Maybe Australia is catching up ? :p

[kennyc]

The future of books is a real page-turner
Barry Jones
December 13, 2010

Rapid developments ... devices such as the iPad are helping to increase the popularity of ebooks.

The government is seeking the public's help over whether paper books will eventually be superseded by electronic versions, writes Barry Jones. ....


http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/i...212-18u27.html

[sabredog]

Well after a period of glacial slowness, Australia might be getting closer to the rest of the world, but I fear it will simply be a short period of activity before the usual pace resumes.

Still, moving forward is a good thing.

We currently have recalcitrant retail giants clamouring the Federal government to tax online purchases so to protect their own businesses. Never mind that prices are often three times as high for a locally purchased item, if it is indeed available.

This sort of protectionism, high costs and "why us?" whining has affected the ebook roll-out here for some time.

Looks like the government has decided that their latest committee needs to actually do something. Since it was announced (was it a year ago?) there has been pretty much nothing heard from them.

[Pushka]

Murdoch loves print books and Murdoch controls Australia. One thing our current Government loves, is a Committee. Probably just as well, when they actually do something, they stuff it up.

Gerry Harvey's (one of Australia's largest retailers) response to overseas purchasing is to slam a tax on people who do it. Has anyone ever before heard a retailer tell the Government to tax people more?

[jtrappett]

I'm not sure why the government needs to be involved though... it doesn't seem to be any of their business.

[sabredog]

Parallel importing laws will need to be changed.

http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/books

http://www.alia.org.au/advocacy/copy....answered.html

I am not sure how the current study committee relates this all to ebooks but if it rids us of most of geo restrictions, then it should be a positive move forward.

[jehane]

I am more pessimistic. Given the result of the parallel imports inquiry, I would be inclined to think that it could go the other way. If anything, I can see the local publishing industry screaming for even more restrictions - I don't want to give them any ideas, but I wouldn't put it past them to suggest that ebooks available in Australia should not cost any less than the RRP of the Australian published pbook. That would definitely see me go to the dark side.

jtrappett, the govt is involved because of parallel import laws, taxes, and international free trade and copyright.

re: Harvey Norman, do they honestly think that it has anything to do with GST? When prices in Australia are regularly 2-3 times (ie 200-300%) higher than elsewhere, why do they think 10% would make any difference?

Anyway, thanks kenny for the article and link. I will start writing a submission to them. A good friend of mine (non-reader, sadly) works in that department so I might drop her a line, although I don't think she is in that section.

[neilmarr]

When Australia opened up to Europeans, it became a penal colony. From what I've read recently, in many ways, it still is. Neil

[Pushka]

Not here in South Australia. We were settled as a free state. 

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

When Australia opened up to Europeans, it became a penal colony. From what I've read recently, in many ways, it still is. Neil

Not my family. My ancestor came out here as a free settler in 1838.

[Kali Yuga]

The article sounds more like a general call for "ideas," as opposed to a specific government agenda or action plan.

As to geo restrictions, it's based less on government importation policies and more on the author's contracts. From what I understand, authors rarely grant one company all international ebook rights -- nor is doing so necessarily in their best interests.

E.g. an American publisher probably doesn't know the first thing about the AU or UK markets. The US publisher may also be unwilling to translate the book into multiple languages, especially since it won't know how to market the book abroad -- or even have a clue where, or if, the title is a good fit. (A book that's a hit in France is not guaranteed to be a hit in Spain or Germany.)

Retailers will also still need to be set up properly to do business in Australia. I'm not sure of the specifics, but presumably they need to pay some type of sales taxes, perhaps VAT, probably corporate taxes, and so forth.

There isn't much the AU government can do about all this, except clear some hurdles for those foreign publishers and retailers who do want to sell ebooks directly to the Australian public.

[jehane]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

There isn't much the AU government can do about all this, except clear some hurdles for those foreign publishers and retailers who do want to sell ebooks directly to the Australian public.

Except...*do* they want to clear some hurdles for foreign companies, or do they want to put more up? The publishing lobby proved to be quite powerful just in the last year or so, managing to block any changes to parallel import laws despite multiple reviews over several years concluding that they should be opened up, and despite the evidence of the music industry in Australian and the publishing industry in New Zealand.

I would encourage all Australians to put in a submission to the review to encourage more open and accessible ebooks from around the world.

[Pushka]

The Australian Government are the ones who are holding things up.

[Blue Tyson]

Catching up? Not likely.

[neilmarr]

On the treebook (as opposed to ebook) front, I've been arguing the toss over the weekend with an Australian author who says we have priced her book too cheaply at just over $10 Aus.

Our profit margins are tight but we casrefully price to be sure that our paperbacks are covered by prices that compete well in the international market place. The problem is (and the author gave me comparitive prices to back this up) that book prices seem artificially inflated in Australia and that, by comparison, our cover prices are so low as to suggest a second-rate product (they're anything but second-rate).

So what do we do? Up-price Down Under merely to bolster what we consider unjustified local market pricing or stick to our guns and play from a square bat?

I know what I'd prefer to do ... and it doesn't involve increasing Oz prices over the cost of a title priced fairly in the rest of the world.

I'm still waiting to see what Australian and New Zealand online stores decide to do with our regular $5.95 ebook cover price on all 150 titles in our current catalogue. All store contracts mean the recommended retail price cannot be discounted, but anyone can increase that price. Of course, publisher/author return is based on RRP and not on any in-shop loading.

Best. Neil

[jehane]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

On the treebook (as opposed to ebook) front, I've been arguing the toss over the weekend with an Australian author who says we have priced her book too cheaply at just over $10 Aus.

Our profit margins are tight but we casrefully price to be sure that our paperbacks are covered by prices that compete well in the international market place. The problem is (and the author gave me comparitive prices to back this up) that book prices seem artificially inflated in Australia and that, by comparison, our cover prices are so low as to suggest a second-rate product (they're anything but second-rate).

So what do we do? Up-price Down Under merely to bolster what we consider unjustified local market pricing or stick to our guns and play from a square bat?

Hi Neil

Unfortunately I haven't got an easy answer for you. But your author is correct, $10 would be cheap even for a mmpb - the ones I have bought are usually between $14-20, or more on occasion. Tpbs are usually around $25, but can be as much as $30 or even more. HCs are typically around $45. The prices typical in the US are what we'd pay for a good condition used book.

This is why one of my perennial rants is regarding the parallel imports laws and why this review worries me.

Hope you find a decent middle ground.