Amazon.com and 'Big Five' publishers accused of ebook price-fixing

Class action lawsuit filed in US claims the houses have colluded with the online giant to keep prices artificially highAmazon.com and the “Big Five” publishers – Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster – have been accused of colluding to fix ebook prices, in a class action filed by the law firm that successfully sued Apple and the Big Five on the same charge 10 years ago.The lawsuit, filed in district court in New York on Thursday by Seattle firm Hagens Berman, on behalf of consumers in several US states, names the retail giant as the sole defendant but labels the publishers “co-conspirators”. It alleges Amazon and the publishers use a clause known as “Most Favored Nations” (MFN) to keep ebook prices artificially high, by agreeing to price restraints that force consumers to pay more for ebooks purchased on retail platforms that are not Amazon.com. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2021-01-15 13:04:33 UTC ]

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Happy 10th Birthday, Google Play Books!

Reading books is for nerds, right? Well, that depends on your definition of "nerd," I suppose. While I must confess to not being a regular reader, I greatly admire those that are. Reading is surely a better way to spend time than mindlessly watching sports on TV -- something I am quite guilty of... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2020-12-09 18:41:58 UTC ]
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Commentary: The latest publishing mega-merger might kill off small presses — and literary diversity

The planned merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster may be global but it's bad for books both foreign and domestic. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-12-04 19:25:12 UTC ]
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Macmillan Children's bags two from Dara McAnulty

Macmillan Children’s Books has acquired two non-fiction titles by naturalist and activist Dara McAnulty. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-03 22:45:08 UTC ]
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Allegheny County Jail has reversed its policy banning book delivery to its incarcerated population.

Here’s a heartening update to a terrible story: In November, Allegheny County Jail came under fire for instituting a draconian policy banning its incarcerated population from receiving physical books in the mail, only giving them access to 263 pre-approved eBooks on prison-owned tablets. Now,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-03 17:31:58 UTC ]
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S&S pre-empts John Stonehouse biography

Simon & Schuster is to publish a biography of former Labour minister John Stonehouse, who faked his own death in 1974. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-29 23:08:09 UTC ]
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Pacey keeps Open University up to speed as list adapts to post-Covid market

The pandemic has put the kibosh on innumerable events this year, one of which was a big 50th anniversary bash for the Open University Press (OpenUP). Half a century is a good innings for any publisher, but it was to be a particularly celebratory occasion for OpenUP and its boss, head of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-27 22:33:33 UTC ]
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Stephanie Purcell joins Bloomsbury

Stephanie Purcell, group rights director at Simon & Schuster, has been appointed group rights director at Bloomsbury. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-19 19:54:32 UTC ]
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News Corp CEO Sees Antitrust Concerns in PRH Buy of S&S

Robert Thomson, CEO of HarperCollins parent company News Corp, said during the company's annual meeting that a purchase of Simon & Schuster by Penguin Random House "will clearly be a serious antitrust issue." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-19 05:00:00 UTC ]
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New Insights Emerge Into Bidders for Simon & Schuster

The chatter is getting louder around the Simon & Schuster sale story, with News Corp arriving as another name associated with the process. The post New Insights Emerge Into Bidders for Simon & Schuster appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-11-17 19:13:31 UTC ]
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Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Bids for Simon & Schuster

A sale of the venerable publisher of Stephen King and Hillary Clinton could fetch $1.7 billion and rev up consolidation in book publishing. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-11-17 08:28:15 UTC ]
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New York Times reports News Corp bid for S&S

Rupert Murdoch's media giant News Corp has made a bid for Simon & Schuster, according to a report in the New York Times. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-17 08:28:03 UTC ]
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Macmillan Children’s to publish 'empowering' retelling of classic fairytales

Macmillan Children’s Books has acquired two illustrated middle-grade fiction titles by debut author Radiya Hafiza.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-12 03:46:46 UTC ]
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Gordon Brown’s Seven Ways to S&S

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has signed up to write a new book for Simon & Schuster, assessing seven major challenges facing the world. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-11 20:08:40 UTC ]
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EC brings anti-trust charges against Amazon

European Union regulators have brought anti-trust charges against Amazon, accusing the retail giant of using sensitive data from the third-party sellers who use its marketplace to gain unfair advantage for its own retail business.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-10 15:04:25 UTC ]
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Our Daily Bread Names New VP, Publisher

Chriscynethia Floyd, a former executive at Simon & Schuster and David C Cook, has been hired as v-p and publisher of Our Daily Bread Ministries. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Four short links: 6 Nov 2020

Dealing with Security Holes in Chips — system security starts at the hardware layer. Ubooquity — free home server for your comics and ebooks library. “Like plex for books.” Noisepage — a relational database management system developed by the Carnegie Mellon Database Group. The research goal of... Continue reading at O'Reilly Radar

[ O'Reilly Radar | 2020-11-06 11:59:34 UTC ]
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S&S sells Steadman's middle-grade series in 23 languages

Simon & Schuster's rights team has sold A F Steadman's debut middle-grade series Skandar and the Unicorn Thief in 23 languages, with total advances in excess of £1m.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-04 00:06:17 UTC ]
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S&S launches regional campaign for Thomas' Firewatching

Simon & Schuster is launching a billboard campaign in Sheffield to promote Russ Thomas' debut novel Firewatching.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-02 11:36:23 UTC ]
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Sir Lenny Henry signs with Macmillan Children’s Books

Macmillan Children’s Books (MCB) has won a seven-publisher auction to publish middle-grade and picture books by Sir Lenny Henry.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-31 06:26:43 UTC ]
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Macmillan Closing Imprint

The Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group is closing Imprint, a move that will eliminate six editorial positions and three in marketing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
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