1,000,000 books to be given away

20,000 book lovers will give away 1,000,000 books on the inaugural World Book Night which will take place on Saturday 5 March 2011 and will be broadcast in partnership with BBC Two.

An independent editorial committee composed of a broad mix of booksellers, librarians, authors, broadcasters and other individuals selected the 25 titles to be given away to the public on World Book Night. Prior to this, the book trade was canvassed for recommendations and hundreds of lists were received.

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Fake book reviews on Amazon?

Publishers are being accused of hijacking Amazon's customer book reviews to praise their own volumes and disparage the opposition.

We have been aware that authors have been organising favourable reviews for their books, but now it seems to have taken on a whole new dimension - it has been reported that authors are turning on each other, agencies are charging up to £5,000 to place favourable fake reviews and Amazon has recruited a team of amateur critics to restore the balance.

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Amazon takes on publishers over eBook prices

Amazon has posted an open letter to Kindle owners on its website urging customers to 'vote with their purchaes' against publishers who set fixed prices for electronic editions.

Lorry crashes into Lyme Regis Hotel

Three people were injured when a Royal Mail Lorry crashed into the Mariners Hotel. Beatrix Potter wrote The Tale of Little Pig Robinson while staying at the Mariners Hotel when she was 17. Many of the illustrations are based on the spectacular scenery in and around Lyme Regis. Tracy Chevalier used the Mariners Hotel as one of the locations in Remarkable Creatures.
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£2m restoration plan for John Fowles' Lyme Regis house

The Landmark Trust has applied to West Dorset Council for Listed Building Consent for their plans to restore Belmont House to its eighteenth-century villa form as owned by Mrs Eleanor Coade (1733-1821), the remarkable businesswoman responsible for the invention of Coade stone.

In the 1880s, two large rear wings were added to the house by a local doctor. These became dilapidated and were largely removed in the 1960s. The Landmark Trust has concluded that the remnants of these later extensions so compromise the intent of the original eighteenth-century seaside villa that their removal is justified.

Once restored the building will be available for self-catering holidays for eight people, so assuring an income for its future maintenance. Working with the Lyme Regis Philpot Museum, the Landmark Trust also plans to open a museum room in the former coach house which will be devoted to the house’s past inhabitants.

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Campaign for real books

CAMBO, a campaign for real books was announced this week. The brainchild of a trade journalist, this subscription-based, non-profit making organisation's aim is 'to preserve, promote and increase sales of paper books, both old and new'.

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Actors required for literary roles in Lyme Regis

A literary-themed night for the Lyme Regis Artsfest is being held on the 1 October, but three cast members have 'dropped out' due to other working commitments. Unfortunately, the show can't go on if they are not replaced. So, if you are a budding Mary Anning, Bilbo Baggins or Tom Jones and would like to take part in this voluntary project, please contact natalie.manifold@hotmail.co.uk

Also see:
Lyme Regis Literary Events

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World's most expensive book up for sale

A rare copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America is to go on sale at Sotheby's.

Only 119 complete copies of the 19th-century book are known to exist - and 108 are owned by museums and libraries. A separate edition of the wildlife book sold for a record-breaking price of $8.8m (£5.7m) a decade ago.

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Bibio introduces commission-free, dealer-to-dealer sales

Sales to other Biblio sellers are now commission free providing you give a minimum 5 per cent dealer-to-dealer discount. Biblio is going to fund this by phasing out fulfillment discounts and cashback purchasing incentives.

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Children's authors go it alone

Children’s authors are side-stepping 'risk-averse' traditional publishing houses and establishing their own initiatives to get their books to market. A number of established authors, including Lucy Daniel Raby, are not being published who would have been published five years ago and are looking at different ways to market.

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Lyme Regis' oldest bookshop closes

Serendip Fine Books in Broad Street, owned by Marguerite Chapman, has closed after over 40 years of trading.

The shop's façade (see above) had been left as dressed for the shooting of The French Lieutenant's Woman (1982).

It's always sad when a bookshop closes, but all is not lost because we hear that it is to be taken over by Chris and Bee Paignton who run The Archway Bookshop in Axminster. They plan to re-open the shop 20 October.

In the meantime Marguerite Chapman is looking for a small shop in Lyme Regis so that she can continue selling secondhand books.

We will keep you posted on any developments over the next few weeks.

Bookshops in the Lyme Regis area
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Oxford English Dictionary 'will not be printed again'

The next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, the world’s most definitive work on the language, will never be printed because of the impact of the internet on book sales.

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Amazon Marketplace Disbursements

Your earnings are automatically transferred to your bank account every two weeks and take about a week to appear in your account. You can also initiate a transfer once every twenty-four hours. Some sellers 'disburse' once a week and others every day.

When deciding on how often you should transfer your funds, it's worth bearing in mind how much money you can afford not to access for up to 30 days. The reason for this is that if Amazon suspects that there are any problems with your account, they will suspend your account first and ask questions later. An account can be suspended for something as small as your credit card expiring as well as more serious breaches of their terms and conditions.

If it is only your credit card that has expired, you can get access to your account soon after you supply the revised details or register a different card.

Unfortunately, Amazon only let you know that there is a problem with you card when you try to do something like disbursing your earnings. In this case you will receive an email telling you that “Your Amazon.co.uk Marketplace deposit is on its way”, but within the hour you will receive another email telling you that your disbursement has been delayed. In reality, the payment has reversed and you won't be able to initiate a another transfer of funds for 24 hours.

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Book Depository's sales rise 20 per cent

The Book Depository's sales in its latest financial year have increased by more than 20 per cent to £74.2m. For the year ending June 2010, sales increased by more than £12.7m. The internet retailer, which won the BDS Direct Bookselling Award at the Bookseller Industry Awards in May, refused to disclose profits for the business.

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Waterstone's to open bar and restaurants

Waterstone's is opening a new bar and restaurant in its Manchester Deansgate branch and a new café in its Cambridge Sydney Street branch.

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EU responds to Amazon Price Parity complaint

The European Commission has responded to MEP Graham Watson's Parliamentary Question on concerns about Amazon's Price Parity policy:

The Commission wishes to inform the Honourable Member that the Commission follows very closely the developments in the market for the online sales of books and is aware of Amazon's price policy.

As regards compliance with competition rules, Article 101 TFEU prohibits anti-competitive agreements between two or more companies. In this case, it concerns a unilateral decision taken by Amazon. Therefore, it appears that Article 101 is not applicable. Article 102 TFEU prohibits companies with a dominant market position from abusing their position. However, the Commission has not assessed whether Amazon has a dominant position. The Commission is hence not in a position at this stage to take a view on whether or not Amazon's price policy is in line with EU competition rules.

As far as small book retailers are concerned, the Commission would like to inform the Honourable Member that so far it has not received any formal complaints in the matter of Amazon's price parity. The Commission will continue to monitor the developments in the market for the online sales of books so as to ensure that competition and level playing field is preserved amongst all market players.

This response raises a number of interesting points:

• Although Price Parity was initially a unilateral decision taken by Amazon, what happens if a company which sells on Amazon Marketplace complies with the policy? Would this be considered to be an 'agreement between two or more companies' and would it put the seller in breach of Article 101 TFEU?


• Although Article 102 TFEU prohibits companies with a dominant market position from abusing their position, it was surprising to hear that the Commission has not assessed whether a major player like Amazon has a dominant position.


• What constitutes a formal complaint? We know of several sellers who have complained through their MEP and we also know that the IOBA wrote a letter of complaint to the European Commission.

Graham Watson has written directly to the Commissioner to register the concerns that have been expressed to him and to ask the Commission to investigate Amazon's market position and policy. He also said that he will continue to pursue this important matter with the Commission, and will keep the bookselling community updated with any progress.

The question of how vigorously Amazon are enforcing their Price Parity policy still remains. We know that they have added a 'Tell us about a lower price' link on their product pages, but that would only be effective for new books. There is no mention of Price Parity in the Amazon.com Terms and Conditions - and Amazon Germany does not enforce Price Parity for books. We have seen no evidence - apart from The Book Depository's apparent departure - of any seller being warned about non compliance. Please let us know if you have any information regarding Amazon's enforcement of this policy. You can do this anonymously by adding a comment to this article.

Also see:
Amazon introduces Price Parity policy
Amazon Referred to European Commission
Amazon Price Parity Does Not Apply to Books...
Amazon Introduces 'Tell us about a lower price'
Has 'The Book Depository' left Amazon?
Copy of the IOBA's letter of complaint

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A.S. Byatt and John Carey win oldest book prizes

Novelist A.S. Byatt and critic John Carey have been announced as the winners of Britain's oldest literary awards. They were awarded James Tait Black Memorial Prizes which are for best work of fiction and the best biography published during the previous 12 months.

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Used book sales on the up

A poor economy drives supply and demand according to a report by Publishers Weekly. For example, Alibris had a great 2009 with double-digit growth and is still seeing growth overall in 2010.

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UK Book sales reach 15 month high

Book sales have been higher than last year for the fourth consecutive week, the first time the market has experienced continuous growth over a four-week period for almost 15 months.

According to Nielsen BookScan's 'Total Consumer Market' panel of some 6,500 UK book retail outlets, just over £2.5m more has been spent on books over the four-weeks to 14th August period in 2010 than last year — up 2.1%, and up 3.3% on the same period in 2008.

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US publisher to abandon traditional publishing

Dorchester Publishing Inc, announced that it was abandoning traditional publishing and moving over entirely to POD and e-books. Last year sales dropped 25 per cent.

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Video of in-store Print on Demand machine

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Wylie's exclusive eBook deal with Amazon

Last week's news of literary agent Andrew Wylie's exclusive agreement with Amazon.com to publish Kindle editions of 20 backlist titles by notable writers represented by Wylie provoked strong reactions among some major publishers and elicited extensive industry discussion regarding the implications of this agreement.

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Apple faces lawsuit over 'iPad is like a book' claim

Apple is a facing a class action lawsuit in California from consumers who feel that Apple's claim that 'reading on the iPad is just like reading a book,' is false. The claim was filed last week claiming that because the iPad overheats after prolonged use and its poor visibility in sunlight prevent it from living up to Apple's marketing promise. There is a link to the actual legal document (PDF format) within the link below:

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Amazon.com Marketplace launches shipping service

Except that it isn't really a shipping service and it isn't FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon). It's just an online postage buying service - much like PayPal have been doing for some time now. Sellers buy postage through their Manage Orders pages by clicking the Buy Postage button under the order's Product Details section.

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This weekend's PBFA Book Fairs

FORFAR 2010
Saturday, 7 August, 10.00am-5.00pm
Reid Hall, Castle Street, Forfar, DD8 3HX
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BALLATER 2010
Sunday, 8 August, 10.00am-5.00pm
Victoria Hall, Station Square, Ballater, AB35 5QB
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LONDON HOLIDAY INN AUGUST 2010
Sunday, 8 August, Noon-5.00pm
Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury, Coram Street, London WC1N 1HT
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Biggest U.S. book chain up for sale

Barnes and Noble in the USA is struggling and is considering a sale of the America’s largest bookstore chain.

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Feedback plummets on Amazon Marketplace

Many Amazon Marketplace sellers are reporting a significant drop in the amount of feedback that they are receiving from their customers. One of the reasons for this is that Amazon do not allow customers to leave feedback until 48 hours after despatch. Although this prevents impatient customers from leaving negative feedback too early for non delivery, it does have the effect of penalising efficient sellers and frustrating customers who want to leave feedback as soon as they receive their order.

Amazon's responses to seller complaints have - to say the least - been varied:

"Feedback issue being addressed... highest priority."

"There is a delay for leaving feedback. Buyers must wait the estimated delivery time has been concluded before leaving feedback to ensure that buyer has received the item prior to leaving feedback."

"If your buyers are having trouble leaving feedback, please ask them to contact our customer service department. Their phone number is 0800 496 1081."

"No issue - buyer in question needs clear details on 'How to leave feedback'."

And Amazon's response to a buyer complaint (edited to correct the English):

"As you know you can leave feedback only when estimated delivery date has passed. We have set this time frame based on inputs from sellers [!] and various resources."

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Has 'The Book Depository' left Amazon?

During my recent browsings of of the the Amazon.co.uk website, I realised that I hadn't seen any listings by The Book Depository. An example of this is Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. The Book Depository would normally list a popular book like this on Amazon, but they have listed it only on their own site at a penny less than Amazon. I wonder if they have decided to leave rather than comply with Amazon's Price Parity policy? Please add a comment to this article if you have any information on The Book Depository's compliance with Price Parity.

Amazon introduces new Pricing Policy
The Book Depository
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Penguin celebrates 75 years of publishing

Current Penguin chief executive and chairman John Makinson credits Sir Allen Lane as the man who changed the reading habits of a nation:

"When Allen Lane founded Penguin in 1935 he had a pretty simple, but pretty radical idea: make great literature available to everyone at an affordable price and for it to appeal not just to the wallet, but to literary taste and the eye, with beautifully designed jackets and style," says Mr Makinson.

"Although they were not the first paperbacks, they were truly innovative and captured the imagination."

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New Forest Book Fair

Saturday 31 July, Lyndhurst Community Centre.

A mix of stock from booksellers from across the southern counties and beyond, including first editions, aviation, military, natural history, the arts, and general stock - also ordnance and antiquarian maps and prints.

Early trade buyers may use free car park through a five-bar gate beyond the main entrance. For further details please email enquiries@fairharebooks.com or call 023 80781927.

PBFA Book Fair, Exeter

To be held Sunday, 1 August, 10:30 – 16:00, Matthews Hall, Topsham EX3 0HF

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Tracy Chevalier Sells 'Remarkable Creatures' Film Rights

Tracy Chevalier (The Girl with the Golden Earring) has sold the film rights to her book about Mary Anning who uncovers dinosaur fossils near her home at Lyme Regis and has a fight to be taken seriously. I wonder Remarkable Creatures will have the same effect on Lyme Regis as The French Lieutenant's Woman?

Dan Brown Breaks UK Sales Records

The paperback edition of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (Corgi) sold a massive 118,230 copies in just three days last week — the biggest ever first-week sale of a paperback novel. The Robert Langdon conspiracy thriller sold 27 copies per minute, on average, according to Nielsen BookScan data.

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Peter Carey Makes Man Booker Prize Longlist Again

Peter Carey, two-time winner of the Man Booker prize, is one of 13 authors to make the longlist for the 2010 award.

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New Design for Biblio Sites

Biblio has redesigned its Biblio.co.uk and Biblio.com sites. It does provide a better, more coherent look and, according to Biblio it is:

"...only the beginning steps of our longer term strategic plan to differentiate Biblio and its booksellers as the premier destination for book collectors and other discerning readers who share our passion for the book as a tangible object and for the independent bookstore as a cultural institution."

It's just a pity that so few customers seem to have heard of Biblio.

Amazon Introduces 'Tell us about a lower price'

If you go to one of the Amazon product pages and look at the bottom of the 'Product details' you'll notice that further opportunites for providing feedback have been added:

"Would you like to update product info, give feedback on images, or tell us about a lower price?"

The last one is particularly interesting because it gives a clue how Amazon might enforce Price Parity across the board without investing huge resources. Simply, it looks as if they are going to rely on customers and other sellers to report - in many cases unwittingly - those who are violating the Price Parity policy.

Amazon Price Parity Does Not Apply to Books...

Books have been exempted from this policy on Amazon.de's site in Germany and this is clearly stated in Amazons' Terms for their sellers...

Clause 2
Are the conditions for price parity for all items that I offer on Amazon EU platform?
The conditions for price parity are valid for all items that you offer on one of Amazon EU sales platforms. The price parity does not apply to the supply of books on Amazon.de. Other parity requirements (e.g. regarding customer service and return and refund policies apply), however, even for that product category. For sales of books that fall under the French law on fixed book prices, the terms and conditions apply to price parity too, but of course these products at the item prices to fixed prices to take account of the book trade. [sic]

[The auto-translation is a little muddled at the end but the main sentence is clear.]

Source: Sheppards Confidential Newsletter No. 163

Original German link: http://www.amazon.de/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200458420#all

Amazon Referred to European Commission

Graham Watson, MEP for West Dorset, has submitted a Parliamentary Question to the European Commission on Amazon's Price Parity policy:

“Online retailer Amazon has become a major retailer of books across the UK and wider EU. Its online market place has provided a valuable virtual shop window that has benefited many small specialist book retailers across the EU.

However is the Commission aware that Amazon is now demanding price parity from undertakings wishing to use this market place service, which will prevent undertakings from selling their products at a lower price than the price of the product on Amazon’s online market place? Does the Commission consider this could be damaging to small local book retailers that utilise Amazon? Does the Commission consider this decision to be inline with EU competition rules?”

Amazon introduces new Pricing Policy (Price Parity)

I run my own website and set prices to give me a fair return. I also list my stock on Amazon Marketplace and set prices higher to account for the Amazon selling fees. From 31 March, Amazon are introducing new terms and conditions which prevent sellers from pricing an item on other websites lower than they are selling it on Amazon. To comply with this, I will need to lower my prices on Amazon (and make a loss on many books) or raise prices on my own site which will reduce my sales and give my customers a worse deal.

Also see:
Amazon Referred to European Commission
Amazon Price Parity Does Not Apply to Books...
Amazon Introduces 'Tell us about a lower price'
Has 'The Book Depository' left Amazon?
Amazon Price Parity Does Not Apply to Books...
EU responds to Amazon Price Parity complaint


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