Anyone who has been taking advantage of Amazon's liberal return policy regarding e-books could soon be in for a shock. That's because following discussions with the Authors Guild, Amazon has agreed to block automatic returns on digital books that are more than 10 percent read. Currently, the problem for authors on Amazon is that customers can return e-books online anytime within seven days of purchase no matter how much content has been consumed. That means if you can you read a book in less than a week, you can simply return it when you're done for free, resulting in a loss of profits for the author. However, under the new policy which is scheduled to go into effect sometime before the end of the year, Amazon will begin blocking automatic returns on e-books that are more than 10 read, which will then need to be reviewed by a representative to ensure that the return is genuine. The Authors Guild says the goal is to create a deterrent for people who abuse Amazon's current policy and to prevent people from treating Amazon's e-book marketplace as an ersatz library. Issues with Amazon's e-book return policy date back more than a decade, but had recently come under fire again after lifehacks about the company's guidelines began circulating online. And according to NPR, in some cases, abuse of the company's return policy even resulted in some authors having negative earnings balances, which typically happened when customers returned an e-book after the creator had been paid out... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2022-09-23 19:10:20 UTC ]
When PW began this series in September 2013, the book publishing industry appeared headed to a market where print and digital books would coexist. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is National Report a menace or a public good? Fake news publishers are taking advantage of how people read and share news. But National Report says its doing good work. The post Fake news site National Report: ‘We’re doing a public service’ appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster in the US and Amazon have signed a new multiyear deal which is a "return to a version of agency" and is also “economically advantageous for both Simon & Schuster and its authors”. An email from Carolyn Reidy (pictured), president and c.e.o. at Simon & Schuster, said... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mary Rasenberger, a lawyer and six-year Copyright Office and Library of Congress veteran, will take over as executive director of the Authors Guild on November 3. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As things stand, Hachette is making ebook discounts impossible, and almost everybody else stands to lose, writes Hugh HoweyNews: New Amazon terms amount to 'assisted suicide' for book industry, experts claimHow much should an ebook cost? And how should that money be split? These two questions... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Authors Guild released a statement in response to the Second Circuit's affirmation of Judge Harold Baer's October 2012 decision in the Authors Guild v. HathiTrust. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New research on subscription ebook models from BISG shows publishers are still reticent, while consumers who embrace the model continue to buy books. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Preliminary sales estimates from the Association of American Publishers StatShot program showed that sales of digital downloads of audiobooks rose about 18% in 2013, while sales of physical audio were about even with 2012, a trend that is in keeping with what has been happening with physical and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Authors Guild is offering legal assistance to any MacAdam Cage author who wishes to mount a legal challenge to the agreement giving control of their ebook rights to MP Publishing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In testimony delivered before a House subcommittee, AG counsel Jan Constantine recapped the AG’s long running copyright dispute with Google and offered one possible solution—a collective licensing agreement for digital presentation rights to out-of-print books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Last week, the US government finally relented on letting technology companies publish more detail about national security requests; today, some bigger firms are taking advantage of the looser rules. Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and Yahoo have updated ... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2014-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After eight years of litigation—three of which had all parties stumping together for an ill-fated, controversial settlement—Judge Denny Chin last week dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Authors Guild over Google’s mass scanning of library books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There is nothing wrong with Google scanning millions of book and making that text available as snippets in search results. This is the ruling made today by a judge in New York, bringing to an end an eight year legal battle between Google and The Authors Guild in conjunction with several specific... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2013-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The harmonisation of VAT across print and digital books could move a step closer this week with... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 2012, global ebook retailers descended on Brazil. This year, the big story is about education and the shift to digital books in schools. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Effective immediately, Midpoint Trade will distribute Knox Robinson's print and digital books in the U.S. and Canada. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Spotify did it for music. Netflix did it for movies. And now, Trip Adler and Scribd are doing it for books. The 29-year-old entrepreneur and his six-year-old San Francisco startup just unveiled an online subscription service that gives you unlimited access to a large library of digital books for... Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2013-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A German court has ruled that digital books cannot be resold by purchasers. The German District... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers breathed a sigh of relief last week as federal judge Richard Sullivan dealt a setback to any potential resale market for digital books. In a forceful ruling in Capitol Records v. ReDigi, Sullivan held that the doctrine of “first sale,” which allows consumers to redistribute lawfully... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild, are fighting Amazon's bid to own new global domain names including .book, .author, and .read. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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