Jeff Sonderman
Apr. 30, 2012
11:23 am
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Steve Myers
Apr. 11, 2012
12:29 pm
Bloomberg |
Wall Street Journal
The Justice Department alleges in an antitrust lawsuit that publishers colluded with each other and with Apple to fix the prices of e-books,
reports Bloomberg's Bob Van Voris. Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins have settled their suits. "Those three publishers agreed to terminate their agreements with Apple regarding e-books and refrain from limiting any retailer's ability to set e-book prices for two years," reports The Wall Street Journal. But Apple, Penguin and Macmillan are prepared to fight the allegations, Van Voris says. "They will argue that pricing agreements between Apple and publishers enhanced competition in the e-book industry, which was dominated by
Amazon.com Inc." The lawsuit stems from the industry's switch from a wholesale model, in which retailers could set prices for e-books (and undercut each other), to an "agency model," in which publishers set the prices that retailers could charge.
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Jeff Sonderman
Apr. 9, 2012
11:54 am
Pew Internet
More than half of Americans who regularly read news get it on handheld digital devices, according to new research. The Pew Internet & American Life Project found 54 percent of news-reading adults turn to cell phones, tablets or e-readers (
question 23). There's good news for writers: "41% of tablet owners and 35% of e-reader owners
said they were reading more since the advent of e-content."
The main focus of the Pew survey was on e-books and how Americans are embracing them. A few interesting facts:
(more...)
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Jeff Sonderman
Mar. 8, 2012
11:27 am
The Wall Street Journal | Chicago Reader | Mother Jones
The Justice Department has threatened an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five major book publishers for colluding to raise e-book prices, the Journal reports. At issue was the decision by booksellers, led by Apple, to let book publishers set a single retail price for their e-books. Previously, sellers such as Amazon had offered discount prices to compete for customers.
In other e-books news, Steve Bogira at Chicago Reader agrees with Dwight Garner's
praise of Kindle Singles, but adds, "
I'm not crazy about the 'long-form' label.
Long-form doesn't bring to mind much that's positive. Would you rather file the long-form 1040, or the short-form 1040EZ?"
Meanwhile, Kevin Drum at Mother Jones takes a closer look at
Matter, a crowdfunded startup that will produce a weekly long-form journalism piece for 99 cents. "
Their delivery mechanism is beside the point... Basically, if they're able to consistently produce spectacular pieces of journalism that generate a lot of online buzz, they'll succeed. If they can't, they won't."
Earlier: Direct publishing of e-books offers hope for long-form journalists (Poynter)
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Jeff Sonderman
Jan. 19, 2012
12:05 pm
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Jeff Sonderman
Jan. 5, 2012
12:52 pm
Barnes & Noble is exploring whether to spin off or sell its Nook e-book and e-reader business line, according to paidContent and others.
What would that mean? It would separate the fast-growing Nook business (up about 70 percent annually and … Read more
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Jeff Sonderman
Jan. 3, 2012
9:40 am
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Jeff Sonderman
Dec. 23, 2011
8:27 am
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Jeff Sonderman
Nov. 18, 2011
10:37 am
Mark 2011 as the year news organizations discovered e-books.
Sure, Time Magazine tried one back in 2010, but this year at least 10 other newspapers, magazines or news websites have published at least 17 electronic-only books seeking bigger audiences and
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Jeff Sonderman
Nov. 7, 2011
12:32 pm
Barnes & Noble unveiled a new lineup of e-readers today, including a low-cost, color tablet that will compete with Amazon’s Kindle Fire and may tempt lightweight users away from the pricier, full-featured Apple iPad.
For publishers, the continued trend of … Read more
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