07:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Once again, our weekly roundup of highlights from the past seven days of MobileRead:

E-Book General - News

• Smashwords Releases 2014 Indie E-book Sales Survey
• If you're flying to or from the UK, make sure your reader is charged!
• Amazon makes a direct offer to Hachette authors: 100% ebook royalties
• Nano-pixel discovery, screens of the future?

07:58 AM by HarryT in E-Book General | News

As from today, new security rules have been put in place at UK airports which will involve random checks on electronic devices in hand luggage. If your device won't turn on when you're asked to do so, it doesn't go on the flight. So make sure your reader, phone, or laptop is charged!

More details on the BBC News web site at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28223150

07:56 AM by owly in E-Book General | News

Heard about this on Swedish Radios Science news,

"A new discovery [at Oxford University]will make it possible to create pixels just a few hundred nanometres across that could pave the way for extremely high-resolution and low-energy thin, flexible displays for applications such as 'smart' glasses, synthetic retinas, and foldable screens."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0709140115.htm

07:49 AM by AnemicOak in E-Book General | News

Readers in the market for indie or self-published e-books favor longer works, priced between $2.99 and $3.99, and are attracted by free e-book promotions, according to data from the third annual 2014 Smashwords Survey. The annual survey is based on data from $25 million in sales generated by the indie/self-publishing e-book vendor.

While average lower e-book pricing continues to drive higher author earnings, Coker said this does not mean that "ultra low prices" are necessary. He noted that the "sweet spot" appears to be between $2.99 and $3.99 for bestselling titles. He emphasized that incremental increases in a title's sales ranking are "usually matched by an exponential increase in sales." He also said that, according to the data, indie e-books selling for $2.99/$3.99 earn as much for their authors as conventionally published e-books selling for $7.99 or more, but generate "triple the readership."

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...es-survey.html

The original Smashwords blog post can be found here...
http://blog.smashwords.com/2014/07/2...veals-new.html

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07:49 AM by Top100EbooksRank in E-Book General | News

https://gigaom.com/2014/07/08/amazon...e-full-letter/

The full letter

“Dear XX,

I wanted to ask your opinion about an idea we’ve had that would take authors out of the middle of the Hachette-Amazon dispute (actually it would be a big windfall for authors) and would motivate both Hachette and Amazon to work faster to resolve the situation.

Our first choice would be to resolve a dispute like this through discussion only. We tried that already. We reached out to Hachette for the first time to discuss terms at the beginning of January for our contract which terminated in March. We heard nothing from them for three full months. We extended the contract into April under existing terms. Still nothing. In fact we got no conversation at all from Hachette until we started reducing our on-hand print inventory and reducing the discounts we offer customers off their list prices. Even since then, weeks have gone by while we waited for them to get back to us. After our last proposal to them on June 5th, they waited a week to respond at all, promising a counteroffer the following week. We are still waiting a month later.

We agree that authors are caught in the middle while these negotiations drag on, and we’re particularly sensitive to the effect on debut and midlist authors. But Hachette’s unresponsiveness and unwillingness to talk until we took action put us in this position, and unless Hachette dramatically changes their negotiating tempo, this is going to take a really long time.

Here’s what we’re thinking of proposing to them:

• If Hachette agrees, for as long as this dispute lasts, Hachette authors would get 100% of the sales price of every Hachette e-book we sell. Both Amazon and Hachette would forego all revenue and profit from the sale of every e-book until an agreement is reached.

• Amazon would also return to normal levels of on-hand print inventory, return to normal pricing in all formats, and for books that haven’t gone on sale yet, reinstate pre-orders.

Here’s an example: if we sell a book at $9.99, the author would get the full $9.99, many multiples of what they would normally get. We can begin implementing this arrangement in 72 hours if Hachette agrees.

We haven’t sent this offer to Hachette yet — we’re sending this to a few authors and agents to get feedback first.

What do you think? Would this be helpful, especially for midlist and debut authors?

Can we talk on the phone later today or tomorrow once you’ve had a chance to digest?

Thanks and look forward to talking.”

Statements from Hachette and Amazon

Hachette:

“Amazon has just sent us a brief proposal. We invite Amazon to withdraw the sanctions they have unilaterally imposed, and we will continue to negotiate in good faith and with the hope of a swift conclusion. We believe that the best outcome for the writers we publish is a contract with Amazon that brings genuine marketing benefits and whose terms allow Hachette to continue to invest in writers, marketing, and innovation. We look forward to resolving this dispute soon and to the benefit of the writers who have trusted their books to us.”

Amazon:

“We call baloney. Hachette is part of a $10 billion global conglomerate. It wouldn’t be ‘suicide.* They can afford it. What they’re really making clear is that they absolutely want their authors caught in the middle of this negotiation because they believe it increases their leverage. All the while, they are stalling and refusing to negotiate, despite the pain caused to their authors. Our offer is sincere. They should take us up on it.”

*Hachette previously described Amazon’s proposal as “suicidal” in a statement to the Wall Street Journal; the story has since been updated and that reference removed.

07:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Another week, another steady stream of e-book goodness here on MobileRead. Our authentic roundup of what's been going on:

E-Book General - News

• Bertelsmann getting out of book retailing
• Amazon: Business As Usual?

E-Book General - Reading Recommendations

• July 2014 Book Club Vote

08:21 AM by AnemicOak in E-Book General | News

Yesterday the NYPL hosted a live discussion on Amazon and the future of publishing.

In April 2014, Amazon and Hachette locked horns in what has become a very public, and still ongoing, battle over contract negotiations. After the online retailer removed the pre-order option, imposed shipping delays, and slashed discounts on the book publisher's titles, the reaction against Amazon was swift and fierce. But the story of the Amazon-Hachette dispute is anything but simple, and raises critical questions about the future of the book publishing industry. What is really at stake for the companies, authors and readers? What larger issues of free-market capitalism and free speech are at play? And what does the Amazon-Hachette dispute reveal about the future of the publishing industry in the age of e-books?

Authors, agents, and publishers take to the LIVE from the NYPL stage to tackle these urgent questions in a conversation moderated by Tina Bennett, literary agent at WME. Guests include: best-selling author James Patterson; Morgan Entrekin, publisher and president of Grove Atlantic; Bob Kohn, attorney and founder of EMusic.com; Tim Wu, law professor and theorist of “net neutrality;” Danielle Allen, political theorist, author of a new book on the Declaration of Independence and elected chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board; and David Vandagriff, intellectual property lawyer.

I don't have time to watch it right now, but from the comments on the video stream page it looks like more of the usual stuff. Anyway, thought I'd pass along the link for anyone interested in it...

http://new.livestream.com/theNYPL/businessasusual

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08:17 AM by fjtorres in E-Book General | News

WSJ link:

http://online.wsj.com/news/article_e...MDAwMjEwNDIyWj

German media conglomerate Bertelsmann SE announced earlier this month it would close its bookselling business in its German-speaking markets, after years of declining sales.

The company's retail locations as well as the online store, branded under the "Der Club" label, will cease operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland by the end of 2015, spelling the end to almost all of Bertelsmann's remaining bookselling activities.

The first retail store opened in 1964 and they then expanded across Germany. Meanwhile, the book-club business grew across Europe and North America, offering book subscriptions at a discount by signing readers up for bulk purchases.

By 1992, there were more than 300 stores in Germany alone and more than seven million members enrolled in the Bertelsmann book club. Today, only 52 locations remain and sales have fallen sharply, down to less than €100 million, or roughly $136 million, from a peak of €700 million in the mid-1990s.

With the rise of the Internet, German book-buying habits have sharply changed over the past decade. Last year, some €1.6 billion of books—16.3% of all books sold—were sold via the Internet. About 70% of online and mail-ordered printed and digital books are sold via Amazon.com Inc., according to industry data.

All the german Amazon angst is over eleven percent market share?!!

Since the 1960s, Bertelsmann has diversified into other media channels, buying and then selling stakes in music ventures like Sony Music as well as other joint ventures like an ill-fated deal with AOL Inc. in the 1990s.

The company has also acquired assets such as the German magazine publisher Gruner & Jahr, German television stations under RTL Group, RTL.BT +0.37% and the U.S. book publisher Random House, all areas where the company continues to look for growth.

"Bertelsmann has come a long way from bookselling," said Bettina Deuscher, a media analyst at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg. "The bulk of its revenues today come from TV, publishing and business services.

More at the source...
(Might expire)