The Australian version of the iBookstore has gone from a display mechanism for public domain works to a genuine ebookstore five months after the iPad launched there. Macmillan Australia, Hachette Book Group Australia, Harper Australia, Wiley Australia, Hardie Grant and Murdoch Books all say their books are now on-sale in the store. Meanwhile, the Austrlian Publishers Association says they are fielding multiple complaints from other publishers who are frustrated about the process of engaging Apple in making deals. But Macmillan’s head of digital Victoria Nash says they only “received confirmation from Apple of the launch 10 days ago.” Separately, dominant […]
eNews
As In the US, Ian Fleming Novels Are Issued As eBooks Directly from the Estate
In the UK, Ian Fleming Publications is launching 14 backlist James Bond novels as ebooks, which they are publishing directly rather than with their print partners at Penguin UK. In this case, there was no dispute about the rights: the books were signed before electronic rights were contemplated. While it’s getting a lot of coverage in the UK media, IFP did the same thing in the US in 2008. here their ebooks are sold through Amazon and the Sony estore only. Managing director of Ian Fleming Publiciations Corinne Turner says, “We are not taking on the publishers, we are just […]
More on eBooks and Territory
Diesel eBookstore celebrates the restoration of the final agency model publisher to their store with a look at agency six months later. Writing that “the A5 performed an impressive near-checkmate on the eBook chessboard,” they look at the pros and cons of operating in a partial-agency world. Among the weak points–related to the two stories above–are limitations to selling agency ebooks exclusively in the US: “Without exception, all A5 publishers now offer their eBook titles in the US only. Needless to say, our foreign customers are very upset. We, here at Diesel, have been very vocal with our A5 publishing […]
eNews: HBG Joins Net Galley; RoyaltyShare Adds Price Monitor; Dzanc’s eBook Club; Scholastic Adds Nintendo Games
– Hachette Book Group is now working with Net Galley to distribute digital galleys and press kits. – Working with HBG in a different context, RoyaltyShare has added a “sales feed price validation” tool to their ebook sales and royalty tracking service. The new addition is particularly useful for agency publishers in order to determine “whether reported eBook transaction prices are accurate” and “allowing them to potentially recoup tens of thousands of dollars of revenue that might otherwise never be identified.” HBG coo Ken Michaels says in the announcement, “The ability to identify pricing anomalies on a transaction-by-transaction basis in […]
Two CEOs on Price, As the UK Encounters Deja Vu All Over Again
Within the last day two book publishing ceos have put up detailed posts on the costs and complexities of well-executed digital publishing. Sourcebooks ceo Dominique Raccah‘s essay presents information we’ve covered before based on her conference presentations of this material (including at last year’s BEA) but is well worth reading if you have not seen her presentations.Sourcebooks Thomas Nelson ceo Mike Hyatt‘s post “Why Do eBooks Cost So Much? (A Publisher’s Perspective) is interesting both for the points he makes as well as his engagement with his readers, since his blog is designed to elicit comments and he engages diligently […]
Callaway Launches Digital Content Studio with Financing Led by Kleiner, Perkins
With the release of the iPad earlier this year Nicholas Callaway announced he was creating a studio to develop apps and released an app based on his company’s Miss Spider character. That app captivated Apple ceo Steve Jobs enough that he connected venture capitalist John Doerr at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers with Callaway, who today officially announces $6 million in Series A financing led by Kleiner’s iFund. It’s the only second investment from this fund focused on the iOS platform. Founding board member of Google and founder of Sherpalo Ventures Ram Shriram and founder of Farmville-creator Zynga Mark Pincus […]