TULSA, Okla. — The Educational Development Corp., saying it was fed up with Amazon's scorched-earth tactics, announced at the end of February it would remove all its titles from the retailer's virtual shelves. That eliminated at a stroke $1.5 million in annual sales, a move that could be a significant hit to the 46-year-old EDC's bottom line.

"Amazon is squeezing everyone out of business," said Randall White, EDC's chief executive. "I don't like that. They're a predator. We're better off without them."

EDC has 77 employees, no-frills offices on an industrial strip here and a stock-market valuation of $18 million. White's bold move to take his 1,800 children's books away is more evidence of the extraordinary tumult within the publishing world over who gets to decide how much a book costs.

Amazon was buying EDC's books from a distributor and discounting them to the bone, just as it does with everything it sells.

This might have been a boon for readers, but it was creating trouble with other retailers who carry the company's titles, as well as with EDC's network of independent sales agents, who market books from their homes.

"They were becoming showrooms for Amazon," White said. "We were shooting ourselves in the foot."

EDC operates out of offices on the outskirts of Tulsa in a district of warehouses and auto-supply shops. It is primarily a distributor, selling picture books developed in England by Usborne Books to toy stores and bookshops in the United States. Its publishing line, Kane Miller, produces the popular "Everyone Poops" book and its sequels.

EDC's consultants — a direct sales force of about 7,000 women — sell to friends and acquaintances as well as their local schools. Sales more than doubled from 2000 to 2004.

In recent years, though, the consultants have found it rough going. They would pass around a picture book like "The Noisy Body Book" or "Guess How Much I Miss You," talking it up, then the customer would order it online. Sales fell about 20 percent. Frustrated consultants began quitting.

White, EDC's chief, tried to get Amazon to lower its discount on his books three years ago, but a tentative deal did not stick, he said. He was outraged that Amazon did not collect sales tax, which had the effect of making its books even cheaper.

Two months ago, he asked his biggest wholesaler, Baker & Taylor, to stop selling all EDC books to Amazon. When Baker & Taylor refused, White canceled its account.

Baker & Taylor declined repeated requests to comment about EDC.

Of EDC's $26 million in annual revenue, Baker & Taylor was responsible for about 6 percent, most of which was because of Amazon.

Somewhat to White's surprise, EDC is doing better without Amazon. (Some of its books are still available on Amazon from third-party sellers.) Sales in March rose, in part because of new accounts like a toy store in Round Rock, Texas, that placed an initial order for 61 books.