Following news that WME was advising clients to opt out of the Google Books settlement, the Authors Guild posted an advisory asserting “several errors that are likely to sow some confusion.” They write: “William Morris’s principal mistake is that it appears to think that the uses that the settlement permits Google to make are interminable. This leads the agency to draw a series of erroneous conclusions…. Most fundamentally, it leads the agency to conclude that authors are limited in their dealings with Google to the settlement’s terms, unless the court changes those terms. It’s wrong, on all counts.” The Guild […]
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On the Google Settlement: Washington Post (for), William Morris Endeavor (Against-ish)
On the Google Settlement: Washington Post (for), William Morris Endeavor (Against-ish)On Saturday the Washington Post weighed in with their long-awaited editorial on the Google Books Settlement. They like it on the whole (“settlement is in many ways better for consumers than the possible outcome of litigation”) though think the clause that blocks the Registry “from offering a better deal to any of the company’s competitors within its first 10 years” is curious and wish it weren’t there. But what does it say that the editorial board doesn’t understand the settlement correctly in the first place? They believe that the Registry […]
Digital Friday: Free Ebooks as Trend; Harvard Business Review on Amazon vs. B&N; and More
The AP reports on publishers going out of their way to offer free e-books from established authors’ backlist in order to tempt buyers on frontlist items, even as they are quick to label such moves as an opportunity to experiment with pricing issues still a thorny topic. The top three Kindle bestsellers in recent days are James Patterson’s THE ANGEL EXPERIMENT, Joseph Finder’s PARANOIA and Greg Keyes’ THE BRIAR KING – all free, all available a few years earlier. “I like the notion of introducing people to one book, while promoting the sales of another,” Patterson said, adding that “thousands […]
Sony's Newest Reader Offers Low Price–with No Wireless
Following the widespread leak of manuals and pictures of its two new readers, Sony moved up the official announcement. The main news is that, still with no wireless, they are hoping price will move the needle for them. Their Sony Reader Pocket, with a 5-inch screen, will sell for $199, while the Sony Reader Touch will have a 6-inch touchscreen and sell for $299. It has both a virtual keyboard and a separate stylus. Their other big idea is to match Amazon and Barnes & Noble on the price of selected books, also offering “new releases and NYT bestsellers” at […]
Library Groups Endorse Google Settlement; Ask DOJ to Join Court In Monitoring Implementation
The American Library Association (ALA), the Association of College and Research Libraries, and the Association of Research Libraries have reiterated their basic support for the proposed Google Books settlement, while also repeating concerns that the settlement live up to its promises in balancing market pricing and broad access when selling institutional subscriptions. (They note that “The likely demand among academic libraries for an institutional subscription is high.”) In a letter to the Department of Justice’s anti-trust division–following meetings with them as part of their investigation–the associations write “we believe that the Division itself should take a proactive role in the […]
Google's Clancy On How They See the Future
Expanding on the remarks we quoted from David Drummond at the NYPL earlier this week, Google Books engineering director Dan Clancy explained further at a session last night how they see the future of electronic books. In short: ebooks will be stored in the cloud, which means that cloud has to be managed by a large, trusted party; physical bookstores need to sell digital books; and you should be able to read your cloud-stored books through any device. “We’re trying to make what would be an open model that encourages competition.” For Clancy’s words: “I believe people want their books […]