In other Amazon ebook news, class action law firm KamberEdelson sees an opportunity to sue Amazon over the recent removal of unauthorized George Orwell books from Kindle users’ libraries. Partner Jay Edelson “says he intends to argue that the recall infringes on consumers’ property rights. He will also argue that Amazon’s ability to delete books makes the Kindle less valuable to consumers, who believed they were purchasing a device that would allow them to store books forever. Edelson says he intends to seek to represent all Kindle owners in the case against Amazon.” The firm co-represents the plaintiff class in […]
Archives for July 2009
House Judiciary May Call GBS Settlement Hearings; EU to Discuss in September
The WSJ cites source who says the House Judiciary Committee “has been moving toward scheduling a hearing” on the proposed settlement of the Google Book Search lawsuits, though a representative for committee chairperson Re. John Conyers “said he wasn’t aware of a hearing being scheduled” and explained that “just because a committee was making inquiries about a topic, it didn’t mean they would necessarily hold a hearing.” Google spokesperson Gabriel Stricker says they have “been in touch with members of Congress and understand that there’s interest in having a hearing to explore the settlement.”WSJ Separately, the European Commission has agreed […]
Bookselling: Borders Focuses More Store Space On Teens with "Borders Ink"
Borders has created expanded sections within some Michigan superstores focused on teen shoppers, providing graphic novels, fantasy and young-adult books together along with non-book merchandise focused on teens, and expects to roll-out the concept throughout nearly all of their superstores nationwide in August. The new sections take advantage of space previously used to sell music and dvds.WSJ
People: BN Updates, and More
Two updates to last Friday’s story on changes at Barnes & Noble. Supply chain vp Bob Knowles reports to Jaime Carey, not Joe Gonnella. And to be clear, Barnes & Noble vp, book development Bruce Lubin is leaving on his own accord to work full-time with with his wife on their proprietary publishing company Castle Point Publishing, developing products for the home shopping network. Elsewhere, at Simon & Schuster Children’s, Natalie White has been promoted to director of advertising. At Melville House, Megan Halpern has joined the publisher as publicist, replacing Clara Heyworth, who has left the company. Halpern was […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, July 20
Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut Taylor Stevens’s THE INFORMATIONIST and a second thriller featuring a privately […]
What We Talk About When We Talk About Amazon
Last week was a bizarre one in the annals of Amazon-dominated news, closing with Friday’s Orwellian removal of unauthorized editions of two books by the actual George Orwell from a small number of Kindle owners’ libraries. Among the things I find interesting about the story: * Internet outrage began with an incorrect blog post on the NYT’s site from columnist David Pogue who shot first without asking: “Apparently the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic edition, and apparently Amazon, whose business lives and dies by publisher happiness, caved,” Pogue wrote. Bear in mind that Pogue has makes a […]