Apple and four major ebook publishers have offered retailers such as Amazon.com the option to set their own prices for ebooks for the next two years in a bid to end an antitrust investigation in the European Union. The European Commission launched the investigation into allegations of cartel price-fixing by Harper Collins, Hachette Livre, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Macmillan and Apple last December. The publishers are accused of colluding with Apple to fix the price of ebooks, forcing up prices for consumers and attempting to squeeze rivals such as Amazon out of the market. The case hinges on so-called “agency pricing”, which allows more control by publishers over retail prices, in particular an unusual “most favored nation” (MFN) clause. Apple, Harper Collins, Hachette Livre, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan have all offered to terminate existing agency agreements and refrain from adopting price MFN clauses for five years. Penguin has not offered any commitments and an investigation into its conduct is ongoing. In addition, retailers would be free to set the retail price of ebooks, offering whatever discounts or promotions they wish, for a two-year period, so long as the total value of discounts does not exceed the total annual amount of commission that the retailer receives from the publisher, reported the E.U.’s Official Journal on Wednesday. This could mean lower prices for consumers thanks to increased competition. However the Commission is asking... Continue reading at 'PC World'
[ PC World | 2012-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, has made the prediction that self-published books will account for 50% of ebook sales by 2020. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A legal battle is being fought over the will of the late newspaper publisher, Deirdre Romanes, that could affect the future of the titles she loved. Romanes, who was chief executive of the Dunfermline Press group, died in 2010 with an estate estimated, according to HoldTheFrontPage, at £4.6m.In... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A snapshot of STM publishing in India, which represents 84% of the publishing industry's profits in the country, from this February's GLOBALOCAL conference. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple had no knowledge that publishers were engaged in a conspiracy in December 2009 or at any other point, the company said in its appeal against a district court ruling which found Apple and five major U.S. publishers had conspired to fix ebook prices.The district court’s findings show that... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2014-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple will continue to be watched by an antitrust monitor during its appeal of a court order creating the position, a court ruled.While a setback for Apple, which had asked for a stay of the appointment of an external compliance monitor in an ebooks price-fixing conspiracy case, the ruling by... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2014-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Open Road, the largest independent ebook publisher, has purchased E-Reads, which is the oldest. The deal, announced Monday, adds 1,200 titles to Open Road's catalog of more than 4,000 ebooks at a... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2014-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple Inc. faces as much as $840 million in state and consumer antitrust claims related to electronic-book deals with publishers as it continues to oppose a court-ordered monitor in a related U.S.... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2014-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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UK publishers are reporting strengthening international ebook sales across 2013, with good... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Romance author's fans succeed with social media drive to persuade Atria books into a paper version of free e-novella released late last yearAfter fans of the romance author Colleen Hoover bombarded her publisher with thousands of tweets and Facebook pleas, Atria has finally bowed to the pressure... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One might not be able to share an ebook, but it's possible to highlight and annotate them for all to see.There is a moment in The Confessions when Saint Augustine is astonished to find another scholar, Saint Ambrose, reading silently to himself. This quiet encounter 16 centuries ago might be... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple will be giving away digital gifts every day for 12 days after Christmas to users of an app released Tuesday. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Figures from world's biggest bookseller trumpeted as sign of how self-publishing and smaller labels are changing the industryAs many as a quarter of the top 100 Kindle books on Amazon.com are from indie publishers, according to data revealed at a trade presentation by the retailer.A chart... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookmate, a Russian ebook subscription service, wants to attract English language publishers to its platform to cater to developing markets. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The industry is supposedly embracing a digital future, but too scant attention is too often paid to the basics of organising ebooksThe bright hopes of digital publishing are gathered in London for the latest FutureBook conference and the future looks, well, familiar. As the new boss of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Germany, where fixed price laws demand a level playing field, Amazon's KDP gave its self-published authors an edge when it came to ebooks. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This summer a judge ruled that Apple arranged a conspiracy with major publishers to raise ebook prices. Now Apple faces a class action lawsuit from plaintiff states and a consumer class. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Closures were up 42% over the previous year, according to the Guardian. The companies that folded included the 26-year-old healthcare publisher Panos London and Evans Brothers.Ninety-eight British publishers closed their doors in the year ending August 2013. The cause? E-books and online discounts. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-11-05 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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A federal judge taps former federal prosecutor Michael Bromwich to keep an eye on Apple's antitrust compliance. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2013-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The San Diego Reader is mining gold from its rich archives and releasing the treasures as a collection of six eBooks, the first installment of a series that will showcase the literary quality and historic value of a collection spanning more than 40 y ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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