Macmillan Publishing Solutions

Read Free or Die!
July 1, 2012

John Scalzi won't have to field any tough questions about how digital rights management software (DRM) works at tonight's book signing. The author—out on tour promoting his newest science fiction novel, "Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas"—says those difficult discussions popped up regularly when he engaged with his tech-savvy fan base in the past. But he doesn't expect any of that negative discourse at tonight's Boston-area signing event—or at any of the other scheduled stops on his current campaign to promote the New York Times bestseller.

DoJ ruling set for next June
June 25, 2012

Penguin, Macmillan and Apple must wait just under a year for the ruling on the e-book price fixing lawsuit, according to reports. The trial date for the 's e-book price-fixing lawsuit has been set for 3rd June 2013, with Judge Denise Cote choosing the date just under a year from now. The trial will test Apple, Macmillan and Penguin's case, which denies collusion and price-fixing over e-books.

Espresso Book Machine Comes to Mardel
June 1, 2012

Mardel Christian Bookstore today unveiled its newly-installed Espresso Book Machine® (EBM), a Xerox Solution- a cutting-edge technology that offers patrons instant access to more than eight million titles printed in any language, and allows area Oklahoma authors to self-publish their work on-site.

Report: U.S. Publishers See Rapid Sales Growth Worldwide in Print and E-Formats
May 18, 2012

In a new report produced by the Association of American Publishers and released today, US publishers in the Trade sector (fiction and non-fiction for adults and children) have seen significant sales increases worldwide in both print and e-format English-language books in the past year.

According to publishers who contributed 2010 and 2011 data to the report, factors for the recent growth include internet access to the full range of English-language titles, particularly those previously unavailable in many markets; the rise of eBooks globally and new readers; interest in US editions; and publishers’ strategic expansion in international sales, marketing and distribution.

New Details Come to Light in Agency Pricing Class-Action Lawsuit
May 15, 2012

The hits just keep on coming. On PaidContent, Laura Hazard Owen writes about a new filing in a class-action lawsuit against the agency pricing publishers that reveals some previously redacted evidence in the case shedding light on the agency pricing negotiations. This is the suit in which a number of states seek monetary damages, in addition to the DoJ’s class action settlement.

In one case, Macmillan CEO John Sargent asked Apple if they might consider relaxing their 30% take for new-release “hardcover” e-books to help ease the pain…

Judge Stays E-book Class Action Case Against Two Publishers
May 2, 2012

Publishers Hachette and HarperCollins slipped further away from the class action lawyer who wants them to pay over an alleged e-book price-fixing conspiracy.

In an order signed yesterday in New York federal court, Justice Denise Cote ruled that the class action could be halted on the grounds that the publishers are close to a consumer restitution settlement with state governments.

What this means in practice is that the class action lawyers will be frozen out because the state governments’ deal trumps the consumer class action.

E-book Price-Fixing: Finding the Best Model for Publishers — and Readers
April 25, 2012

The legal controversy over Apple's efforts to use the agency model when selling books directly to its consumers offers a good opportunity to examine the benefits and costs of adopting that approach, both for online retailers and their customers. Does the agency model of selling online harm consumers — and society in general — by raising prices for numerous products, not just for e-books? Or might the agency model offer significant, if often overlooked, economic and social benefits over the wholesale model for manufacturers, retailers and the general public?

Authors Guild Calls Amazon Anticompetitive
February 16, 2012

Is Amazon evil or just good at business? We’ve carried a couple of articles lately whose authors believe the latter, but it’s never been a mystery what side the Authors Guild comes down on. The Guild has just posted a lengthy essay to its blog laying out what it sees as Amazon’s predatory pricing and anticompetitive business practices.

Digital Library Lending Up 130% in 2011
January 19, 2012

If you build it, they will come. Not just words of wisdom from a Kevin Costner movie anymore, but the experience of libraries across America. They’ve seen a triple-digit jump in the amount of digital lending during the last year due, in part, to the increased use of tablet devices such as the iPad, Kindle, and Nook.

News of the jump came from OverDrive, one of the leading global distributors of eBooks and audiobooks, which powers “virtual branch” sites for libraries and schools.

Stop Treating $9.99 As The Magic E-Book Price
December 16, 2011

$9.99 is often treated as a magic price—the cost of a New York Times bestseller on Kindle back in the good old days, before big-six publishers adopted agency pricing models and ended Amazon’s discounting of their books. However, for a variety of reasons, few readers ever had the chance to buy those $9.99 e-books—in large part because e-readers themselves were so expensive. From yesterday’s Wall Street Journal : When Amazon.com Inc. introduced its first Kindle e-reader back in November 2007, the $9.99 digital best seller was a key selling point. Today, the price of a