In quick succession on Friday, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times provided updates on the standoff between Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster over terms that has led B&N drastically to cut orders for many S&S books, cut author appearances and remove titles from display in its stores. 
The Journal said that the dispute is over "which side will bear the financial burden of e-book discounting" as well as B&N's demand "for more compensation, such as costs associated with in-store promotions." The Journal added that B&N "is arguing that its stores serve as the primary way for consumers to discover new writers.... The retailer worries that consumers use its stores as 'showrooms' to find titles that they then order online at a discounted price."
The New York Times wrote that B&N "believes that because its physical display space is so important to publishers, and because it is the last major retail chain remaining, publishers should be doing more to support it."
The Times also reported that B&N has told S&S that "at least one other publisher has accepted these new terms." It did not identify the publisher.
B&N spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating didn't comment on the dispute per se, but said, "We do support publishers who support our digital and retail book business."
S&S CEO Carolyn Reidy told the Times, "In this new world, it is just getting more complicated. There are more factors involved. They get more fraught. Terms have to work for both sides, and obviously we have not agreed yet. We expect ultimately there will be an agreement."
Some of the affected S&S authors are trying to make up for B&N's neglect of their titles. In February, M.J. Rose and Randy Susan Meyers created the AuthorBuzz Indie Love Award, which was both a way of thanking indie booksellers for their support and highlighting seven February and March titles, most of which were published by S&S imprints. Because the dispute is continuing, a second iteration of the Indie Love Award will focus on May and June titles.
Over this past weekend, capitalizing on the general media attention, more S&S writers have been posting on social media--and urging other authors and readers to post--a note about the dispute and a list of affected books. In just 22 hours, more than 5,000 people visited the list of books via social media mentions.
One example was this post on Facebook yesterday by Jodi Picoult, author of The Storyteller, published in February by Emily Bestler Books/Atria: "You may not know this, but there has been an ongoing dispute between B&N and Simon and Schuster that has really hurt some great authors. In some cases B&N hasn't even stocked their new books. Who loses out? Readers. Here is a list of some of the books you may have missed that were casualties in this dispute. Please consider supporting some of these writers!"