Can a one-size-fits-all, low-price, consumer-dominated sales model support a diverse, innovative, challenging literary output?It is either an existential threat to intellectual freedom or a rustbelt media industry meeting its comeuppance at the hands of disruptive technology. The battle between the multibillion-dollar publisher Hachette (and now the Scandinavian publisher Bonnier) and the even more multibillion-dollar Amazon is usually discussed in high-minded tones, particularly by publishers and their authors. But at heart, it is merely another collision between producers and consumers that has a particular significance only if you ascribe a value to books as cultural artefacts. It is perfectly possible, instead of Hachette and Amazon, and the 900 writers who took out a two-page ad in the New York Times to protest, to substitute supermarkets, dairy farmers and the price of milk.Although books account for only 7% of the sales of the Everything store, Amazon sells a lot of them. In particular it has 60% of the ebook market. It believes a flat-rate sales price for new books and bestsellers delivers higher sales and bigger profits. Hachette disagrees. Amazon is forcing the issue by disadvantaging Hachette books (no buy button, no discounts and so on). Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#two-page ad
#ebook market
#buy button
The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into the way Amazon distributes ebooks and its relationship with publishers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#european commission
The trade has welcomed the European Commission’s investigation into Amazon’s ebook business, with publishers, agents and booksellers calling for a fairer digital marketplace for books. Richard Mollet, c.e.o of The Publishers Association, added: “For some time now we have been calling on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#european commission
#publishers association
#ebook business
#richard mollet
#competition authorities
Anne Roiphe, a major voice in feminist lit, reflects on her 50-year writing career as her 10th novel is published. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Amazon.com’s ebook distribution deals are coming under close scrutiny from the European Commission, which has begun a formal antitrust investigation into the company’s contracts with publishers.The probe will focus on clauses in Amazon’s contracts that require publishers to tell the company... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#european commission
#close scrutiny
#news release
#ebook sellers
The European Union's anti-antitrust crusade continues with an investigation into Amazon's ebook distribution deals. The post Amazon’s European Woes Continue With New EU Investigation appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#post amazon
#eu investigation
#european union
The move continues a trend of cracking down on the operations of major tech companies in Europe.In recent months, European regulators increasingly have been scrutinizing the practices of U.S. tech giants that dominate their respective industries, focusing their investigatory efforts on Amazon,... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#recent months
#tech giants
#respective industries
#european commission
#rival retailers
The European Commission announced that it has opened a formal investigation into some of the ebook practices of Amazon. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The European Commission open a formal antitrust investigation into Amazon's ebook business amid concern the online retailer stifles competition. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
US tech sector’s problems with Brussels deepen as competition chief focuses on allegedly restrictive contract clausesThe European commission has launched a competition inquiry into Amazon’s dominant market position in ebooks, as Brussels steps up its scrutiny of US tech groups. The EU’s... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#publishing houses
#online retailer
#rival retailers
Author Kamila Shamsie is “right to draw attention” to gender inequality in publishing, but her suggestion of a year in which only books by women are published has been greeted with mixed views by the trade. Writing in the latest issue of The Bookseller, Shamsie [pictured] said 2018 – the 100th... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#draw attention
#gender inequality
#latest issue
#100th anniversary
There's no question that Amazon is hurting independent bookstores. It's hard to compete with the convenience of quick shipping. If you live in the UK, though, a Chrome extension uses the online retailer's listings to give you a local option during th... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2015-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#online retailer
Entrepreneur Will Cookson has developed an app which sends people to independent bookshops when they browse on the Amazon website. Cookson, who describes himself as an entrepreneur and creative director, has invented Bookindy, an extension for the Google Chrome browser which, when downloaded,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon price
#indie bookshops
#independent bookshops
#creative director
#hive website
#local bookshop
SF grand dame Ursula K Le Guin, writes, 'Every book purchase made from Amazon is a vote for a culture without content and without contentment.' The post Ursula K. Le Guin Urges Amazon Book Buying Boycott appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#le guin
Read Forward, a Romanian startup which developed the first digital textbook in the Romanian market, launched its first international office in London. The post Romania’s Ebook Developer Read Forward Opens in London appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#london appeared
#post romania
Amazon UK has launched a subscription service for children that includes ebooks, educational apps, videos and games. The company has launched the service at the same time as revealing a new Amazon Fire Tablet aimed at children, priced £119 and upwards. The subscription service called Fire for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#subscription service
#amazon uk
#includes ebooks
#educational apps
#prime members
Type in a book you’d like to read, and the app will compare the Amazon price with nearby independent book shops – in the hope you’ll go and buy thereIndependent booksellers have launched a new weapon in their two-pronged offensive against online retailers such as Amazon and the supermarket... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon price
#online retailers
#supermarket chains
YA authors Aaron Hartzler, Ellen Hopkins, Patrick Ness, Lynn Weingarten, and Cammie McGovern came together on May 29 at BEA for a panel discussion titled Talking to Teens About Tough Topics, moderated by Margot Wood of Epic Reads. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#tough topics
#ellen hopkins
#patrick ness
Guardian Faber has signed a book looking back at the pictures of Observer photographer Jane Bown, who died last year. Jane Bown: A Lifetime of Looking, will collect more than 200 black and white and colour images from Bown's career, putting her portraits of people such as the Queen and Samuel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#guardian faber
#samuel beckett
Fantasy author accuses the online giant of using its market dominance ‘to control what we write and what we read’The grande dame of fantasy Ursula K Le Guin has weighed in forcefully to the debate about Amazon’s role in publishing. In a blogpost on the site Book View Cafe, entitled “Up the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#online retailer
#current market
Yale University Press will publish the Windham-Campbell Prizes's annual keynote addresses in a new series titled "Why I Write.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |