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Amazon customers are now able to purchase J.K. Rowling鈥檚 new book 鈥淭he Silkworm鈥� (written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith). 颅It鈥檚 just hard to say when they鈥檒l receive the novel.

鈥淭he Silkworm鈥� has become caught up in the disagreement between Amazon and publisher Hachette, which resulted in Hachette titles taking longer to ship to Amazon customers than books from other publishers. When customers began noticing that titles like Stephen Colbert鈥檚 鈥淎merica Again鈥� were listed as taking between three and five weeks to ship, Hachette spokesperson Sophie Cottrell told the New York Times that Amazon was delaying books 鈥渇or reasons of their own鈥� and that there was no lack of stock on their end. 鈥淲e are satisfying all Amazon鈥檚 orders promptly,鈥� Cottrell said at the time.

An anonymous Hachette staff member recently told the NYT that the fight between the online bookselling behemoth and Hachette is because Amazon is "demanding payments for a range of services, including the pre-order button, personalized recommendations and a dedicated employee at Amazon for Hachette books. This is similar to so-called co-op arrangements with traditional retailers, like paying Barnes & Noble for placing a book in the front of the store鈥�. [Amazon] is very inventive about what we'd call standard service. They're teasing out all these layers and saying, 'If you want that service, you'll have to pay for it.' In the end, it's very hard to know what you'd be paying. Hachette has refused, and so bit by bit, they've been taking away these services, like the pre-order button, to teach Hachette a lesson.鈥澛�

However, has Amazon now made a slight concession? Before 鈥淪ilkworm鈥� was released on June 19, the novel was unavailable for pre-order 鈥� customers had to sign up for e-mail notification as to when the book would be made available. Starting on June 19, Amazon customers were able to purchase hardback copies of the novel, though the Amazon site noted that the books could take one to two months to reach readers, according to USA Today. The e-book version was still listed as unavailable.

The shipping time continued to decrease on June 19 and June 20, finally ending at one to two days on June 20, and an e-book was made available later in the day on June 19, according to USA Today.聽

But the shipping time for 鈥淪ilkworm鈥� has now gone back up to two to four weeks, an estimation that is similar to shipping times for other Hachette titles like Stephen Colbert鈥檚 鈥淎merica Again鈥� (three to five weeks) and James Patterson鈥檚 鈥淎lex Cross, Run鈥� (two to four weeks).The e-book remains available. Meanwhile, other Hachette titles that 鈥� like 鈥淪ilkworm鈥� 鈥� had been unavailable (for instance, 鈥淭he Girls of August鈥� by Anne Rivers Siddons and 鈥淗ope to Die鈥� by James Patterson) can now be purchased ahead of time by customers.

Of course, it鈥檚 difficult to say whether these are meaningful moves considering Amazon could change their pre-ordering options or shipping times within the next five minutes. Stay tuned.