E-Book Anti-Trust Settlement Coming & E-Book Sales On The Rise

Justice Department vs. Apple & Publishers Settlement Coming:

As previously mentioned in blog discussions, the U.S. Justice Department has been looking into what they’ve described as “a collusion” between Apple and five of the largest publishers in the U.S. – Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Penguin, Macmillan and HarperCollins. The bone of contention is that Apple and the publishers made an agreement to raise and keep the price of E-Books higher across the board by adopting an “Agency Model” which allows publishers to set the price of the E-Books they are selling through distributors. This model also bars distributors (bookstores) from charging customers anything other than the publisher list price for E-Books. This model is in contrast to the print wholesale model which allows publishers to set a list price for books but also allows booksellers the flexibility to discount titles and consumers to purchase books that are on sale. It appears that a settlement is being hammered out between the Justice Department and the six companies, Apple and the previously mentioned five publishers, which will abolish the part of the Agency Model that currently makes it possible for publishers to require booksellers to sell E-Books at the list price in a take-it-or-leave-it manner.

Here are links to two articles on this subject:

The first article is from Reuters and is titled E-Books Settlement Talks Advancing:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/30/us-apple-publishers-ebooks-idUSBRE82T19620120330

And the second is from the Huffington Post and is titled Justice Department eBook Lawsuit Against Apple, Publishers Advances Toward Settlement:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/31/e-books-settlement-apple-justice-department_n_1392501.html

E-Book Sales on the Rise:

On another E-Book note, sales of E-Books are furiously on the rise! For January 2012 the sales of adult reading level E-Books grew at a rate of 49.4% rate over January of the year before; and the sales of children’s and young adult E-Books were up 475% for that same period!

Here’s a link to a report on the subject from the Association of American Publishers:

http://www.publishers.org/press/62/

Linda R.