Today’s low Kindle book prices will last only as long as it takes Amazon to re-establish its monopoly. It is hard to believe that the Justice Department has somehow persuaded itself that this solution fosters competition or is good for readers in the long run.
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The Authors Guild has been the published writer's advocate for effective copyright, fair contracts, and free expression since 1912.
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Scott Turow on Justice Department’s Proposed Settlement
April 12, 2012. The proposed settlement is a shocking trip through the looking-glass. By allowing Amazon to resume selling most titles at a loss, the Department of Justice will basically prevent traditional bookstores from trying to enter the e-book market, at the same time it drives trade out of those stores and into the proprietary world of the Kindle. The settlement provides a gigantic obstacle to Amazon’s competitors in the e-book business by allowing Amazon to function without making a profit, something that leaves that market forbidding to anyone else who might think of entering, and a bad business for those already there.
A Message From John Sargent of Macmillan Regarding Justice Dept. E-Book Investigation
April 11, 2012. This message was just released from John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan, in response to the Department of Justice’s filing of a lawsuit claiming publishers colluded to fix e-book prices.
Dear authors, illustrators and agents:
Today the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Macmillan’s US trade publishing operation, charging us with collusion in the implementation of the agency model for e-book pricing. The charge is civil, not criminal. Let me start by saying that Macmillan did not act illegally. Macmillan did not collude.
More...Barnes & Noble to Restore Marshall Cavendish Children's Books
April 4, 2012. Here's some welcome news: Barnes & Noble has agreed to our request to bring Marshall Cavendish children's books back to their stores' shelves. By our count, more than 250 authors and 150 illustrators have been affected.
How these books got pulled in the first place is a lesson in how exclusive content agreements have begun balkanizing the book marketplace.
In December, Amazon Publishing purchased Marshall Cavendish's children's book list, more than 450 children's and young adult titles. The next month, Barnes & Noble announced that it would not be stocking any Amazon published titles in its stores. B&N released a statement from Jaime Carey, its chief merchandising officer, saying that it would not stock books published by Amazon, "based on Amazon’s continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and the authors they represent."
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