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 ]
Authors including Lee Child and John Grisham have been awarded $7.8m (£5.8m) in damages, after teaming up with Amazon and Penguin Random House to sue a number of pirate e-book sites at work in Ukraine. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-29 09:54:39 UTC ]
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A federal judge has issued a default judgment against a major overseas e-book piracy operation known as the KISS Library. In addition to a permanent injunction barring the service from operating, the court also awarded the plaintiffs the maximum amount of damages under the law, totaling some... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-12-29 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A federal judge won't hear the AAP's bid to stop Maryland's library e-book law until February, meaning the law will take effect on January 1. Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has until December 29 to sign New York's own library e-book law. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-12-21 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The Authors Guild has launched a National Letter Writing campaign, asking its 11,000 members and supporters to send emails and letters to school boards, lawmakers, and newspapers arguing that banning books harms students. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-12-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
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J R Ellis’ Murder at St Anne’s (Thomas & Mercer) has clocked in as the Bookstat e-book number one for the week ending 11th December, marking the author’s first number one in the chart. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-15 10:37:54 UTC ]
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The AAP filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to stop Maryland's library e-book law for taking effect January 1 and also disclosed that it was one of more than 20 organizations to sign a letter to New York governor Kathy Hochul urging her to veto a similar bill. Both pieces of legislation require... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-12-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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After questioning the Big Five publishers in September, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and U.S. Representative Anna Eshoo (D-California) this week expanded their ongoing inquiry into the library e-book market with questions for nine major library e-book distributors. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-11-19 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The Authors Guild likes what it sees in the federal antitrust suit aiming to block the $2 billion merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-11-05 22:15:11 UTC ]
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Google is honoring South Korea's law requiring support for third-party payments, but not quite in the way you might have expected. The Wall Street Journalreports Google will allow the use of alternative payment systems for Play Store apps in South Korea. Check out with a supporting app and... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2021-11-04 13:42:55 UTC ]
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In a lengthy opposition brief filed this week, lawyers for a potential consumer class portrayed their case as the second act of the Apple e-books case and insisted there is more than enough evidence for the case to proceed. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-11-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Claire Douglas' The Couple at No 9 (Penguin) notched up a second week in the Bookstat e-book number one spot, for the week ending 16th October. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-20 10:06:04 UTC ]
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Received wisdom may suggest that digital books are a lower-emission option than print, but the truth is far more complex—and must be scrutinised Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-15 08:39:13 UTC ]
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We’ll get into why Facebook saw its entire business fall off a cliff on Monday, but first: e-readers.It’s a device category we don’t see much development in — probably because it’s very much a device for reading text and not much else. Amazon’s Kindle, thanks to its powerful online e-book store,... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2021-10-06 11:15:08 UTC ]
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Educational publishers Macmillan Learning, Cengage Group, Elsevier, McGraw Hill and Pearson have obtained a preliminary injunction against 60 websites that sell illegal, unlicensed copies of e-books. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-28 14:17:26 UTC ]
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The lawmakers seek a wide range of information not only on the publishers’ digital library practices, but also on the economics of the market. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-09-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Richard Osman’s The Man Who Died Twice (Penguin) scored the Bookstat e-book number one for the week ending 18th September, doubling up on its overall print number one—and leapfrogging Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You (Faber) in both charts. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-23 03:15:19 UTC ]
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HarperNonFiction has launched an innovative marketing campaign for the early e-book release of Ben Mezrich’s The AntiSocial Network, which will allow readers to manipulate the title's price by micro trading in GameStop stock. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-13 00:36:07 UTC ]
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Graham Norton's Home Stretch (Coronet) has bounced into the Bookstat e-book number one for the week ending 14th August. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-20 07:22:30 UTC ]
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Reading devices with E-ink displays are an absolute must for hardcore readers. Can you read books using a traditional Android tablet or Apple iPad? Sure, but the screen can cause eyestrain. An E-ink reader, such as Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite, makes reading digital books much more enjoyable --... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2021-08-16 21:49:10 UTC ]
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Maryland's recently passed library e-book law will require any publisher offering to license "an electronic literary product" to consumers in the state to also offer to license the content to public libraries "on reasonable terms." The question now is: what are reasonable terms? Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-08-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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