Several days ago I wrote an article about the astonishing price hikes inflicted on Australians by French usurers Hachette Livre.  So large, in fact, that the average of the prices samples was: 164%.  Macmillan's hike? Much larger. Astoundingly, believe it or not, there are even bigger ripoff merchants at work.  Most ebook readers will easily be able to guess the villain here. In fact, Macmillan jacked up their prices not long before xmas – ONLY IN AUSTRALIA. Unlike Orbit, Macmillan's websites are absolutely terrible from a reader point of view, without even an obvious book list, except in the case of the...

The French company, Hachette Livre, which owns of publishers of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy interest - Orbit and Orion - has recently become worse than the Grinch, instituting massive price rises for Australian readers. My particular interest is science fiction and fantasy, so those subgenres I have looked at due to greater familiarity.  Anyone wanting to do the same thing for crime, for example will find the same results. As a pricing sample, I decided to look at Orbit's 2011 book list, given they present their publication scheduled professionally and in an easy-to-read, accessible format.  Orion's website, in comparison, is pretty...

From Digireado. Much more in the article. After months of speculation Dymocks launched D Publishing Network  last night! Australia’s largest bookselling chain has launched a service to enable writers to to create, print, publish and commercially distribute their books and eBooks with Dymocks. Their web-based service allows anyone to become a published author with their books available on Dymocks.com.au and through Google ebooks. The bookselling chain will have the ability to choose some titles to be distributed through their bookshop. This last point will be a huge carrot to writers – a publishing service AND online distribution AND possibility of appearing in the chain stores...

From the press release: Booki.sh is this week launching ebook stores with: Gleebooks (NSW) Mary Ryan (Qld/NSW) Fullers (Tas) Books for Cooks (VIC) Avid Reader Australian ebook platform Booki.sh has launched ebook stores with five iconic, locally-owned independent booksellers. With a wide range of quality digital titles now available from more local, independent bookstores, these new partnerships vastly improve the ebook choices available to Australian readers. Booki.sh competes with global behemoths like Amazon, Apple and Google by keeping our focus disarmingly simple: provide the most delightful and accessible reading experience possible. To us, delightful and accessible...

From the Google Books blog (blockquotes omitted): Today, Google eBooks has landed in Australia, and whether you're a bookworm or casual reader, you're invited to stop by and stock up on some great reads for summer. We've got hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from, including plenty of best sellers, and more than two million free eBooks on top of that. It's easy to find great Australian authors like Kate Grenville, Thomas Keneally, Geraldine Brooks and Christos Tsiolkas. Google eBooks is all about choice: we're offering more titles and more ways...

From Goodereader: Kobo has formed a new partnership with Collins Booksellers in Australia to sell its new e-readers in over 50 different retail locations. Not only can you now buy the physical device but also Collins is opening a new eBook store, powered by Kobo. Starting this week Collins will start stocking the Kobo WIFI ($138) and Kobo Touch e-reader ($168). The company is also opening its ebook store later on this week as well. This would give customers the opportunities to buy the hardware and the books from the same retailer. Malcolm Neil, director...

The Technology and Games section of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s website has published a fairly long article called “The case for piracy.” In this article, Nick Ross looks at some of the reasons people feel driven to pirate. The article doesn’t actually touch on e-books per se—the majority of it seems to be about how badly Australian TV mangles imported TV shows and does not show international sports events live, though there are a couple of sections about the music and movie industries too—but the sort of media producer indifference (or even, as the article puts it, “contempt”)...

From The Bookseller: Google is close to launching an Australian version of its e-bookstore, the first time the digital company has expanded the service outside the United States. The move raises speculation that a UK launch could be imminent. Australian technology website Smarthouse reports: "The company is believed to be planning near-simultaneous launches of the e-bookstore in Canada, the UK and Australia." The report said Google began offering Australian publishers the ability to set selling prices and digital rights management conditions last month. Earlier this year, it also appointed an executive in Australia, Mark Tanner, who is...

The Register reports that Australian bookstore chain Dymocks is rolling out its own local Amazon-style end-to-end self-publishing solution. It will include all the traditional publishing services, such as book/e-book design, editing, cover art, and so on, and also e-book and print-on-demand delivery “anywhere in Australia.” It’s not clear exactly how much this service will cost, though judging from the article it will be aiming to undercut existing self-publishing operations that reportedly charge as much as $AU3,000 for a 100-book print run....

From the press release: PAN MACMILLAN AUSTRALIA announced today the launch of MOMENTUM, its new digital-only imprint. Momentum will publish an exciting and vibrant list of new works from established and emerging authors, as well as partnering with agents and individual copyright holders to digitally republish titles that are currently unavailable in print. Publishing ebooks and utilising print-on-demand (POD) technology, Momentum aims to make new and old books more accessible than ever before. Momentum will combine all the editorial expertise of a traditional publishing house with strong and highly focused marketing and promotion, at the same time embracing the international potential of...

From the OverDrive Digital Library Blog: Australian libraries with digital collections powered by OverDrive can now access more than 23,000 public domain titles for free through Project Gutenberg.  The titles can be read in any EPUB-compatible software and transferred to EPUB-capable eBook readers, including the Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble NOOK, or the Kobo eReader.  You’ll find classically popular titles like Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. For users, the Project Gutenberg collection will expand and improve ‘Virtual Branch’ websites by making thousands of EPUB eBooks available without waitlists or holds. Users...

The Gadgeteer is reporting that Dick Smith Electronics and Big W are showing Kindles available on their websites.  They will be shipping on August 29th.  Wifi only is going for AU$ 159 and 3G is going for AU$ 219.  ...