Poland

Ellen Harvey is a freelance writer and editor who covers the latest technologies and strategies reshaping the publishing landscape. She previously served as the Senior Editor at Publishing Executive and Book Business.

It's a popular stance among publishers that they and their industry are a gentle sprinkle of special snowflakes and that their software (i.e. ebooks) should be taxed at a lower VAT rate than other software (i.e. websites or any other kind of digital file).

The problem is that defining all digital media as services is exactly what a technology-neutral regulation looks like. All digital content has the same VAT. Nobody has clearly outlined how you can define ebooks as special without discriminating against other digital media

 

The Polish literary trade is currently having a tough time, battling a combination of old and new challenges. Although thirty-eight million people is a sizable demographic for which to cater, it is an unpredictable market. Many international top performers, particularly high literary authors, are not greeted with the same warm reception by this generally commercially-minded audience.

The bestseller lists are currently topped by EL James (whose trilogy has sold 1.7 million copies including ebook and audio), and guerrilla artist, author and illustrator Keri Smith.

At the London Book Fair yesterday HarperCollins announced a significant expansion of its foreign language publishing program. The company rebranded a number of Harlequin's international publishing assets as HaperCollins Holland, HarperCollins Japan, HarperCollins Nordic, and HarperCollins Polska.

A groundbreaking new Independent ebookstore is preparing to launch at the London Book Fair 2015, setting a new precedent with its reader-determined pricing model that offers unlimited copying and sharing, alongside higher levels of compensation for authors.

OpenBooks.com is the first online book retailer to operate its unique and exceptional ‘Read First, Then Pay What You Want’ model, whereby readers can download an eBook for free in EPUB, MOBI or PDF, read it, share it with their friends and decide if and how much they want to pay

In an unprecedented move, the Culture Ministers of France, Germany, Italy and Poland have jointly called on the European Commission to modify the European Union's law to ensure that ebooks and paper books carry the same value-added tax (VAT) rate.

The latest initiative follows a recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) which states that ebooks are not equal to paper books, and as such the same VAT rate should not apply.

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