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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Hachette Group company Octopus Publishing has acquired children's non-fiction publisher... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The "Harry Potter" series, which has conquered mediums from books to movies, is finally available in ebook format. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers have called on retailers to come up with creative new paperback promotions in stores... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two thirds of UK online publishers are planning to increase the number of digital roles "on the back of product growth expectations", the Association of Online Publishers reported today, compared to 55 per cent which saw growth in 2011. Acco ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bringing to the marketplace has always been a struggle for emerging writers, but the evolution of digital publishing formats is seeing a new wave of authors skipping the print medium entirely. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2012-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mobiles24 has removed all ebooks from its website after Hachette UK obtained a court order... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Best known for The Song of Bernadette (1941), which was turned into an Oscar-winning movie, Jewish writer Franz Werfel (1890–1945) was also the author of one of the most popular Book-of-the-Month Club titles ever, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh. First released in 1933, the work is a historical... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An advisory body to the French prime minister has predicted that ebooks are about to shake up... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bonnier-owned Autumn Publishing Group is to launch Smellessence, a division which will use new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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NEW YORK - Today’s MPA Digital: Swipe event brought the consumer magazine industry together to focus on what’s next in tablet editions. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Publishers Association is calling for the government to abolish the 20% VAT rate on ebooks... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new high-res iPad would, like so many things from Apple, seem a mixed bag for publishers. Its richer visuals raise concerns that consumers already frustrated by long download times for digital editions of magazines will have to suffer still more waiting. But some good news: Apple is... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2012-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Allen Lane will be publishing another title by Neil MacGregor, author of A History of the World... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers need to emerge from the shadow of Nielsen BookScan and use their own judgement while... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twenty years after it was founded by former Pantheon publisher Andre Schiffrin as a nonprofit publisher with a mission statement to publish “in the public interest,” the New Press is on something of a roll. The house has a new bestseller—Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow—spacious offices in... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martina Challis has been appointed the publisher at Weldon Owen, the Bonnier Publishing-owned... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One way to deal with change is to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Laura Hollingsworth knows. As president and publisher of the Des Moines Register and a group president for Gannett Co. Inc.'s U.S. Community Publishing Division, Hollingsw ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors Guild President Scott Turow charges in an open letter about ebook pricing: “Our government may be on the verge of killing real competition in order to save the appearance of competition.” Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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EU regulators have hinted that they are open to a deal with European publishers over the agency... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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(Bloomberg) - News Corp.'s HarperCollins and four other publishers probed by European Union need to address regulatory concerns before they can settle the antitrust case, the European Union's competition commissioner said. Joaquin Almunia, the antitrust chief, told reporters Monday that a... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2012-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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