Hachette announced Wednesday that it will make all of its ebooks, including new titles, available to libraries nationwide. New ebooks will be priced at three times the cost of the print version, but a library only has to buy a copy once. Read more »
The long-delayed Bookish, a website backed by Hachette, Penguin and Simon & Schuster and designed to promote book discovery and sell books, launched Monday night and is designed to be a one-stop shop for readers looking for their next book. Read more »
What does next year have in store for the digital content business? Our media team offers some predictions, from cord cutting and apps to self publishing and paywalls. Read more at GigaOM »
Fans who preordered the ebook edition of J.K. Rowling’s new book, “The Casual Vacancy,” are in for a disappointment today: Due to a file formatting mishap, It’s basically unreadable on e-readers. Read more »
Why is the ebook edition of J.K. Rowling’s new novel, “The Casual Vacancy,” $17.99? Thank the fact that publisher Hachette is in a sweet spot between the ebook settlement’s approval and the time that it actually takes effect at non-Apple retailers. Read more »
Last December, the European Commission began investigating Apple and five book publishers for allegedly conspiring to set ebook prices. Now the EC, Apple and four of the publishers have reached a preliminary agreement that largely mirrors the terms of the ebook settlement in the U.S. Read more »
A judge has preliminarily approved the states’ $69 million ebook pricing settlement with publishers, but consumers won’t receive any payments until after a hearing is held in February 2013. Payments would range between $0.25 and $1.32 per ebook. Read more »
Starting in October, libraries will pay an average of 220 percent more for Hachette’s ebooks. Hachette still does not make new ebooks available to most libraries; all the books affected were published before April 2010. Random House increased prices for librairies earlier this year. Read more »
A surprise ruling last week will force publishers to tear up their e-book contracts with retailers. The ruling is scheduled to go into effect in the next few days and, if it does, Amazon and others will be allowed to slash the price of e-books. A prominent lawyer has filed a Hail Mary brief to stop the process. Read more »
State governments, which are suing publishers and Apple for fixing e-book prices, have finally said just how much each consumer will get in a proposed $69 million settlement. We have all the details. Read more »
Ebook buyers in 54 states and territories are set to receive $69 million in a settlement between the states and HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster. Those who bought agency-priced ebooks between April 2010 and May 2012 are eligible for payment if the settlement goes through. Read more »
The Department of Justice wants the court to accept its proposed ebook pricing settlement with Apple and book publishers, but presiding Judge Denise Cote is allowing more parties who oppose the settlement — the Authors Guild and attorney Bob Kohn — to weigh in as amici curiae. Read more »
In a filing late Wednesday in response to Apple and book publishers, the Department of Justice reiterates its claim that agency pricing and the alleged conspiracy have resulted in “unmistakable consumer harm,” but refuses to release its ebook pricing analysis. Read more »
Along with Apple, publishers Penguin and Macmillan and the Authors Guild submitted filings criticizing the DOJ’s proposed ebook settlement on Wednesday. They argue that the DOJ has not provided analysis of Amazon’s ebook pricing and say the settlement goes too far. Read more »
As a verdict on the DOJ’s proposed ebook pricing settlement with three publishers approaches, Apple has requested and received permission to file another response to the settlement. Apple has also requested a hearing on the settlement, which the DOJ opposes. Read more »
The Department of Justice’s trial against Apple, Penguin and Macmillan, who are accused of colluding to fix prices on e-books, will take place in a little under a year, on June 3, 2013, presiding U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ruled Friday. Read more »
Penguin, which removed ebooks from libraries and ended its relationship with distributor OverDrive in February, is tiptoeing back into the digital lending waters again. In a 1-year pilot program with OverDrive competitor 3M, Penguin will make ebooks available to the New York and Brooklyn Public Libraries. Read more »
In his letter to the Department of Justice on the proposed e-book settlement, American Booksellers Association president Oren Teicher calls Amazon a “classic free-rider” and argues that settling publishers shouldn’t have to drop agency pricing as a requirement of the settlement. Read more »
In a brief filed with the Department of Justice this morning, Barnes & Noble says the proposed e-book pricing settlement “represents an unprecedented effort” to become “a regulator of a nascent technology that it little understands.” In fact, B&N argues, e-book and hardcover prices have fallen. Read more »
German e-reading service txtr hopes to take on Amazon and Apple by becoming the biggest provider of third party reading apps — and a deal with four major American publishers and a New York office could be the latest steps in that journey. Read more »
As the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Apple and five big publishers for allegedly colluding to fix e-book prices moves forward, the public has the chance to respond. Here are some of the most interesting letters sent to the DOJ so far. Read more »
Hachette, which has not made e-books available to libraries since 2010, is reconsidering the idea. In a pilot program starting this spring, the publisher is working with two e-book distributors to bring a “selection of HBG’s recent bestselling e-books to 7 million library patrons.” Read more »
In a strongly worded opinion, US District Judge Denise Cote rejected requests by Apple and book publishers to throw out a class action suit that accuses them of price-fixing. Read more »
Publishers Hachette and Harper Collins slipped further away from the class action lawyer who wants them to pay over an alleged e-book price-fixing conspiracy. Read more »
Calls for big-six publishers to drop DRM have increased in recent weeks, coinciding with the DOJ price-fixing lawsuit. In the meantime, one publishing industry executive tried breaking the DRM on purchased e-books — and isn’t going back. Read more »
Canadian law firms are filing class-action suits against Apple and book publishers for allegedly colluding on e-book prices. Read more »
Last week, the Department of Justice sued Apple and five book publishers for allegedly colluding to set e-book prices. What does the suit mean for readers today and in coming weeks? Read more »
Nearly two days after the DOJ filed suit against Apple and publishers for allegedly colluding to fix e-book prices, Apple has released a short statement denying the accusations and criticizing Amazon’s “monopolistic grip.” Read more »
Our primer to today’s DOJ lawsuit against five publishers and Apple — how we got here and what comes next. Read more »
Apple and book publishers already have their hands full after the Justice Department sued them in New York today for allegedly fixing the price of e-books. Now, state governments are seeking their own pound of flesh. Read more »
Three publishers named in the DOJ’s lawsuit against agency pricing “reluctantly” agreed to settle. Meanwhile, Amazon’s smiling today. Read more »
Macmillan is ready to fight the Department of Justice lawsuit against Apple and five big publishers, CEO John Sargent writes in an open letter to the publishing community today. Read more »
The Justice Department has at last filed an anti-trust complaint in New York against Apple and five publishers over an alleged price fixing conspiracy. Read more »
The majority of U.S. public libraries now offer e-books, but libraries’ relationships with book publishers are fraught, says the American Library Association in its 2012 annual report. Read more »
DRM is just “a speedbump,” Hachette’s Maja Thomas said at a copyright conference this afternoon. However, opinion within Hachette is clearly… Read more »
J. K. Rowling is writing a new book, for adults, but she’s not keeping the digital rights for herself as she did with the Harry Potter books… Read more »
Random House is now the only big six publisher to allow unrestricted access to all of its e-books in libraries — and it said yesterday it w… Read more »
OverDrive released its lists of the most-downloaded e-books from libraries in December 2011. These lists look pretty different from the curr… Read more »
$9.99 is often treated as a magic price–the cost of a New York Times bestseller on Kindle back in the good old days, before big-six publish… Read more »
Science fiction/fantasy publisher Orbit, which is part of Hachette Book Group, is expanding its short fiction e-offerings from the U.S. to t… Read more »
