Bookshop.org founder Andy Hunter is the latest interviewee on the Open Book with David Steinberger podcast. Hunter reports that their recent initiative to add ebook sales to the retail site is, “Already performing three times what we expected when we launched—about 5% of our sales now, and I thought it would take a year for us to get to that point.” On overall sales through the site, Hunter says they are growing significantly: “This year we’re looking to do about $70 million, maybe $75 million.” That would be significantly ahead of sales of $44 million in 2024, which showed modest […]
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Scribd Will Move eBooks and Audiobooks To New App
Scribd announced that it will now separate its content across three products, with ebooks and audiobooks moving to a new app called Everand. Everand will also host magazines, podcasts, news articles, and sheet music. Meanwhile, Scribd.com and a new Scribd app will continue to host documents and other community-uploaded content, while they continue to operate SlideShare as a separate entity. Trip Adler, co-founder and CEO of Scribd, said in a release, “Over the last 16 years, we’ve offered a wide variety of content to everyone, but we recognized that readers either gravitated toward ebooks and audiobooks, or documents and research. […]
Amazon’s New Ebook Return Policy to Take Effect Shortly
Amazon’s new restrictions on ebook returns will be rolled out in the US by the end of the month, the Authors Guild reports. The policy, encouraged by the Guild and announced in September, will limit automatic returns on books where more than 10 percent has been read. This change to the policy was supposed to be implemented by the end of 2022, and a press release states that Amazon is “in the final stages of making these technical changes.”
Ingram to Shut Down Aerio
Aerio, the innovative platform that enabled anyone to sell books easily online and brought Ingram Content Group their first direct-to-consumer option when they acquired the company (founded as Aerbook) in 2015, will close as a freestanding service at the end of January 2023. The company told customers in a “service alert” sent by email on Tuesday. Our queries to a company representative were not answered. Aerio provided the technical foundation on which the better-known Bookshop.org was built. And the advisory note sent to Aerio customers suggests, “Another great selling solution is Bookshop.org!” Aerio storefront sites will shut down on January […]
Amazon Tightens Ebook Return Policy
In a win for authors and publishers, Amazon will adjust its ebook return policy to restrict returns on books that have been more than 10 percent read. The Author’s Guild and the UK Society of Authors advocated for the change with Amazon’s senior executive team. The AG writes that the new policy will take effect by the end of the year: “Any customer who wishes to return an ebook after reading more than 10 percent will need to send in a customer service request, which will be reviewed by a representative to ensure that the return request is genuine and […]
Amazon to Discontinue Kindle In China
Amazon announced today that it will stop supplying retailers in China with Kindle ereaders this week, and plans to shutter its ebookstore there in June 2023. In 2024, the Kindle App will be removed from stores and users will no longer be able to access digital books they have purchased. Chinese customers who purchased a Kindle device in 2022 have been offered a refund. Reuters reports that the company said it’s “adjusting the strategic focus of its operations” but that its other remaining businesses in China will continue. Amazon effectively closed its main eretailing business in China in 2019, and […]