Tom Allen

US publishers are poised to take their battle to stop books bought abroad being resold in the US to Congress, after the Supreme Court ruled against them in a case that will have broad implications for global commerce.

In the case of Kirtsaeng v Wiley, the court ruled in favour of Supap Kirtsaeng, a California student who asked his family in Thailand to buy textbooks for him at low international prices so he could resell them at a profit on eBay.

It's been an upbeat Public Library Association 2012 meeting in Philadelphia so far, with strong attendance, and a slate of great authors, speakers, and programs. But the issue of e-book lending has loomed large over the meeting. On Wednesday, March 14, prior to the opening general session at PLA, ALA president Molly Raphael was in New York, participating on a panel on library e-book lending at the Association of American Publishers annual meeting, a session that was reported to librarians to have been quite positive. PW caught up with a busy Raphael in Philadelphia yesterday following an afternoon session,

According to the Association of American Publishers (AAP), U.S. publishers' book sales across all platforms increased 2.4 percent in December 2010 versus December 2009 ($1.58 billion versus $1.54 billion), and 3.6 percent for all of 2010 versus 2009 ($11.67 billion versus $11.25 billion). Virtually every book publishing category showed growth in one or both comparisons, with e-books continuing to post triple-digit percentage gains.

Tom Allen discusses the growth of the Espresso Book Machine, its potential in the evolving book publishing marketplace, and more.

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