UK e-book prices to rise from 1st January 2015

[thewitt]

Italy just changed the rules again, but it seems they at least are differentiating Digital Services, which will not have an ISBN, from eBooks, which will. Nice.

Lastly, as of January 1, 2015, Italy has put in place a new law. Applicable VAT for eBooks sold in Italy will depend on whether the book has an ISBN. All eBooks with an ISBN will have a 4% VAT rate and eBooks without an ISBN will have a 22% VAT rate. This is the rate that is added to your price on January 1st and is the rate deducted when an Italian customer purchases your book. If you obtain an ISBN after January 1st, the 4% VAT rate will then apply for future sales but we will not adjust your list price automatically.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by thewitt

Italy just changed the rules again, but it seems they at least are differentiating Digital Services, which will not have an ISBN, from eBooks, which will. Nice.

Lastly, as of January 1, 2015, Italy has put in place a new law. Applicable VAT for eBooks sold in Italy will depend on whether the book has an ISBN. All eBooks with an ISBN will have a 4% VAT rate and eBooks without an ISBN will have a 22% VAT rate. This is the rate that is added to your price on January 1st and is the rate deducted when an Italian customer purchases your book. If you obtain an ISBN after January 1st, the 4% VAT rate will then apply for future sales but we will not adjust your list price automatically.

Yes, and trad publishers automatically buy the ISBN for the mobi and epub and print (you have to buy separate ones for each). For indies this is an added expense that means you may have to buy a package deal of about 120 dollars worth of ISBNs in order to give each file format an ISBN. (For example, my print books have an ISBN, but my digital ones do not. I can purchase one for the digital, but need to purchase one for epub and one for mobi.)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by thewitt

Italy just changed the rules again, but it seems they at least are differentiating Digital Services, which will not have an ISBN, from eBooks, which will. Nice.

Lastly, as of January 1, 2015, Italy has put in place a new law. Applicable VAT for eBooks sold in Italy will depend on whether the book has an ISBN. All eBooks with an ISBN will have a 4% VAT rate and eBooks without an ISBN will have a 22% VAT rate. This is the rate that is added to your price on January 1st and is the rate deducted when an Italian customer purchases your book. If you obtain an ISBN after January 1st, the 4% VAT rate will then apply for future sales but we will not adjust your list price automatically.

This is interesting, and unless the rules change before they can get to it, Italy will also be taken to court by the EU.

But it is an clever and definite way to distinguish between ebooks and digital services.

[thewitt]

Sometimes a trip to the court is the only way to change a bad provision in a law.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by thewitt

Sometimes a trip to the court is the only way to change a bad provision in a law.

I'm not quite sure where you're going with this. The current law that ebooks should be charged the standard VAT rate as digital services is not under threat, and no court is going to overturn it.

The EU is currently suing France and Luxembourg for charging their reduced VAT rate on ebooks. Now that Italy is also charging their reduced VAT rate on (some) ebooks, I expect that the EU will sue them too - eventually. It took many months for the EU to sue France and Luxembourg, as the first step is for the Council of Europe to request them to comply with EU law voluntarily.

I hope that eventually the EU will change its law about digital services as it applies to ebooks, and allow ebooks (perhaps only those with an ISBN) to be charged at a country's reduced rate of VAT.

But if one was to characterise the pressure for this change, it would be the equivalent of civil disobedience (by governments!), not a court case. The courts cannot change these tax laws. Only the Council of Ministers and/or the EU Parliament. (I'm not sure which is actually responsible.)

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm not quite sure where you're going with this. The current law that ebooks should be charged the standard VAT rate as digital services is not under threat, and no court is going to overturn it.

The EU is currently suing France and Luxembourg for charging their reduced VAT rate on ebooks. Now that Italy is also charging their reduced VAT rate on (some) ebooks, I expect that the EU will sue them too - eventually. It took many months for the EU to sue France and Luxembourg, as the first step is for the Council of Europe to request them to comply with EU law voluntarily.

I hope that eventually the EU will change its law about digital services as it applies to ebooks, and allow ebooks (perhaps only those with an ISBN) to be charged at a country's reduced rate of VAT.

But if one was to characterise the pressure for this change, it would be the equivalent of civil disobedience (by governments!), not a court case. The courts cannot change these tax laws. Only the Council of Ministers and/or the EU Parliament. (I'm not sure which is actually responsible.)

Both have to agree after a proposal from the Commission.

And you were right the second time - the Council of Europe is a completely different organisation - see the history of who did what before the cases against France and Luxembourg went ahead.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Yes, and trad publishers automatically buy the ISBN for the mobi and epub and print (you have to buy separate ones for each). For indies this is an added expense that means you may have to buy a package deal of about 120 dollars worth of ISBNs in order to give each file format an ISBN. (For example, my print books have an ISBN, but my digital ones do not. I can purchase one for the digital, but need to purchase one for epub and one for mobi.)

Smashwords has a scheme whereby a ISBN (for epub) is thrown in (needed for Apple or Kobo).

https://www.smashwords.com/about/supportfaq

And IIRC many publishers don't bother getting an ISBN for mobi since Amazon don't require it.

If you are a Canadian citizen, you can get your ISBNs for free at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/c...i/index-e.html

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Smashwords has a scheme whereby a ISBN (for epub) is thrown in (needed for Apple or Kobo).

https://www.smashwords.com/about/supportfaq

And IIRC many publishers don't bother getting an ISBN for mobi since Amazon don't require it.

If you are a Canadian citizen, you can get your ISBNs for free at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/c...i/index-e.html

Thanks for this information. Yes, I know Smashwords supplies an ISBN (But that scheme means they are then listed as the publisher, not the distributor. I used to buy my ISBN through them for 10 dollars--and was still listed as the publisher). Createspace also sells IBSNs for 10 dollars but only for print.

The publishers buy bulk ISBNs and can assign them quickly to mobi. I think I have to buy 20 at a time in order to get the discount (I'll be checking).

Right now I don't sell enough in Italy to worry about it; however if other countries follow their lead, it might become worth it. Maybe. I sell most copies in the US, Canada, UK and Australia right now and most of my international sales are from Kobo, not Amazon.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by thewitt

Italy just changed the rules again, but it seems they at least are differentiating Digital Services, which will not have an ISBN, from eBooks, which will. Nice.

Lastly, as of January 1, 2015, Italy has put in place a new law. Applicable VAT for eBooks sold in Italy will depend on whether the book has an ISBN. All eBooks with an ISBN will have a 4% VAT rate and eBooks without an ISBN will have a 22% VAT rate. This is the rate that is added to your price on January 1st and is the rate deducted when an Italian customer purchases your book. If you obtain an ISBN after January 1st, the 4% VAT rate will then apply for future sales but we will not adjust your list price automatically.

I wonder how much it cost Bowker to... lobby... the authorities for that favor.

Most indies and small presses in the US skip ISBN since none of the ebookstores require them.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I wonder how much it cost Bowker to... lobby... the authorities for that favor.

Most indies and small presses in the US skip ISBN since none of the ebookstores require them.

And it was bowker's idea to "suggest" that all formats have a different ISBN. HMPH.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

And it was bowker's idea to "suggest" that all formats have a different ISBN. HMPH.

It's always been the case that different formats have different ISBNs. A hardback, trade paperback, and MMPB edition of a paper book would all have different ISBNs. A Kindle and ePub format should also have different ISBNs, because they are different items.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's always been the case that different formats have different ISBNs. A hardback, trade paperback, and MMPB edition of a paper book would all have different ISBNs. A Kindle and ePub format should also have different ISBNs, because they are different items.

There was quite a discussion a while back on some forums (publisher/agent type) about whether it was NECESSARY. Yes, I know it's always been the case, but when ebooks began to get popular, there was some resentment over bowker demanding a different one for epub versus mobi and so on.
One of the reasons that retailers often Don't require it is because it isn't necessary. One of the only reason Smashwords offers it is because Apple demanded an ISBN.

It's not a huge deal, but it's just one of those pushing paperwork things that yields very little benefit for the reader or author (not talking print here, which was originally used for ordering and cataloging).

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

[...]

Most indies and small presses in the US skip ISBN since none of the ebookstores require them.

Wrong. As I noted both Apple and Kobo require an ISBN, Amazon do not.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Wrong. As I noted both Apple and Kobo require an ISBN, Amazon do not.

Actually if you load directly to Kobo, they do not require the ISBN. If you do it through a distributor there is a requirement.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Actually if you load directly to Kobo, they do not require the ISBN. If you do it through a distributor there is a requirement.

Apple recommends them but do *not* require it.

http://www.apple.com/itunes/working-.../book-faq.html

ISBNs are a legacy of the pbook era that is redundant in the ebook world because any ebookstore (or book management system) can just read the metadata inside the file itself to distinguish between titles and editions, as any Calibre user can attest to. Even in the tradpub pundit world, the primacy of metadata is fully established by now.

http://www.idealog.com/blog/metadata...to-know-about/