Search

Results

Justice Department throws the ebook at Apple, publishers

15 Apr 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In the aftermath of the Resurrection the community of believers was fully united, being “of one heart and mind,” this Sunday’s first reading tells us. Several years ago major book publishers were of one mind about the potential threat electronic book publishing represented to their bottom lines and, together with Apple, Inc., colluded to fix ebook prices, a federal antitrust lawsuit filed Wednesday charged.According to the complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, at least five publishers—Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, Penguin, and Macmillan—conspired with Apple on pricing ahead of the 2010 launch of the iPad tablet and iBookstore, forcing Amazon to raise prices for ebooks on rival Kindle.Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Hachette have already settled with the Justice Department. Sources say Apple and Macmillan have refused to engage in settlement talks and deny they colluded to raise prices for digital books and that Penguin plans to fight the accussations as well.A class action lawsuit filed in California District Court last summer by Kindle consumers was the first to allege a conspiracy. According to that case, "booksellers were 'terrified' by the discounted ebook price structure Amazon launched in 2007" and the "spooked publishers" colluded with Apple to force Amazon's hand.Attorney General Eric Holder said that as a result of the conspiracy "consumers paid millions of dollars more for some of the most popular titles" and competition was eliminated. Sources: Articles by Dylan Stableford for The Cutline and Rob Lever for Agence France Presse

eric holder hachette penguin harpercollins simon schuster department of justice collusion ebooks ipad apple inc macmillan
Ebooks en español? Excellente!

27 May 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Devout Jews from every land who were in Jerusalem for Pentecost were amazed that each of them heard the Galilean disciples preaching in his or her native tongue. Over 67,000 people attended a Spanish-language book fair in Los Angeles last week, eager to find literature in that tongue. Observers say explosive growth of eReader and tablet sales among Hispanics suggest that ebooks in Spanish will increasingly meet that demand.Attendance at this year’s fair was nearly double last year’s. The organizers of the event, the International Book Fair of Guadalajara and the University of Guadalajara Foundation, said that Los Angeles is actually the second largest “Mexican” city, behind Mexico City and ahead of Guadalajara and Monterrey.Several digital startups in attendance may be well positioned for the future direction of Spanish language publishing. BajaLibros.com (“download books”), launched one year ago in Argentina, now sells to readers across Latin America, and the U.S. LibrosBooks.com, based in El Paso, Texas, opened up shop this past January to sell Spanish-language books via the internet. In April, online bookselling giant Amazon.com announced the launch of its “eBooks Kindle en Español” store.A recent study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that Hispanics’ adoption rate of both eReaders and tablets superseded that of the already explosive growth in that area of the general market. Latino adoption of eReaders more than tripled during the most recent holiday gift-giving season. “Hispanics like to be connected. We like technology in general and if it's on sale for a good price, we'll buy it,” said Ariel Coro, Univision’s host of Tu Tecnología, a feature that educates Hispanic families on the latest technologies. Source: An article by Joe Kutchera for Fox News Latino

Technology international book fair of guadalajara ereaders electronic publishing bajalibroscom librosbookscom ariel coro ebooks electronic readers los angeles hispanics latinos amazoncom Spanish university of guadalajara foundation
Dads everywhere can read all about it

17 Jun 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“We aspire to please” our heavenly Father in all our efforts, Saint Paul says in 2 Corinthians. As families nationwide thank their earthly fathers this Sunday, they might consider a unique gift sure to please: a custom made book generated by a new device called the Espresso Book Machine.Created by On Demand Books, the machine can print a bound book complete with cover from a couple of PDF files in as few as five minutes and is proving a boon to struggling independent bookstores. It gives them something unique to offer in the face of the challenge presented by increasing ebook sales.Thor Sigvaldason, the chief technology officer at the company, said the system can help smaller book retailers. “It can, potentially, give them a huge virtual inventory so they can have as many books as Amazon, all in a little bookstore. It’s a new thing for the bookstore to do: not just sell books, but actually create books.”The machine can be used to print a self-published book, an out-of-print edition available in the public domain through sites like Google Books, or digital formats of books licensed out through major publishers. The cover and text, both generated from digital files, are printed simultaneously on opposite sides of the machine. They meet in the middle section of the device, where they are bound, before dropping to a trimming station on the bottom. The book is dispensed through a chute.Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont has produced about 5,500 books a year on the Espresso Book Machine since 2008. Debbi Wraga, the book machine coordinator, said about 85 percent of their customers used it for independent book publishing. The others used it to produce rare books or personalized books, like Christmas carols with inscriptions, and family photos.“Besides the novelty of it, to have customers come and strike up a conversation, it’s a way for us to really engage our public and move forward and find a creative way to still sell the books,” Wraga said. “It’s a wonderful feeling when you take it off the press and hand it to the author. You can smell the glue and the book is still warm. It’s almost like handing a newborn baby to a mom.” Source: An article by Stacey A. Anderson for the Associated Press

ebooks thor sigvaldason espresso book machine bookstores debbi wraga northshire bookstore book publishing on demand books