Seldom has news of litigation against publishers demonstrated such differences in opinions. But as the Department of Justice signals that it may file suit in a case alleging that the largest U.S. publishers and Apple combined to set high prices for books, the shrill cries from publishers suggesting that “the end of retail competition for books is nigh” remain largely deaf to the myriad benefits for customers. If agency pricing is struck down, readers may once again see reasonable book prices from online retailers that years ago acknowledged that digital music and videos have a very different value than their traditional analogues. (more…)
Archive for the ‘google’ Category
Gnashing of Teeth: Publishers vs Readers
Sunday, March 11th, 2012The PW Morning Report: Friday, May 27, 2011
Friday, May 27th, 2011
Today’s links! And please check out our new Facebook Page.
Teen YA Lit Monster Mashup. It’s all about mixing chills, thrills, adventure, and romance at BEA’s YA Buzz Panel.
Politics and Superheroes. What’s Superman’s position on the death penalty?
Robot Librarians! Robots take over the University of Chicago’s new $81 million Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, sort of.
Book City USA. Amazon Ranks the most literate cities in the U.S.
King Kindle. Despite Agency Model, the Kindle leads the pack in titles, readers and sales, while the iBookstore brings up the rear.
Google and the Future of Everything. Google Talks at BEA; people listen.
The PW Morning Report: Friday, May 13, 2011
Friday, May 13th, 2011Friday
the 13th!
Curious George in Danger: The Curious George and Friends book and toy store in Harvard Square is in danger of closing unless the owner can raise money to save it. From Wicked Local Cambridge.
Florida Bookstores Closing: A look at how changing reading habits have caused Florida bookstores to shut down. From the Sun Sentinel.
The Future of Book Reviews: Top critics debate whether critics or Amazon reviewers are tomorrow’s literary taste makers. From the Daily Beast.
Figment Funded: Figment, the teen writing site founded by two New Yorker vets, got a big new source of funding. From Paid Content.
Houghton Hits Libraries: A big cache of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt e-books is now available to libraries via OverDrive. From eBookNewser.
Amazon Tablet: More on rumors of an Amazon tablet. From Pocket Lint.
Authors @ Google: Google’s HQ is becoming an important stop for touring authors. From the NYT.
The PW Morning Report: Thursday, May 12, 2011
Thursday, May 12th, 2011Today’s links!
Google Books Heads North: The Digital Reader reports that Google Books is in the process of opening in Canada.
Coal Curriculum: Three advocacy groups are asking Scholastic to stop distributing curriculum materials developed for the American Coal Foundation, which paid Scholastic to develop them. From the NYT.
Book Future UK: Paid Content UK looks at the World E-Reading Congress in London, where publishers are trying to answer the question “what is a book?”
Bertelsmann Up: The Random House parent reported its Q1 results. From the Bookseller.
Chromebook: The big tech news this week comes from Google’s developer conference, where the company has unveiled the first laptops to run its Chrome operating system. From Engadget.
iFlow Follow Up: More on the demise of the iFlow e-reader app, which PWxyz reported on yesterday. From CNET.
Can Google Be Trusted with Our Books?
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
Simon Barron at the Guardian made a disturbing observation about Google’s business practices this week, noting that Google recently announced it would be deleting all the content uploaded to its Google Video service by users (though after a public outcry, the company said it would find new homes for as much content as possible) in order to refocus its efforts on its core business of search. Barron feels this has bad implications for Google Books, which also comprises tons of content entrusted to Google’s care, and he worries Google could one day decide to reprioritize, jeopardizing all those book scans.
Here’s more from the article:
As a private sector company, the core aim of Google is to make money. The Google Videos situation shows that in order to lower expenditure and adjust its priorities, Google was willing to delete content entrusted to it by users. Libraries have trusted Google with millions of documents: many of the books scanned by Google are not digitised or OCR-processed anywhere else and, with budgets for university libraries shrinking year after year, may not be digitised again any time in the near future. Google acted admirably by listening to users and working to save the videos but entrusting such vast cultural archives to a body that has no explicit responsibilities to protection, archiving and public cultural welfare is inherently dangerous: as the situation made clear, private sector bodies have the ability to destroy archives at a whim.
Certainly we can’t trust Google’s promise not to “be evil,” but it would seem that the company believes in the Books project (it was one of Google’s founders’ first hopes and plans for the company), but what do you think? Are our book in jeopardy? Or is Google a safe library?
The PW Morning Report: Thursday, March 24, 2011
Thursday, March 24th, 2011Today’s links!
Borders Trouble: The city of Pico Rivera, CA has been subsidizing the rent for a Borders store. Now it’s closing down, but the city is still stuck with the rent. From the Whittier Daily News.
Walk And Talk With the Animals: Adam Hines’ remarkable debut graphic novel, Duncan The Wonder Dog–which details a world of thinking and acting animals–already a PW Best Book and recently nominated for an L.A Times Book Prize, has now been awarded the first annual Lynd Ward Prize for graphic fiction from the Pennsylvania Center for the Book.
Short Fiction Vs. Long Fiction: The Guardian contemplates the relationship of the short story to the novel.
Best Translated Books: The finalists for this new-ish award have been announced. From the Millions.
Caring for Books: The co-owner of the Strand tells the WSJ how she cares for her home library.
Google’s Options: The NYT considers what Google and publishers might do now that the settlement has been rejected.
Another Digital Library Idea: A NYT op-ed contributor advocates for a free public digital library.
The PW Morning Report: Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011Today’s links!
E-books in Germany: BizCommunity says they’re not a mass market product there yet, but momentum is building.
Goodbye Jordan’s Books: The Castro Valley, CA bookseller is closing in the next few weeks. From Castro Valley Forum.
Blackberry Playbook to Match iPad 2 Price: And it’s coming 4/19.
Amazon Android: TechCrunch explains why Amazon’s Android app store means the company will have to make an Android device of its own.
Lendle’s Back: Amazon reinstated Kindle e-book lending service Lendle after having cut them off. From Business Insider.
Perspectives on the Google Settlement Rejection:
From the New York Times: Now, Google is in legal limbo.
From the LA Times: Looking towards a revision of the current settlement.
The PW Morning Report: Friday, Feb. 18, 2011
Friday, February 18th, 2011Today’s links!
Borders, Bookstore of the Week: Jacket Copy names Borders in Pasadena (one of the stores slated to close) as its bookstore of the week.
10 Lessons: Smart Company in Australia offers 10 lessons from the collapse of Borders Australia and Australia’s Angus & Robertson.
BBC Buys Out Lonely Planet: BBC Worldwide has acquired the remaining 25% stake in Lonely Planet from the company’s founders. From the Guardian.
The Maid Sues ‘The Help’: Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, is being sued by a woman who has worked as a maid for Stocket’s in laws and says she was appropriated for the book’s main character.
Indies In the Digital Age: OregonLive looks at how indie bookseller like Powell’s are looking for their niche in the digital age.
Apple vs. Google: Seeking Alpha outlines the intensifying battle for the future of tablet computers that heated up this week with the introduction of the two companies’ subscription sales models.
Tina Brown on What to Read: The Daily Beast/ Newsweek editor offers some reading recommendations to NPR.
I Hate My iPad: So says a Slate writer, and he explains why.
Larry Page Takes the Reins at Google
Friday, January 21st, 2011
No one expected Eric Schmidt to hang around forever, but today’s announcement that Google co-founder Larry Page would officially replace Schmidt as CEO as of April 4 was a surprise nonetheless. In a statement on the Google blog, Schmidt said the move was long-discussed, and part of an effort to streamline the leadership and “speed up decision-making.” As if Google has been slacking over the last decade with projects like that scan-all-the-world’s-books thing? For publishers and one federal judge still trying to wrap their heads around the fast pace of the books project, the prospect of Google actually speeding up must be daunting.
Under the new regime, Page will now lead “product development and technology strategy” and will handle “day-to-day operations” as Google’s new CEO. Page’s co-founder Sergey Brin, meanwhile, will devote his time and energy “to strategic projects, in particular working on new products.” This may be the real news of the day. More than Page replacing Schmidt, what does Page’s ascension over Brin mean for the future of Google? History shows us that these decisions almost always matter, just look at Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. And, look out for more Ken Auletta.
E-Books You’ll Find on Google But Not Kindle
Tuesday, December 7th, 2010Since yesterday’s launch of the Google E-bookstore, I’ve been poking around to see what Google’s got. As I said earlier, Google necessarily has some books no one else has, simply because Google scanned them even though the publisher never created a digital edition. Over the course of the day I’ve been looking through my bookshelves to see if I could find anything interesting that Google is selling a digital version of while nobody else is. I’ve found two of my favorites so far, which may not seem like a ton, but it’s a place to start:
Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
I was under the impression super-agent Andrew Wylie was holding the digital rights to Sebald’s books tight, but I’m not sure where I heard that. But this is the first time I’ve been any of his books available digitally. Perhaps this won’t be there for long…
Imaginations by Williams Carlos Williams
This is part of the trove of New Directions books I’ve been looking forward to. It’s a collection of short prose works by Williams, one of the major American writers of the 20th Century. It’s a Google scan, meaning there are a couple of errors, but you also get the feel of the original book, which has a lovely font and design.
Have you been poking around the Google E-bookstore? Have you found anything interesting? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
