A year after the iPad–and the agency model–was launched, Random House is joining the other five largest trade publishers (whom we originally dubbed The Agency Five) and adopting that sales model for ebooks. They say in a statement: “Going forward, Random House will set consumer prices for the e-books we publish, and we will provide retailers with a commission for each sale.” The move by Random House to the new “industry standard” (for the large houses that have the leverage to use the agency model with Amazon) has been expected by those reading the quiet signals from the Random House […]