current ebook market, with an estimated 70% of sales, consumers can easily switch to competitors. That's nothing like what happens among physical retailers. But it's exactly what happened to Apple's (AAPL) iTunes music store in 2009, when the big record labels wanted a price hike. They allowed Amazon, but not Apple, to sell tracks free of digital rights management restrictions and sales began quickly shifting away from iTunes despite its overwhelming market share.

Hachette may lack the bulk to push back against Amazon, but such has been the fate of marginal suppliers to retailers for decades, both online and off. Hopefully, the Simon & Schuster deal will help Amazon's detractors realize the difference.

(This story was updated on October 22 to correct the list of authors published by Simon & Schuster and the length of the negotiations. George R.R. Martin and Daniel Silva are not published by Simon & Schuster. The negotiations took months, not weeks.)