Origami Unicorn

Amazon and the Flow of Ideas

Publishers Weekly reports yet another effort to get the Department of Justice to take a look into Amazon's practices.

Teicher...said the "deleterious impact Amazon has had on consumers has become more apparent." And, while antitrust laws in the U.S. are different from those in other countries, "the fact that the European Union has launched its own investigation may give our DoJ reason to take another look."

The Authors Guild on Ebook Contracts

The Authors Guild press authors to argue for a fifty-fifty sharing of ebooks profits, rather than the current twenty-five for authors, seventy-five for the publishers. Publishers Weekly reports.

Author Solutions: No Class Action

Publishers Weekly reports that the plantiffs have been denied class action status in the Author Solutions lawsuit.

The contracts in question granted Author Solutions “the right” to market an author’s work, Cote explained, but “notably absent” was any contractual obligation requiring Author Solutions to actually do so.

Apple Loses Appeal; Must Pay Out

Publishers Weekly reports that Apple has lost its appeal in the long-running battle over whether it, and others, conspried to fix ebook prices. Assuming the decision stands, Apple will have to pay out over 400 million dollars to consumers.

Authors Guild Calls for Changes

Publishers Weekly links to a statement and comments on it.

[T]he Guild said the goal of the project is to "shine a bright light on the one-sided contract terms that publishers typically offer authors and to spur publishers to offer more equitable deals."

Amazon Updates Terms

According to Publishers Weekly, Amazon has updated its terms for Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners Lending Library to reflect the number of pages actually read. It has also, once again, fttened the pot payment is made from.

Publishing in China: Censorship

Only recently have science fiction and fantasy been acceptable in China, and foreign authors, as well as domestic, can expect to be censored. China File explores what that means and if writers can, or should, do anything about it.

Nielsen Report on the US Ebook Market

The Bookseller talks about the latest Nielsen report on the US ebook market. Noteworthy:

Nielsen’s analysis tells us less about the overall e-book market in the States than we’d like, primarily because it doesn’t include sales from self-published — or non ISBN publishers — or as Hugh Howey would have it the "35%+ of the ignored/silent market". Nielsen does give some indication that it is aware of this grey sector, reckoning that 42% those who have downloaded e-books are sure they have bought a self-published

book.

Author Solutions to Be a Class Action?

Publishers Weekly reports that the Author Solutions lawsuit may be developing into a class action.

“[Author Solutions], as part of a company-wide policy, hides from consumers that it is a telemarketing operation,” plaintiff attorneys argue, “with no stake in the quality or retail success of its authors' books.”

And, in opposition:

Attorneys for Author Solutions have branded the suit "a misguided attempt to make a federal class action out of a series of gripes,” and, in their latest briefs, argue that the authors “have invented out of whole cloth a purported ‘deceptive scheme’ in an attempt to indict [Author Solutions’] entire marketing operation and its senior management.”

Apple vs Bromwich

As the period in which Apple is being actively monitored draw toward a close, the monitor himself, Michael Bromwich, says the company is not cooperating. Publishers Weekly has the story.

It is unclear when the appeals court will rule on Apple’s objection to Bromwich’s work, which is now entering its final stages, unless extended by the court.