So, presumably everyone’s familiar with the agency pricing model for ebooks, right? Essentially, publishers set prices rather than the retailer (such as Amazon). This generally results in more realistic pricing for ebooks vs their print counterparts, and keeps open the possibility that some publishers and authors might actually make money on books.

But that’s no good for consumers, apparently. Media Bistro (among many, many others), points out that a law firm is representing two clients (and opening up for more) in a class-action lawsuit against five big publishers and Apple.

I could explain the details but you’re better off reading some of the media reports, along with the (obviously slanted) post about it on the Hagens Berman website.

Wow.

Discuss.

Earlier this month, Amazon announced a new addition to its list of imprints. AmazonEncore (exceptional books and emerging authors), AmazonCrossing (translations of foreign language books), and Thomas & Mercer (thrillers) will be joined by Montlake Romance, named after a central Seattle neighborhood. It will publish titles in all genres of romance including: romantic suspense and contemporary and historic romance novels, as well as fantasy and paranormal.

A few days later, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group USA, and Hachette Book Group broadcasted the launch of Bookish.com, a “one-stop shopping” site for information about books and authors. Carolyn Reidy, the president and chief executive of Simon & Schuster, said “We need to try to recreate the discovery of new books that currently happens in the physical environment, but which we don’t believe is currently happening online.”

Is anybody else a little confused about what’s going on in the book biz? How do you think publishers entering the retail space will influence book sales? Is Amazon publishing a good or bad thing for authors?

Just two news items that might be of interest. These are from earlier this month, but I’m sometimes slow when it comes to current affairs.

From Daily Finance: “Connecticut Attorney General Targets Amazon, Apple in E-Book Antitrust Probe.”

From The New York Times: “Biggest U.S. Book Chain Up for Sale”

So, both are signs of the evils of e-books? Or, this is just normal stuff that happens when the market (and the world) adjusts to new technology and market models? Questions, comments, concerns?

Tattered Cover is Denver's biggest independent bookstore.

It’s finals week around here, so I thought I’d stir things up a little bit by talking politics. Apparently some Americans don’t like taxes, namely Americans who run multimillion dollar businesses like Amazon. I don’t get it, but maybe that makes me a socialist, and we know how Americans feel about socialists. Anyhow, here’s the story: Amazon had an Associates program in Colorado until just a few days ago when they terminated it because Colorado passed a law stating that online retailers who sell into the state have to pay sales tax. A group called ProgressNow Colorado is calling for all its members to boycott Amazon for being a big bully. Read the whole article in Publishers Weekly, and tell me what you think. I have to admit, I buy books from Amazon all the time because they’re often the cheapest and I’m poor, but every time I hear something about Amazon it’s how they’re making decisions solely based on profit, and maybe that’s what they’re supposed to do. They are, in fact, a business, and businesses are supposed to make a profit. But at what cost? Maybe the real question isn’t whether or not we should boycott Amazon but can businesses be moral and still succeed? Moral. What the heck is moral? Well, giving back to the communities that support you is a start. As hokey as it sounds, that’s really all Colorado is asking them to do, right, to be fair to the citizens who purchase goods from them? I don’t have the answers, but since it seems like money is always the most effective form of power, then voting with our dollars may be the only way to create change, if change is even what we’re looking for.

On Friday, Amazon removed all Macmillan books from its site after what is believed to be a year-long dispute over ebook prices. Macmillan wants titles to be listed closer to $15 while Amazon wants to retain the $9.99 price–despite the fact that this is hurting publishers and writers. Sort of a strange move for a company that got its start in book sales, but it makes sense when you look at the many-headed monster that Amazon has become and realize that losing one publisher will hardly bring the company to its knees. Read more »

Like a Sony Reader, except made from a Wheaties box.

By now you’ve heard (over and over again) about Amazon’s new royalty structure, announced last week. If you haven’t heard, you’re probably not interested much in publishing, but read it anyway. And I know there’s been a lot of ebook/Kindle talk on here lately (Scott’s excellent post, etc.). But now that the world’s had a few days to digest the Amazon thing, let’s talk dirty. (Full disclosure: a family member works at Amazon and I have a Kindle; try something before you talk shit about it. I dare you.)
Read more »

According to the NYT, “More than half of the ‘best-selling’ e-books on the Kindle, Amazon.com’s e-reader, are available at no charge.”

There have been a number of times in the past when people have panicked over the unwashed hordes bashing against the ivory gates of literature. And apparently, the newest threat, the most insidious of them all is the advent of the e-reader. The Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader, the Barnes & Noble Nook, and the Apple Tablet are supposed to be the four horsemen of the literary apocalypse.

At a conference I attended, somebody actually stood up and shouted, “They are going to destroy publishing!”

These people are usually the same ones who piss and moan about the impending death of the written word, the same people who buy exotic paper made from an African river reed, and only write with a particular brand of fountain pen. They say nobody reads anymore, and maybe they’re right. But why aren’t we celebrating the e-reader? After all, it makes books more accessible. Maybe someone will accidentally preview the first few pages of Jack Kerouac, instead of Jane Anne Krentz, and who knows, actually enjoy it. Read more »