The European Union approved the merger of Random House and Penguin without conditions on Friday, saying it doesn’t pose a threat to competition. The U.S. approved the merger in February. Read more »
Penguin will make new ebooks available to libraries once again, after ending the practice in 2011. Prices will be comparable to retail, and the library will have to buy a new copy of the ebook after a year. Read more »
Longform journalism site Byliner has hired Jeff Gomez, who worked at Penguin, as its new head of writer marketing. Read more »
The EU will reportedly approve Random House and Penguin’s proposed merger without qualifications. The U.S. Department of Justice approved it in February. Read more »
Google is continuing its effort to punish sites that manipulate outside links in order to increase their search visibility. The move means websites should be careful that their SEO strategies doesn’t lead to a penalty. Read more »
Amazon won a court ruling last week that restrict Apple’s access to its executives and documents. Filings from the case also show that senior Amazon executives are poised to testify for the government in its price-fixing case against Apple. Read more »
Among the highlights from Pearson’s 2012 report: Financial Times digital subscriptions surpassed print for the first time, and ebooks accounted for 17 percent of Penguin’s global revenues. Read more »
The U.S. Department of Justice has approved the proposed merger between Random House and Penguin, though it remains under consideration by international antitrust authorities. 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 »
With the ebook pricing settlement recently approved, and the Department of Justice’s trial against Apple, Macmillan and Penguin set to begin next June, Apple has subpoenaed Amazon in a Washington State court. 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 »
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 »
In celebration of what would have been Roald Dahl’s 96th birthday, eight of his children’s books, including “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach,” are available as ebooks in the U.S. for the first time. (Still no digital “Matilda” or “BFG,” though.) Read more »
States want to give consumers $69 million worth of refunds to compensate them for overpriced ebooks. How much will you get? And how will this affect the publishing industry? Here’s a simple guide to what’s really going on. 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 »
This weekly feature examines certain ebooks’ paths to bestseller-dom, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: Flappers, chaperones and the power of the Kindle Daily Deal. Read more »
Book publisher Penguin is embracing self-publishing with its acquisition of Author Solutions for $116 million. The acquisition lets Penguin “gain skills in customer acquisition and data analytics that will be vital to our future,” said Penguin CEO John Makinson in a statement. Read more »
Women’s online writing network She Writes, which has about 20,000 members including well-known authors like Roxana Robinson and Francine Prose, is now a book publisher, too. The company has launched She Writes Press, which it calls a hybrid between self-publishing and traditional publishing models. Read more »
New court filings related to an alleged conspiracy between Apple and publishers over e-book prices show the matter may not be resolved until 2014. The filings underscore how the legal system moves at a much slower pace than the fast-evolving e-book market. 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 »
This week, the book industry gathered at the ugly, cavernous Javits Center in Manhattan for the largest book trade event in the United States. (“I feel like I’m in Costco,” actress-author Molly Ringwald told the AP.) Here are five digital lessons from the week. Read more »
Social reading and discoverability are not the same thing, but they have something in common: They’re the things everyone is talking about at BookExpo America this week but nobody has solved. 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 »
Penguin and Macmillan, the two publishers fighting the Department of Justice’s e-book price fixing lawsuit in court, have both filed responses to the DOJ suit. Macmillan’s response is shorter and more fiery; Penguin’s is longer, with more colorful details and explainers. Read more »
This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print. This week: The next “50 Shades of Grey”? 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 »
New York, the District of Columbia and fifteen other states have joined the e-book pricing class action suit against Apple, Macmillan and Penguin, for a total of 31. The amended complaint reveals details that were previously redacted, including an e-mail from Steve Jobs. 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 »
Canadian law firms are filing class-action suits against Apple and book publishers for allegedly colluding on e-book prices. Read more »
When the Ian Fleming estate gave up the digital rights to the James Bond backlist last month, Random House UK’s Vintage grabbed the English-language print and e-book rights everywhere outside the U.S. and Canada. Well, guess who’s getting those North American digital rights? Amazon. 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 »
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 »
