At least some new pricing for ebooks started Monday, in advance of any indication from the courts whether an appeal might stay formal imposition of the settlement with the Department of Justice. As spokesperson Erin Crum told Publishers Lunch Monday afternoon, “HarperCollins has reached agreements with our e-retailers that are consistent with the final judgment.” One reason to initiate new contracts as soon as possible is to get the process over with; each publisher must wait two years after execution of new contracts, whenever that occurs, before being able to return to unimpeded agency. The results of those new agreements–including […]
Agency
Harper Starts Selling Discountable eBooks Under New Agreements–At Higher List Prices
At least some new pricing for ebooks is starting in advance of any indication from the court whether an appeal might stay formal imposition of the settlement with the Department of Justice. Spokesperson Erin Crum told Publishers Lunch Monday afternoon, “HarperCollins has reached agreements with our e-retailers that are consistent with the final judgment.” The results of those new agreements–including discounts on at least some ebooks–were reflected during the day on Harper ebooks, first noticed at Amazon and BooksOnBoard.com, which had emailed customers offering 24 percent off Harper ebooks this week as they “welcome[d] back discounts for HarperCollins ebook titles.” […]
Hurry Up, Wait, and What The…!? Life Under Agency Lite
With Judge Denise Cote approving the settlement between the Department of Justice and HBG, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster more swiftly than most people expected, the industry moves into the what-happens-next phase. The answer, depending upon your view, is either just complicated, or a big fat mess. The biggest immediate pressure is the need for the Settlers to have new contracts in place with Apple in as little as week. And the biggest wildcard is what, if anything, happens with appeals. Here is our guide (which we reserve the right to modify at any time). The Legal Parts: Another Delay? […]
Auletta Revisits Agency, With Mix of Interviews and Confusion
In this week’s New Yorker, Ken Auletta looks at the agency ebook cases. The piece draws on interviews with John Sargent and the leadership of Hachette Book Group, so now we know that when Sargent decided to go with the agency model at 4 in the morning on his exercise bike, Auletta tells us he was “pedalling furiously.” Lagardere Publishing chief executive Arnaud Nourry says, “I would have liked to convince DOJ we did not misbehave.” But “it’s a waste of time and a diversion for management. We’re a small company compared to the big guys, like Apple and Amazon.” […]
Judge Sets Hearing on DOJ Settlements for July 27 as Hachette and Harper Near Settlement With 50 States
At a status conference Wednesday afternoon in New York District Court, Judge Denise Cote heard from lawyers representing Apple, contesting publishers Penguin and Macmillan, and the three publishers – Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins — that settled with the Department of Justice and are working towards a similar outcome with as many as all 50 states. Hachette and Harper confirmed they signed a memorandum of understanding with 16 states and Puerto Rico, Bloomberg reported, and “they hope to have a settlement with all 50 states completed by June 11,” exactly 60 days from when both the DOJ and state […]
Smashwords Tells DOJ That Prices Have Dropped 25 Percent Under Agency
Smashwords founder Mark Coker has an extensive post on data he prepared for a phone call with the Department of Justice on Tuesday as part of the investigation of agency pricing. “My goal was to express why I think it’s critically important that the DoJ not take any actions to weaken or dismantle agency pricing for ebooks.” Smashwords also uses the agency model, driven to adopt it because one retailer alone “made it a practice to strictly enforce most-favored-nation pricing upon its authors and publishers”–Amazon. At first Smashwords used the “hybrid” model that many publishers were forced to deploy when […]