In their latest retroactive allocation of funds, Amazon has decided to give Kindle Unlimited participants a slightly larger pool of funds to share for October — $16.2 million (up from $15.9 million in September), with the per page payment rate jumping to $.005189 (up from $0.00497397). But at least some authors continue to have concerns about whether the software that tracks page reads is functioning correctly, as previously reported in October. Total pages read declined for the second month, to approximately 3.122 billion, down 2.3 percent from the 3.197 billion pages counted in September.indle
eNews
Barnes & Noble Officially Launches $50 Tablet
The inexpensive, small Nook tablet that we reported on at the end of October based on various leaks was officially announced by Barnes & Noble on Wednesday morning. The seven-inch Android tablet will indeed sell for $49.99, making the it “the company’s most affordable Nook ever,” and it will include full access to the Google Play store. BN says the devices will be available in stores as of November 25 (“Black Friday”). While the device gives BN a competitor to Amazon’s cheapest Fire tablet, at the same Amazon announced their own Black Friday deals over the week leading up to […]
Amazon Changes Third-Party Seller Rules
Amazon instituted new selling and shipping rules for third party media sellers that will increase the fees reaped by the etailer, and effectively end of the economic viability of selling so-called “penny books” on the site. As of March 1, 2017, the fees for selling media products, including books, will rise in two ways. The per item fee will increase to $1.80, up from $1.35 per item, and going forward “will be a fixed fee rate and not variable.” Additionally, the referral fee they charge will go from 15 percent of the item price to 15 percent of the total sales (including […]
EU Court Affirms Libraries’ Right to Lend Legal eBooks
The European Union’s Court of Justice issued a ruling on Thursday that declares EU rules about a public lending right to physical books through libraries apply to ebooks as well. The judgment imposes as a legal right what has become established business practice in the US for some time (albeit with a number of business model variations publisher by publisher): Libraries can lend legally published and purchased ebooks on a one-user-per-copy basis. EU rules require “fair compensation” to authors; what’s not clear to us from the ruling is whether those rules allow a separate practice from some publishers in the US […]
IDPF Members Approve Plan to Merge with W3C
Earlier this week, the members of the IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum) approved the plan to merge with the larger W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), by a vote of 72 to 10 (with 44 members not voting). The organization notes that, “The plan will now proceed, with anticipated completion of the combination by January, 2017 still subject to finalization of the necessary definitive agreements.” They add, “Much work remains to be done on drafting and executing final documents necessary to effect the planned combination, as well as undertaking other transition activities contingent on that completion. IDPF expects to share more […]
People, Etc.
Radhika Jones has joined the New York Times as editorial director, books, reporting to Pamela Paul. Previously Jones was at Time Magazine, the last three years as deputy managing editor. In her new role, Jones will oversee all review coverage in The Times, both from The Times’s staff critics, and in the pages of the NYTBR. She will also be working on features, news and overall digital strategy in conjunction with Paul, who said in the announcement: “I’ve admired Radhika Jones for years for her intelligence, literary acumen, keen news sensibility and entrepreneurial approach to journalism. She is not only […]