A standoff over financial terms has prompted the bookstore chain Barnes & Noble to cut back substantially on the number of titles it orders from the publishing house Simon & Schuster, raising fears among other publishers, agents and authors that the conflict may harm the publishing industry as a whole.

Industry executives, as well as authors of recently published Simon & Schuster books and their agents, say that Barnes & Noble has reduced book orders greatly, to almost nothing in the case of some lesser-known writers. They contend that the move is damaging their sales. Authors say the retail chain has taken other steps, like not giving them display space or allowing book tour appearances in its stores.

Simon Lipskar, the president of Writers House, a literary agency in New York, said, “Without pointing fingers, authors are being hurt by this, and I think it is despicable.”

The conflict, which is being closely watched by other publishers, underscores the pressure on the publishing industry and Barnes & Noble as they try to compete with online retailers like Amazon. This is the first time that Barnes & Noble has used the sales of books as a negotiating tool, industry executives say. Amazon, which is known as an aggressive negotiator, has removed online “buy” buttons from books during negotiations before, most famously with Macmillan in January 2010.