CHICAGO, USA:  Online retailer Amazon.com Inc resumed selling hardcover and paperback books from Macmillan Publishers late on Friday in a sign the two companies are getting closer to resolving a pricing dispute over Macmillan's electronic books, which remain unavailable on Amazon.

Popular titles such as "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay were once again available in hardcover for $17.13. But Amazon's website displayed a message for those wanting to read the book on a Kindle: "Tell the publisher! I'd like to read this book on the Kindle."

Neither Amazon nor the privately held Macmillan were immediately available to comment.

Amazon temporarily removed all titles published by Macmillan, whose imprints include Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Henry Holt and Co, from its website last weekend.

The online retailer has come under fire from a number publishers for the low prices it charges for e-books to spur demand for the Kindle, hoping to fend off new rivals such as Apple Inc that are set to join the e-books fray with the iPad.

Amazon currently charges $9.99 for the e-book version of most new releases and bestsellers. Macmillan wanted to charge $12.99 to $14.99 for the e-book version of most of its books.