01:36 AM by WT Sharpe in Reading Recommendations | Book Clubs

The time has come to discuss the June 2015 MobileRead Book Club selection, American Gods by Neil Gaiman. What did you think?

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Ok kids, time for the weekly roundup of what we've covered this week:

E-Book General - News

• Authors United, allies, demand government intervention
• Books a million to go private

06:05 AM by fjtorres in E-Book General | News

The majority stockholders are buying everybody else out.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/#pat...a-million.html

Not a terribly big deal (only $21M) but they are the second largest B&M chain still standing in the US.

11:02 AM by fjtorres in E-Book General | News

From the Digital Reader Blog:
http://the-digital-reader.com/2015/0...tigate-amazon/

Lead by Authors United spokesperson David Streitfeld, multiple groups in the book industry have simultaneously decided today to send letters to the US Department of Justice, asking that the Doj investigate Amazon for being a big meanie.

Just about every group is involved. Streitfeld has posted a piece in the NYTimes on behalf of Authors United. The American Bookseller Association has sent a letter, and so has Authors United (you can find both letters on the ABA website).

Yes, Authors United has finally followed through on the promise they made last November to pursue their vengeance against Amazon to the ends of the earth. According to the ABA, Authors United is joined in their effort by the Association of Authors’ Representatives, which has sent a letter. And finally The Authors Guild has added their voice to the chorus (PDF).

Where is the Association of American Publishers? Its biggest members hate Amazon as much as anyone, and yet I don't have any news of the AAP sending a letter to the DoJ (I'm waiting for a response to my query). Why hasn't the AAP joined the party?

Update: My contact at the AAP was unable to respond to my query. She did not have a prepared statement because the AAP isn't part of this circus (weird, but true).

Add everything together and it makes me wonder what is really going on here.

More at the source and elsewhere.

02:21 PM by AnemicOak in E-Book General | News

A couple of Authors Guild news items that may be of interest to some folks...

Fearing Piracy, Authors Guild Pushes Change to Copyright Law

Citing a major uptick in Internet piracy, the Authors Guild has urged Congress to require that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) monitor and filter their networks for pirated works. Among the proposed changes to copyright law suggested in a letter addressed to the House Judiciary Committee, Guild officials want to replace the current "Notice and Takedown" regime authorized by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) with a "Notice and Stay Down" provision.

Under the Guild’s proposal, ISP’s who do not take "reasonable measures" to keep "all infringing copies” from their networks would lose their "safe harbor" immunity from claims of infringement.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...right-law.html
https://www.authorsguild.org/industr...and-stay-down/

Authors Guild Slams 'Inadequate' E-book Royalty

The Authors Guild released its first “detailed analysis” in its Fair Contract Initiative, an outreach effort aimed at improving the standard contract for authors. The piece, released to the Guild's membership Thursday morning, examines what the organization calls “inadequate e-book royalties” and argues that the digital royalty favors publishers far too heavily.

As part of its analysis, the Guild said that it hopes “established authors and, particularly, bestselling authors" will begin to "push back" on the reigning e-book royalty rate of 25%. The Guild is hoping this small, but powerful, group can take a stand "on behalf of all authors, as well as themselves.”

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...k-royalty.html
https://www.authorsguild.org/industr...e-for-e-books/

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Been away? Fear not! Here is your chance to check out what appeared on our frontpage this week:

E-Book General - News

• Barnes & Noble closing all ebook stores except US and UK

03:53 PM by pdurrant in E-Book General | News

News from The Digital Reader

On the 7th August 2015, Barnes & Noble will close down all their ebook stores except for the USA and UK ones.

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Gosh we've talked a lot this week. Here's your weekly round up of MobileRead's events.

E-Book General - News

• Scribd acquires Librify

E-Book General - Reading Recommendations

• July 2015 Book Club Vote