Waterstones, the book chain with six Irish outlets, has encountered a spot of bother in Britain, where 635 small publishers have complained to the Office of Fair Trading over a plan to cut their share of the cover price.

A spokesman stressed the move concerned fewer companies than the group of 635, adding that it had about 40,000 publishers and suppliers.

While the chain claims it needs to increase profits - no surprise there - publishers said its move could lead to a disproportionate increase in cover prices.

The spokesman said no Irish publishers were affected by the decision to cut their share of the cover price from 65 per cent to 50 per cent. But, he added, such a move had not been ruled out.

One intriguing element of the story is that Waterstones has 16 million unsold titles.

Surely a little less zeal on the part of its buyers would prevent a repetition of that.