Apr 1 2010
First, if you haven’t noticed, Dear Author and Smart Bitches have a new joint venture called ToBeRead LLC. Our first feature is a review opportunity. It’s a way for authors to increase their visibility. I urge you to check out our Etsy store. Please don’t be afraid to contact us for a custom package. ****(…)
Mar 31 2010
Update: Wall Street Journal reports that Simon & Schuster and Harper Collins have struck deals with Amazon. Most books will be priced at $12.99 to $14.99 but bestsellers will be priced at $9.99. Just like Apple! Update x 2: Books that are sourced by Ingram may no longer be downloadable until new agreements are struck(…)
Mar 30 2010
I’m not certain why but retailers are discontinuing all ebook loyalty and reward programs. Fictionwise put up a link (but did not make a front page announcement) that Buywise program has been discontinued. The Fictionwise Buywise Club can no longer be renewed and new subscriptions are no longer available. All existing Buywise Club members may(…)
Mar 29 2010
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the official release of the April books. Most Avon and Random House books are released on the last Tuesday of every month. Kensington, Grand Central, and Harlequin have an official release date of the first of every month with Berkley/Jove/Signet/NAL books being released on the first Tuesday of every month.(…)
Mar 28 2010
Last December, Bob LiVolsi the owner of Books on Board exhorted publishers to fight Amazon’s $9.99 predatory pricing. He received a standing ovation because publishers and other independent bookstores knew it could not continue to match Amazon’s lowered pricing under the current scheme. Ebook retailing, like physical book retailing, operated under the wholesale model. Publishers(…)
Mar 25 2010
Apple’s iBookstore pricing has been revealed and guess what? The prices are $9.99 for all but two of the top 35 bestsellers. This is what publishers are fighting over? Under the agency model, the publisher sets the price and gets 70%. At 9.99, this means the publisher gets a little more than $6. Under the(…)
Mar 18 2010
In France, a business has taken a great dislike to the way it was portrayed in a recent crime novelist’s book and has sued the author for defamation. I know that the laws for defamation tend to favor the alleged defamed (business) than the alleged defamer (novelist) but this case does surprise me. For Walker,(…)
Mar 2 2010
Value, value, value. That seems to have become one of those buzzwords invoked in defense of corporate publishing's status quo. But what is value, exactly? Of the "agency model," Hatchette CEO David Young has said, "It allows Hachette to make pricing decisions that are rational and reflect the value of our authors' works." Harper Collins(…)
Mar 1 2010
Romance gossip I picked up in New York (unattributed to protect the innocent). The next hot thing appears to be the straight contemporary patterned after the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr. Several houses are trying to capitalize on this through marketing and repackaging. Mariah Stewart of Ballantine and Toni Blake from Avon are examples(…)
Feb 11 2010
Is it Thursday already? I feel like I haven’t had any traction this week. For those publishers who believe Apple is their savior, they may want to take a look at this news report. Apple is driving down the prices of iTunes TV episodes to $1 per show. I think this is great and I(…)
Feb 9 2010
File this under “where have I been” but apparently Paramount is engaged in some egregious whitewashing in the Airbender movie. Aspiring author, Ellen Oh, writes about how whitewashing is racist. There is a site devoted to the Airbender casting fiasco (all the heroes are white and the bad guy and secondary characters are ethnic characters).(…)
Feb 7 2010
Back in December of 2008, I wrote about the ebook tax or the surcharge that Macmillan and other publishers were placing on ebooks by charging more for the digital version of the print book. At the time I said this: The more that I look at ebook pricing and the way that NY runs their(…)
Feb 5 2010
Some of you might have noticed, on the top of the Samhain website page there is information and a link for the poll about the Sammie Awards this year. PGo vote for your favorite Samhain titles in 2009. Macmillan ratchets it up the debate by putting a full page ad in the NYTimes for Atul(…)
Feb 4 2010
There is a superlative article at Publisher’s Marketplace about the windowing, agency model, pricing, and the future of digital books. Most of the comments are made by Madeline McIntosh by Random House. She talks in a very thoughtful and meaningful way about the challenges publishers are facing today and how quickly the landscape is changing.(…)
Feb 1 2010
Here’s a recap if you don’t know what is going on. Macmillan’s contract with Amazon was up. Macmillan decided that it wanted one of two things: 1. Old pricing scheme in which it would sell to Amazon at list and Amazon would decide at what price point to resell to consumers but Macmillan would engage(…)
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