Macmillan is the latest big publisher to announce an adjustment of their library ebook terms, this time in a letter from ceo John Sargent to authors and agents. Their policy has a twist to balance protecting sales with “ensur[ing] that the mission of libraries is supported”: Exactly one copy of every ebook will be available to each library system for purchase upon publication for $30, which is half the current library price, and that one copy will be available in perpetuity, for unlimited one-at-a-time lends. But any additional copies of their new-release titles will be windowed for 8 weeks after […]
Pricing
Pearson Will Phase Out Regular Print Textbooks to Push Students to Digital Versions
As the textbook market continues to shrink, industry leader Pearson is playing their final card in trying to get budget-savvy college students to fall in line, and as usual pretending it is corporate innovation. They are transitioning away from the printed textbook entirely, hoping to strangle the secondary market for used (and imported) textbooks once and for all. Pearson will no longer update their 1500 active US textbooks every three years with new editions. In 2020 they will update just 100 titles (versus the 500 titles updated in 2019). They say their textbooks will be “digital first” going forward, with […]
People: Onder to Lead HMH Children’s
Catherine Onder will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s as svp and publisher on February 6, based in New York. Onder fills the position vacated when Betsy Groban left HMH last summer. Most recently she was editorial director at Bloomsbury Children’s. HMH trade president Ellen Archer says in the announcement, “She has a wealth of experience and a tremendous track record in middle reader and young adult publishing. Working with our gifted editors, she will direct and grow both our front and backlist business to new levels of excellence.” Onder comments, “I’m proud to join HMH with its rich tradition of children’s publishing of the […]
And Then There Were Three: New Hachette Agency Pricing Trickles In
Hachette Book Group officially implemented their new ebook agency pricing on February 1, feeding new pricing data to retailers in that evening’s ONIX feed — and ever so slowly, you can start to see those changes showing up in the marketplace. On Amazon, the new Kindle pricing is most evident on some pre-orders — such as Jeffery Deaver’s SOLITUDE CREEK, with an ebook price of $14.99 and a print price of $28 — and some high-priced print titles. The ebooks with new pricing carry the telltale signifier, “this price was set by the publisher.” For some reason, retailers have not yet […]
New Agency Returns
Two of the large publishers that announced new multiyear sales agreements with Amazon late last year have resumed their latest version of agency ebook pricing. Simon & Schuster and Macmillan are both selling ebooks under their newest model of the agency model. (Remember that, given the current Federal Court injunction imposed on Apple, none of the original agency publishers can currently restrict Apple’s ability to discount ebooks — and even new agency sales agreements may allow other accounts a measure of price-matching when Apple discounts.) In keeping with prior practice, Amazon now lists most of the ebooks from those houses with the note, “This price […]
Amazon Lures More Exclusives with New Price Deals
Amazon has given authors who publish their ebooks exclusively through the site via KDP another potent merchandising weapon: the ability to offer timed price discounts. Called Kindle Countdown Deals, the new initiative lets authors and publishers create their own price promotions and promotes them via a highlighted Amazon page. Timed price deals can last from one hour up to seven days, and titles that already qualify for the 70 percent royalty rate retain that share even if the discount drops them below the standard $2.99 threshold. All it takes is giving Amazon an exclusive.