A new route across the techno-terrain The news conjured from Fortress Rowling by our wizardly Bookseller editor Philip Jones is that “in the coming weeks” (nice hedge—you know how Web development goes), the Web site so powerful that it got Amazon to play quidditch is undergoing some deep change. If all is as Jones is being… Read More
With booksellers' pressure: DRM is now soft in Germany
‘An Ever-Widening Industry Consensus’ Today, most of Germany’s main publishing forces are, or soon will be, hard-DRM-free. This morning, we had the first reports from Buchreport: Random House Germany has joined the other leading publishers there, citing “an ever-widening industry consensus.” At The Bookseller, we have Anja Sieg’s report here. As of 1st October, Verlagsgruppe Random House has announced… Read More
Why That Ebook May Cost More Than The Hardcover
It’s Not Over ‘Til The Big Dog Barks Indie publishing is still growing and it seems that established publishing is at a standstill. Mike Shatzkin’s column of August 5 may be the one in which we someday remember hearing a new sermon, the beginning of the endgame. But Shatzkin is not delivering a benediction yet: This… Read More
Writing on the Ether | JaneFriedman.com
In a week of sometimes rancorous debate about the actions of the U.S. Department of Justice and the responses from sued publishers, an initially zany-disaster mode has darkened into a more serious tone. It’s a time when no one seems able to just be quiet. Read More
Writing on the Ether | JaneFriedman.com
“What other industries permit agency pricing? In what other sector do you find manufacturers setting the prices and retailers having to, essentially, like it or lump it at a certain percentage?” Read More
Writing on the Ether | JaneFriedman.com
A fifth of surveyed Americans have read an ebook, in a new study just out from Pew Internet; one publisher joins the discussion of authors and agents; Pottermore is off to a bustling start; and still we look for ways to make craft, creativity, and business work together. On the Ether. Read More