Agency Archives | The Digital Reader

Canada’s Agency eBook Pricing Settlement Will Have Little Impact on eBook Prices

21 January, 201721 January, 2017Agency, AntitrustLeave a comment

Yesterday’s news about Apple and three major trade publishers agreeing to give up agency price controls in Canada has been misreported in some circles, with one...

Kobo Wins Appeal Over Agency eBook Pricing in Canada

19 August, 201613 May, 2017Agency, Antitrust19 Comments

Kobo has successfully appealed a 2014 consent agreement between the Canadian Competition Bureau and Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster where the publishers had agreed to...

Breaking News: Agency Price Controls Reduce eBook Sales

11 May, 201617 May, 2016Agency, Amazon, ebook sales19 Comments

There’s still no proof that Amazon is behind the return to agency, but evidence continues to grow that publishers have shot themselves in the foot by taking...

Is Amazon Behind the Return to Agency?

2 March, 20164 March, 2016Agency23 Comments

It was widely assumed that when the Big Five (and later other publishers) secured agency ebook contracts in late 2014 and 2015 that the publishers had...

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Signs Some Kind of Agency Deal With Amazon, Apple, Google

22 July, 201522 July, 2015Agency18 Comments

When I broke the news on Monday that US publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt might have signed an agency deal with Amazon, I said that I didn’t...

Did HMH Sign an Agency eBook Contract With Amazon? (Maybe)

20 July, 201522 July, 2015Agency2 Comments

For as long as we’ve had agency ebook pricing, we’ve always talked about the same six publishers having control over their ebook prices: Hachette, Macmillan, S&S,...

Canada Investigates Apple for Possible eBook Pricing Conspiracy

7 July, 201519 August, 2016Agency, Antitrust, Kobo6 Comments

Here in the US the DOJ may have completed its investigation into the price-fixing activities of Apple and 5 major trade publishers and gone after the...

HarperCollins, Amazon Ink Distribution Deal

14 April, 20153 September, 2015Agency, Amazon, Publishing9 Comments

The months-long contract negotiation between HarperCollins and its biggest customer came to an abrupt end today with the news that the two parties had signed a...

HarperCollins to Bring Back Agency Pricing as Early As Next Week

8 April, 20153 September, 2015Agency, Amazon, Publishing20 Comments

Following tense months-long negotiations with Amazon, HarperCollins is reportedly planning to force ebook retailers to adopt agency pricing as early as next week. Publishers Lunch reports that:...

No, the Canadian Competition Bureau ISN’T Investigating Indigo, Kobo on eBook Prices

20 January, 201519 August, 2016Agency, Antitrust, KoboLeave a comment

There is a story circulating today that Canadian regulators are now investigating the Canadian bookstore chain Indigo and its ebook partner Kobo “over alleged anti-competitive e-book pricing...

Agency eBook Pricing Will be Alive and Well in Canada Until at Least May 2015

23 September, 201411 May, 2017Agency, Antitrust, Kobo10 Comments

The major US trade publishers may have relinquished control of their ebook prices here in the US and in Europe but Canada, well, that is a...

AAR Joins the Fray in the Amazon-Hachette Contract Dispute

14 May, 20141 July, 2014Agency, Amazon17 Comments

Hachette and Amazon’s brutal months-long contract renegotiation picked up a peanut gallery commentator today. The AAR (Association of Authors Representatives) has sent an open letter today...

Canadian Judge Explains Why Agency eBook Pricing is Still Alive North of the 49th Parallel

28 March, 201419 August, 2016Agency, Antitrust, Kobo10 Comments

No one was surprised when Kobo objected to the end of Agency pricing in Canada, but when the Canadian Competition Tribunal granted them an initial delay...

Amazon Just Sent Me My Share of the eBooks Antitrust Settlement

25 March, 20141 July, 2014Agency, Antitrust23 Comments

It’s been over a year since the last publisher settled the antitrust lawsuit brought by the Dept of Justice, and we’re finally starting to get our...

Kobo Wins Stay of Execution on the End of Agency Pricing in Canada

20 March, 201419 August, 2016Agency, Antitrust, Kobo15 Comments

Kobo just won the first battle in their month-old fight to keep price competition out of the Canadian ebook market. The Canadian Competition Bureau announced on...