kindle unlimitedOn Reading an Author’s Work In (and Out) of Order (Book Riot)
Would it be better to begin this relationship in the back catalog, where the right deep cut can make up for a multitude of lesser tracks, or do you opt to start where you are and grow together while also looking back? Which makes for a more lasting bond?
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Finland Abolishes Copyright Levy on Digital Devices (Techdirt)
As we’ve noted before, copyright levies — effectively a tax on blank storage media — are becoming ever-more anachronistic and unworkable. So it’s good to hear about a country doing the sensible thing and getting rid of them entirely…
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The eReader Industry Year in Review, 2014 (GoodeReader)
There has been massive upheaval in the e-reader industry over the course of 2014. Sony abandoned making e-readers for consumers and closed their longstanding digital bookstore. Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo all released brand new devices in the United States and most incorporated brand new technology. Over in Europe, things have been getting more progressive with prices coming down and more features that appeal to the serious book reader.
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JA Konrath Decamps from Kindle Unlimited (The Digital Reader)
Noted author and firebrand JA Konrath was one of the first indie authors recruited by Amazon to join KDP Select when it launched with Kindle Owner’s Lending Library in late 2011 and now he’s the latest high profile indie author to make an exit.
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Kindle Daily Deal: 12 Days of Deals (and others)

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"I’m a journalist, a teacher and an e-book fiend. I work as a French teacher at a K-3 private school. I use drama, music, puppets, props and all manner of tech in my job, and I love it. I enjoy moving between all the classes and having a relationship with each child in the school. Kids are hilarious, and I enjoy watching them grow and learn. My current device of choice for reading is my Amazon Kindle Touch, but I have owned or used devices by Sony, Kobo, Aluratek and others. I also read on my tablet devices using the Kindle app, and I enjoy synching between them, so that I’m always up to date no matter where I am or what I have with me."

2 COMMENTS

  1. Along with all that global good news is some quite bad news for digital books. The prices of many ebooks purchased by the members of EU countries will take a big jump upward come January 1.

    The reason is that on that date the EU requires that those who purchase ebooks pay the VAT in their home country rather than the selling country. Major ebook retailers such as Amazon and Apple had contrived to be in Luxembourg where the ebook VAT is only 3%. It’ll now typically be 20% or higher.

    That matters because the VAT comes out of the retail price rather than being tacked on afterward like the American sales tax. That means that, if an author’s ebook retail price isn’t raised, authors and publishers will be getting about 20% less per sale next year.

    Amazon is taking care of that change for all its Kindle authors. Existing books will have their prices automatically raised. Apple is leaving that to iBooks authors and publishers, which is a real pain.

    I know. I spent about an hour yesterday raising my iBooks prices. I’d intended to raise them by the VAT for each country. But because of Apple’s fixed X.99 prices, I couldn’t do that. I had to raise them to the next price level, which means the prices will be going up about 25%. The amount of increase depended on their currency. Euro countries got a specific increase. Those using other currencies got the closest match Apple offered. Both Amazon and Apple need to offer more price choices, perhaps X.49 as well as X.99 at the lower price levels.

    The two exceptions to my EU-country price hike were Luxemborg, whose VAT is a mere 3% and France, which has had the good sense to establish a special VAT for ebooks of 5%. I decided that it wouldn’t have been fair to raise their prices by some five times their taxes. If most authors and publishers do that, it’ll pressure the other EU countries to adopt a special and lower VAT for ebooks.

    I also took into account for the first time the VAT in non-EU countries. Norway, where the VAT is about 25%, got the same price increase as EU countries. Switzerland, where the VAT on ebooks is 8% didn’t. I’m now getting roughly the same per-sale income across Europe.

    Apple has blundered badly in this. Their bulk price change window worked inconsistently, so I had to change each country one at a time. And in every case, all I was doing for all the clicking here and clicking there was simply selecting the next-higher price category.

    Apple should have offered iBooks authors three easy options:

    1. For every EU country, raise every ebook price to the next level. That’s typically about 25% at the lower prices. It might need to be two or three at higher prices.

    2. For every EU country but the lower VAT countries (Luxembourg and France) raise the price to the next higher category. That’s being fair to the differences between the countries.

    3. Make no change in the price. The author or publisher soaks the VAT to keep European prices after the VAT looking closer to those before sales tax prices in other countries. I’m not sure why anyone would want to do that, but it is an option.

    That’d not only be easier for authors, by not doing that, Apple will face a problem. In the coming months the iBooks support team is likely to be flooded with authors angry about their royalties seriously dropping off. Not everyone will get the word about this change.

    It may be possible for some Europeans to contrive purchasing from low VAT countries. My nephew is with the US Navy in Italy, but he buys online as if he lived in the U.S.

    –Michael W. Perry, Lily’s Ride and My Nights with Leukemia. Get them before they go up.

  2. I should have said more about what Amazon is doing given the EU VAT changes. You can find their explanation here:

    https://kdp.amazon.com/community/ann.jspa?annID=646

    This is their summary:
    ——
    Starting January 1st, for any titles already published in KDP, we will make a one-time adjustment to convert VAT-exclusive list prices provided to us to VAT-inclusive list prices. Subject to minimum and maximum thresholds, we will add the applicable VAT based on the primary country of the marketplace to the VAT-exclusive list price provided. For example, if an author had previously set £5.00 as the VAT-exclusive list price for amazon.co.uk, the new VAT-inclusive list price will be £6.00 because the applicable VAT rate for sales to the UK is 20%. Please note, if an author had set a consistent VAT-exclusive list price for all Euro based Kindle stores, those prices will now be different due to varying VAT rates for the primary country of each Kindle store. For example, if an author had previously provided a €6.00 VAT-exclusive list price for Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, and Amazon.it Kindle stores, the list prices including VAT will be €7.14 (19% VAT), €6.33 (5.5% VAT), €7.26 (21% VAT), and €7.32 (22% VAT) respectively.

    There is no action required, however we recommend authors review their list prices that include the new VAT on January 1st when these changes go into effect to determine if they want to make any updates.
    ——

    As you might expect, setting prices in the future will grow more complicated, particularly given Amazon’s variable royalty rate. These complications in a EU market that was supposed to make cross-border sales easier are why some are calling for a lower ebook VAT that’s the same in every country, not the current greater-than-eight-fold difference.

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