As I finished proofing the
September newsletter, eBook news stories started popping up in my
various email accounts . On Thursday it was announced that three
major publishers had settled price-fixing lawsuits with Maryland,
Ohio and Texas to the tune of $69 million. Later, attorneys generals
in Florida and California also announced settlements with Hachette
Book Group, Harper Collins Publishers LLC and Simon Schuster Inc.
Then on Friday,
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen announced that the
agreement was negotiated with 54 (?) state's attorney generals and
that Connecticut
eBook customers could share as much as $1.26 million of the
settlement. Apparently the $69 million was for everyone to share, not
just the three aforementioned states.
Finally, Boston.com
speculated
that the agreement may herald lower eBook pricing, perhaps by as
much as 30%.
That seemed to be quite a
game-changer in the wonderful world of eBooks, but then Amazon's east
coast publishing company, Amazon
Publishing New York adult trade announced that it will offer its
eBooks in other formats such as Kobo, Nook, and iPad through
retail outlets served by Ingram. Barnes and Noble has hasn't decided
if they will in fact carry these eBook titles in their stores. The
Amazon publishing arm on the west coast did not enter into this
agreement.
How much any of this is
related to the Department of Justice investigation and suit remains
to be seen, but with all this happening in just a two day time period
certainly makes it seem as if all the concerned parties were highly
incentivized to act quickly and decisively
I think that anyone who
thinks there's anything about eBooks that's carved in stone will
continue to be surprised and contradicted for quite some time.
P.S. And thanks to Abe
Books for this
interesting email this morning. I'm constantly amazed at how much
I don't know.
Google
(Non)Settlement Drags On
Google
and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) may be nearing an
agreement to settle (again) the lawsuit against Google Books over the
twenty million books Google has digitized (with four million posted
online thus far). Now Google has asked that the other suit
by the Author's Guild be dismissed because “authors don't own
copyrights”. Reaction
has been predictable.
Banned
Book Week
Celebrate
your freedom to read and enjoy the ALA
censorship videos Sept. 30 through Oct. 6.
Book
Buying Trends Changing Again
The
Book Industry Study Group (BISG) reports that eBook customers who
purchase eBooks exclusively has fallen from 70% to 60%. The study
also points out that the Kindle Fire is now more popular than the
iPad, but as more eReaders are sold, the market share for all Kindles
has fallen from 48% to 35% in the past year.
(As
of late August, the
Kindle Fire is no longer in stock, but a replacement is due to be
unveiled by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on September 6. Could this new
tablet be Amazon's much anticipated double-sided
reader with an LCD screen on one side and an e-ink screen on the
other?)
New
Words
Merriam
Webster has added ten new words to it's next dictionary edition. Here
they're presented with videos in a political context for our election
year.
Too
Quick To Press?
The
ease of self-publishing and the immediacy of social networking is
allowing good writers to go to press and publicize poorly
edited books. Counter to current advice and conventional wisdom,
social media is demonized as a “time-sink”, time that could
better be used polishing the manuscript.
Bodhi
Tree Bookstore
I've
been fortunate to have visited (and shopped) at some of the most
iconic bookstores in America, many of which have unfortunately
closed. While Bodhi Tree Bookstore in Hollywood, CA is shuttered
while looking for new owners, these
pictures remind us how bookstores looked before MBA retailers
created the cookie cutter bookstore.
Texas
Judge Cites Steinbeck
A
Texas judge
turned down an appeal to delay the death penalty for a Texas
convict with an IQ of 61 based on the judge's understanding of the
character “Lenny” in John Steinbeck's Of
Mice and Men.
30
Writing Tips
Beginning
with Hemingway's “There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit
down at a typewriter and bleed.”, at least a few of these 30
writing tips and observations by famous writers will remind
writers of their own frustrations and success.
Ten
Toughies
Back
in 2009, the millions.com website identified a number of English
language books
that were difficult to read. Now, ten
titles have been selected as the most difficult. Comments after
the article are Publishers Weekly snarky.
Kerouac's
On The Road Cover
A
1952 drawing by Jack Kerouac has surfaced and is believed to be a
proposed cover for his book On The Road
as he shopped it to a number of publishers.
Kobo
Offers Higher Commissions
Self
published books offered through the Kobo Writing Life platform
published this fall will enjoy an extra
ten percent commission (80% instead of 70%) through the end of
November. Writing Life was launched at June's BEA and is responsible
for a 700% increase in the sale of self published eBooks for Kobo.
Online
Book Marketing
Online
book marketing has become so technologically complicated I don't see
how a small press could utilize all the tips
in this article and still have time to edit, produce and
distribute any books.
Reading
Comfortably
A
silly look at the problem of finding a comfortable position in which
to read while in bed.
Final
Thought
Books
are delightful society. If you go into a room and find it full of
books - even without taking them from the shelves they seem to speak
to you, to bid you welcome. William
Ewart Gladstone
