Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review

Filed in George RR Martin , Larissa Ione , Leah Cypress , News , The Smutty Lover Posted on March 4, 2011 @ 3:22 pm 12 comments
Wow this week we have had major news shaking up publishing and ebooks, so it is a bit jam packed issue in today’s news post.
The biggest and most contraversial announcement though has to be HarperCollins’ announcement that their ebooks would be restricted with a 26 borrowed limit. As you can imagine this has ignited the ire of many librarians and their patrons about this because the limit is set at such a low level.
HarperCollins have responded in an open letter to libraries and library users to explain this new measure by saying this would be a way to protect ebook growth and market. Below is an extract of an open letter explaining this and click here for the full statement:

We have serious concerns that our previous e-book policy, selling e-books to libraries in perpetuity, if left unchanged, would undermine the emerging e-book eco-system, hurt the growing e-book channel, place additional pressure on physical bookstores, and in the end lead to a decrease in book sales and royalties paid to authors. We are looking to balance the mission and needs of libraries and their patrons with those of authors and booksellers, so that the library channel can thrive alongside the growing e-book retail channel.

This new move would ensure that the 26th limit is enough for a year’s worth of borrowing and that libraries will be able to reorder at a discount to renew licenses. However Overdrive the company that distributes ebooks to libraries have responded to this by delisting HarperCollins books and placing them in a new catalog due to the new restrictions.
It seems that the only publishers who have not placed any restrictions or refusal for offering their books to libraries is Penguin and Random House, whether they will follow suit is another matter.
This leads to the recent and surprising announcement that Random House will be moving to the Agency model in the US from the 1st of March. This was quite shocking because they made a great deal that they would not be joining the other big 5 publishers in their move. But the timing is interesting because Apple has unveiled ipad 2 and that Random House has announced today that they will be offering 17 thousand ebooks to the ibookstore so this may explain why they have made this recent decision.
Nonetheless its very interesting to note that Random House will not adopt Agency model in the UK or in Europe. In fact in Europe, the Agency model is going under indepth investigation, the EU commission have actually raided several European publishers offices and have taken evidence to investigate any signs of anti competition breaches and to see if this has breached antitrust rules. Like the OFT ongoing investigation, European bodies are not as keen on the Agency model for publishers. I think this year is going to be very very interesting and probably very ugly.
Now for more upbeat news!
Fans of George RR Martin’s Game of Throne series will rejoice and probably be having kittens of joy because the next installment of the long running fantasy saga has a release date FINALLY. Dance with Dragons is out on the 12th of July – That long winter has finally found summer!
Fans of Linda Lael Miller and her Hunkilicious cowboys will be delighted to know there is a site dedicated to her series about her sexy Creed heroes and has info and links about the books.
Smexy cover action this week – Larissa Ione has unveiled the UK covers for Passion Unleashed and Desire Unchained. I am mighty tempted to get these because they are that gorgeous!
Fans of Sherlock Holmes will enjoy this anthology of all new stories – it is slated for release for this Fall and even better because I am a huge fangirl of Farscape, the cover art was done by Dave Elsey who was behind the special effects makeup for the show and most recently won an Oscar for The Wolfman!

Gaslight Arcanum: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes
Introduction by Charles Prepolec

The Comfort of the Seine by Stephen Volk
The Adventure of Lucifer’s Footprints by Christopher Fowler
The Deadly Sin of Sherlock Holmes by Tom English
The Colour that Came to Chiswick by William Meikle
A Country Death by Simon K. Unsworth
From the Tree of Time by Fred Saberhagen
Sherlock Holmes and the Diving Bell by Simon Clark
The Executioner by Lawrence C. Connolly
Sherlock Holmes and the Great Game by Kevin Cockle
The Greatest Mystery by Paul Kane
The House of Blood by Tony Richards
The Adventure of the Six Maledictions by Kim Newman

More details can be found here.

Leah Cypress’ followup to Mistwood, has a blurb and cover! Nightspell is out later this year!

A stand-alone companion novel to the much-acclaimed MISTWOOD. When Darri rides into Ghostland, a country where the living walk with the dead, she has only one goal: to rescue her younger sister Callie, who was sent to Ghostland as a hostage four years ago. But Callie has changed in those four years, and now has secrets of her own. In her quest to save her sister from herself, Darri will be forced to outmaneuver a handsome ghost prince, an ancient sorcerer, and a manipulative tribal warrior (who happens to be her brother). When Darri discovers the source of the spell that has kept the dead in Ghostland chained to this earth, she faces a decision that will force her to reexamine beliefs she has never before questioned – and lead her into the heart of a conspiracy that threatens the very balance of power between the living and the dead.

And I am going to leave y’all with the extended trailer for Game of Thrones, the upcoming television adaptation from HBO based on George RR Martin’s books! I can’t wait!

 

So what do you think about the new move by Random House especially when in Europe the Agency pricing seems to be under a lot of scrutiny. 
Do you think Agency Pricing will disappear or will be a permanent thing?
And who is excited for Game of Thrones (raises hand!) What other fantasy/scifi adaptations would you like to see in the small screen or even the big one?
Copyright 2010-11 Book Lovers Inc.

About Has


Has is a bookaholic and feeds her addiction whenever she can. She usually can be found lost in a Romance or an Urban Fantasy novel. Her favourite sub genres are Paranormal, Fantasy and some Scifi. Her most treasured authors are, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, Ann Aguirre, Lisa Kleypas and Tamora Pierce. She loves that discovery of finding a brand new author and falling in love with their books. Has also blogs a The Book Pushers - Book chatter and reviews

Share This Post

Related Posts

Post thumbnail of Bookish Rants or Raves: eBook Publishing Fail
Bookish Rants or Raves: eBook Publishing Fail

Subscribe and stay up-to-date

Via E-Mail:

Follow us via RSS, twitter and facebook:

12 Comments

Join the Discussion
  • pattepoilue March 4, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    Squeeeeeeeeeeee fangirl squeeeeeeeeeee
    Games of Thrones Squeeeeeeeeeee

    I'm SO excited!!! The cast is perfect. And it looks like they are sticking to the books so YAY.
    And the Throne is JUST LIKE I pictured it. ok it rocksssssssssss

    ahem. sorry I mean. yeah I'll watch it *shrug*

    *g*

    Link
  • GeishasMom73 March 4, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    Ugh Agency Pricing. I don't know what kind of backlash needs to take place for publishers to realize that bleeding the readers dry is a bad idea.

    As for Game of Thrones, I don't know too much about it other than what I have seen on the previews. The fact that Peter Dinklage is in it makes me want to see it. Love him!

    Stacie
    GeishasMom73 on twitter

    Link
  • Estella March 4, 2011 at 3:36 pm

    Agency pricing—I think they are thinking more about their bottom line than about their readers. What library has enough money to keep purchasing the same book over and over.

    Link
  • Sullivan McPig March 4, 2011 at 4:34 pm

    I don't know how it works in other countries, but here in the Netherlands libraries have to pay a fee to the publisher of a book every time they lend out that book. So that would mean they'd have to pay the fee and keep purchasing the ebook over and over again if it's lend more than 26 times. Sounds like they'd be paying double this way.

    Link
  • draconismoi March 4, 2011 at 6:01 pm

    I think I need to read up on this Agency Pricing model so I can properly join in on the outrage.

    As someone STILL waiting for an iPad (how could so many people overlook my one birthday request?), I haven't been paying that much attention to the cost of ebooks. Apparently this was the wrong move.

    Link
  • Chelsea B. March 4, 2011 at 6:11 pm

    WOW! I hadn't heard of the new HBO show, so thanks for posting that! Can't wait!! 🙂

    Link
  • JenM March 5, 2011 at 9:38 am

    I know that most people don't know about Agency pricing and don't care, but after it started, I went from spending $150 or so a month on large publishers' ebooks to spending about $20 or $30 a month on theirs. I still buy ebooks, but now the vast majority of my new book purchases are from Samhain, HQN, established authors' self-published backlists, or Indie authors.

    Furthermore, If I want a book from a large publishing house, instead of buying it new and generating revenue for them, I swap for it on one of the paperback swap sites. The large publishers have lost my business and until they choose to be reasonable about ebook pricing, they won't get it back.

    Link
  • -petit March 5, 2011 at 11:43 am

    I love Linda Lael Miller's books! *-* Her cowboys are amazing! They're the perfect ones! hahahahahahaah I don't understand those pricing, but since I don't buy ebooks…

    Link
  • Julia Rachel Barrett March 5, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    OMG! OMG! OMG! Can you hear me screaming??? George R.R. Martin finally has a release date? Yeee-haaaaaw! Wait – now I have to re-read all the other books because it's been so damn long!
    I can't wait for the HOB version – begins in April…Winter Is Coming! Cannot wait!

    Link
  • Alisha (MyNeedToRead) March 5, 2011 at 4:08 pm

    Please Harlequin, don't be tempted to join in on this Agency 6 hullabaloo. I love your many imprints so much, and want to keep glomming you for ages to come. Thank you.

    Also, I agree with JenM's post above. These days, making more book purchases from smaller presses or indies is a good thing. Smashwords rocks. ^_^

    Link
  • marybelle March 6, 2011 at 2:20 am

    No matter which way you turn there is upheaval in the book industry – for everyone. I'm not sure I understand about Agency pricing – must read further.

    marypres@gmail.com

    Link
  • Sheree March 7, 2011 at 8:42 pm

    This agency pricing is just making me want to stay with my paper books…

    And only 26 times?! What were they on? Some of the more popular titles at the library can have a waiting list of over 50 users!

    Link
Previous Post
« Next Post
»
© 2011 - 2024 Book Lovers Inc. Powered by Wordpress
Luvo designed by Internet Marketing In conjunction with Template Wordpress , R4 DS , Best SUV.