Jonathan Band’s “Guide for the Perplexed” has served as a handy overview of the Google Books Settlement and now he has provided a fresh overview focusing on the newly revised agreement. A portion focuses on library-specific issues (as before), but general readers will also find it useful.Click here to view in your browser
eNews
Little, Brown Tries eOnly Title
The publisher is updating their backlist title THE VACCINE BOOK by Dr. Robert Sears in ebook form only, adding a 2,000-word chapter all about H1N1. The new version publishes electronically December 1, priced at $13.99. Sears says he writes on “everything parents need to know about this year’s H1N1 and seasonal flu diseases and vaccines so that worried parents can educate themselves without being confused by all the media hype.”
Smashwords Will Distribute to Kindle Store, Too
Following recent distribution arrangements with Barnes & Noble.com and Shortcovers, Smashwords has now added an agreement with Amazon’s Kindle store, with titles expected to appear there “sometime in December.” Smashwords says that their self-published authors and small publishers will receive 42.5 percent of the creator-set digital list price for Amazon sales, “higher than what many ebook authors can receive on their own if they publish direct with Amazon.”Release
Amazon Files Motion to Irritate Judge Chin
Amazon asked Judge Denny Chin to reverse his recent preliminary approval of the amended Google Books Settlement. They object–again–to a provision that remains the same from the original settlement, in which Google is released from future as well as current liability, which Amazon says makes the settlement unacceptable on its face. So they are really telling the judge that he has already been wrong twice. And they also ask that, even if the judge disagrees with their motion, that he reverse himself and allow a gigantic wave of repeated and expanded objections rather than limiting new filings to objections to […]
Court Sets February 18 Google Books Hearing; Grants Preliminary Approval and New Opt-Out
Judge Denny Chin has reviewed the revised Google Books Settlement proposal and found it to be “within the range of possible approval” and set a February 18 hearing date. The court granted preliminary approval of the amended agreement (a procedural formality rather than a judgment) and recertified the revised settlement classes for settlement purposes only and accepted the expanded author and publisher plaintiffs. Chin has approved a new round of notice beginning December 14 to anyone who registered at the settlement website, opted out, or filed papers with the court, and the new deadline for opt outs and objections is […]
eReaders: Demanding Supply Issues
As previously reported, early demand for Barnes & Noble’s has soaked up most of the projected available supply prior to Christmas. Now Sony is looking to pick up some of that same glow, saying people who asked “to be notified” when the wireless Daily Edition became available “exceeded our expectations over the last few months and we expect high demand now that it’s available.” But that just papers over the fact that Sony has mostly blown the holiday season by not having any units ready to ship until December 18.Reuters For more e-reading material, Mike Shatzkin considers some “changes in […]