e-books

Booksellers at the New England Independent Bookseller Association fall conference, held last week in Rhode Island, were given some long-awaited hints about Google Editions, including hints on how competition in rights and royalties management may become even more important. Google Editions, the much-delayed online e-book store store which the search giant has been trying...
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At the Publishing Business Conference’s “Rethinking Author Contracts for the Digital World” panel last month, a major dilemma regarding e-book rights management and author contracts was revisited: Despite the prevalence of non-compete clauses in author contracts, many authors are venturing into e-book or multimedia agreements, risking lawsuits from their print publishers. The benchmark 2001...
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Last week Publisher’s Weekly kicked off it’s Fall discussion series with a panel called “Know Your E-book Rights.” The panel featured four panelists: Neil de Young, Executive Director, Hachette Digital; Paul Aiken, Executive Director, Authors Guild; Lloyd Jassin, attorney; and Scott Waxman, Waxman Literary Agency.  Discussion focused mainly on the financial issues related to...
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Barnes and Noble launched an independent e-book publishing platform of it’s own today. Pubit! is aimed at attracting independent and do-it-yourself publishers to the Nook e-reader, much as Amazon is using the DTP platform to push publishers to the Kindle. The similarities between the two publishing platforms extends to a royalty “sweet spot.” Amazon...
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The Frankfurt Book Fair is hosting three days of events focusing on the future of the book in the digital age, beginning on October 6th.  Among other topics, the talks will include expert opinion on “E-rights and roles,” from Robert Gottlieb, Chairman of Trident Media Group, LLC. A full list of speakers is below;...
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Publishers Weekly’s fall discussion series begins on September 28 at Random House’s headquarters in New York City with a discussion on the current state, and the future of, e-book rights ownership. The event will feature four panelists — Authors Guild executive director Paul Aiken, agent Scott Waxman, attorney Lloyd Jassin and Neil de Young,...
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The Summer’s biggest news story in e-book rights, and probably in book rights in general, was the feud and subsequent settlement between Random House and powerful agent Andrew Wylie.  Robert Scott Lawrence revisited the case in a blog entry over the weekend, with the added context of a 2001 case in which Random House...
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All the News Affecting Rights, Royalties, Royalty Software, or Rights Management for September 7, 2010: A Four-Part Series on How Publishing Will Adapt, now that “the big stones have been moved” in technology, the short list for the Booker Prize, plus McMillan pushing for lower e-book royalties. Going “Deeper Than Just the Glow of...
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The Week in News Affecting Rights, Royalties, Royalty Software, or Rights Management for September 2, 2010: Sony steps it’s e-reader game up, while Kindle pulls ahead in web searches for e-readers.  And one of the most popular tweets of the week. Sony’s Potential to Change the e-Book World Kindle Leads As eReader Internet Searches...
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All the News Affecting Rights, Royalties, Royalty Software, or Rights Management for September 2, 2010: Steve Jobs, in another black turtleneck appearance, announces big book downloads by iTunes users, plus why “print publishing will never die,” and, the value of a book. Apple Users Download 35 Million Books; iTunes Goes Social Why Print Publishing...
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