A bit buried in last week’s iPad 3 excitement was the news that Apple, along with five major American book publishers, was given notice by the Justice Department that it’s about to be sued for colluding to raise prices. A tech giant can afford to shrug off something as petty as an anti-trust lawsuit over books, but for HarperCollins, Penguin, MacMillan, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster (full disclosure: my publisher) the implications are potentially quite dire. Scott Turow, president of the Authors Guild, went further and argued that “everyone who cherishes a rich literary culture” should be alarmed by the DOJ’s actions. He’s wrong. If there’s a case against the government’s actions it’s that the forces of disruption buffeting traditional publishing are much too large to be blocked by any cartel. The good news is that literary culture should survive either way. Continue reading at 'Slate'
[ Slate | 2012-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
As part of its ongoing effort to raise writers’ income, the Authors Guild is sending an open letter to members of the Association of American Publishers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A coalition of authors groups and booksellers is urging the Supreme Court to reverse the verdict in Apple's ebook price-fixing case. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The tech giant that pioneered online bookselling is going old school. Amazon unveiled its first bricks-and-mortar bookstore, Amazon Books, in Seattle’s upscale University Village shopping mall. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google's book scanning project constitutes fair use under U.S. copyright law, an appeals court confirmed Friday, ending a ten-year legal fight by the Authors Guild and other writers' groups to have it stopped. Google began working with libraries in 2004 to digitize their book collections,... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2015-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An appeals court rejected the claims of the Authors Guild that Google's massive book scanning project is copyright infringement. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has rejected the Authors Guild's appeal and affirmed that Google’s library book scanning project is protected by fair use. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple’s ebook division will no longer be overseen by a court-appointed monitor after the US Justice Department ruled that the company had made improvements to its antitrust compliance program. Despite the positive outcome for Apple, the Justice Department was critical of the company’s... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2015-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A membership survey, contract initiative, and a dues hike are part of the organization's new program. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors Guild says median income for members has fallen 24% in five years, with piracy, Amazon and publishing economies contributing to slump in earningsThe earnings of more than half of American authors fell below the US federal poverty level last year, according to a survey from the Authors... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book publishing and literary culture is playing a increasingly important role in the Ukraine's defense of its independence. The post With War, Literature Grows Even More Important in Ukraine appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author protest group Authors United is asking authors to sign a letter to the US Justice Department, asking it "to examine Amazon's control of the book market." The letter has been drafted with the help of the Authors Guild. Meanwhile both the American Booksellers Association and the Association... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Citing a major uptick in Internet piracy, the Authors Guild has urged Congress to require ISPs to monitor and filter the Internet for pirated works. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Authors Guild is asking bestselling authors to push back against the industry's reigning 25% ebook royalty rate "on behalf of all authors, as well as themselves.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The tech giant is targeting YouTube's clients with a new ad revenue sharing program for video publishers.Facebook has just made another change to its burgeoning video advertising business. Effective today, Facebook is testing out sharing video ad revenue with video partners. The move is similar... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2015-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A federal appeals court Tuesday let stand a 2013 lower court ruling that concluded Apple conspired with several top book publishers to raise ebook prices. The Justice Department had accused Apple of unfairly taking control of a nascent market that had been dominated by Amazon.com. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Authors Guild has outlined some of the "egregious terms" of current contract boilerplates it plans to address in its Fair Contract Initiative, first announced May 28 during BookExpo America. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Authors Guild of America has launched a Fair Contract Initiative to “address the major inequities in many boilerplate contract terms today” and educate authors on what terms they can negotiate on. The initiative, announced on Friday (28th May) at BEA, aims to “restore balance to the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At this year's BookExpo America, the Authors Guild is rolling out its Fair Contract Initiative, a series of commentaries it will publish in the coming months that take a "fresh look at the standard book publishing contract." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Writers are contributing to the fall in their incomes by penning free pieces for large companies in the hope that it will raise their profile and lead to book sales, Roxana Robinson, president of The Authors Guild, has told The Bookseller. She also said that Amazon was devaluing books and writing. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As Apple works toward a relaunch of its Beats Music streaming service, it’s reportedly pushing labels to kill off the free version of Spotify.It’s a bold move by Apple if The Verge’s unnamed sources are accurate, coming less than two years after a judge found that the company colluded with... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2015-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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