HarperCollins is considering selling interactive ad space in factual e-books, New Media Age reports. The ads would be limited to books that convey factual information, rather than fiction titles. HarperCollins group digital director and publisher David Roth-Ey explains: “Certain kinds of books create immersive reading experiences whereby ads would be too interruptive for readers, and publishers and even advertisers aren’t likely to put a premium on that. But information books, for example a Collins birds guide, could provide very valuable real estate for contextual advertising - in this case potentially a binoculars manufacturer.” Other...

We had previously reported about HarperCollins shameful release of this ebook, which they clearly had not bothered to proofread.  This afternoon I received the following email from Amazon about its replacement.  I don't know if other formats have been replaced as well. Hello, We are happy to announce that an updated version of your past Kindle purchase of Snuff by Terry Pratchett is now available. The version you received had typos that have been corrected. You can receive the new version by replying to this email with the word "Yes" in the first line of your...

Thanks to E-Reads for publishing this important announcement in full (blockquotes omitted): n a first from a major trade publisher, HarperCollins Publishers today announced “Comprehensive Backlist.” This program will allow all physical bookstores, from the largest to the smallest, to promote and sell the HarperCollins backlist through in-store “Digital-to-Print at Retail” (DPR) using the Espresso Book Machine (EBM). The program will enable bookstores to offer thousands of trade paperback books from the HarperCollins catalog through a mix of traditionally printed books and DPR, as space and cash flow restrictions will no longer be a...

From The Guardian: Novelist Polly Courtney has dropped her publisher HarperCollins for giving her books "condescending and fluffy" covers aimed at the chick lit market. Courtney self-published Golden Handcuffs, a fictional exposé of life in the City, in 2006 after quitting her job as an investment banker, following it up in 2008 with Poles Apart, about an ambitious Polish graduate who moves to London. Their success helped land her a three-book deal with HarperCollins imprint Avon, but at the launch of the third book, It's A Man's World, she announced that she would not be working with the publisher...

From The Bookseller: HarperCollins e-book sales now comprise 11% of its total revenue, the company has said following parent NewsCorp's latest results. As has now become customary, figures for HarperCollins were not stripped out. There was no mention of the publisher either in NewsCorp's results for the year to 30th June 2011. ... Children's had its second best ever year and e-books comprise 12% of total sales in the US across the last 12 months. However, it added for its most recent quarter, e-books comprised 19% of US sales and 11% of worldwide. ...

The following is the full press release issued by the law firm in this important lawsuit.  As a former corporate lawyer who used to teach antitrust law to my fellow employees, I must say that I'm surprised that it took so long for someone to do this.  On its face, the current arrangement seems to be a pretty clear violation of the antitrust laws related to price fixing and certainly also contains strong elements of conspiracy.  I would be pretty nervous if I were the publishers' lawyers. SAN FRANCISCO – Hagens Berman, a consumer rights class-action law firm, today announced it...

Digital Book World has a ten minute video interview with Brian Murray, CEO of HarperCollins, where he talks about how the publisher is experimenting with new business models in the digital age. It's worth watching the full interview, but this is what he has to say about HarperCollins' controversial library lending policy: Libraries are a really important channel for HarperCollins. We’ve talked about discovery of books and libraries are where a lot of discovery happens in many communities across the country. So HarperCollins is committed to that library channel. The challenge is that we’re trying to balance the needs of all...

During the just concluded ALA 2011 Conference in New Orleans the ALA OITP (Office of Information Technology Policy) eBook Task Force talked with senior HarperCollins staff*** about a number of important issues. The discussion came about after the HarperCollins team suggested that both groups get together during the OITP eBook Task Force Business Meeting. What follows is a report about what was discussed during the meeting. It was written by Peter Brantley and shared with INFOdocket. Brantley is a member of the OITP task force. He’s also the Director of the Bookserver Project for the Internet Archive and a former executive director of the Digital...

From The Bookseller: Stuart MacBride is to write two digital exclusive projects after signing a deal with HarperCollins. Sarah Hodgson, deputy publishing director, bought rights from Philip Patterson at Marjacq Scripts. The first book,Sawbones, will be published as an e-book on 24th October. MacBride wrote the US-set novella several years ago aimed at reluctant readers. Between 1st-12th December 2011, HarperCollins will publish 12 Days of Winter, a series of 12 interlinked crime stories. The full collection will go on sale on the 12th, as well as a downloadable audio edition. ...

Change.org has an article quoting best-selling authors Marilyn Johnson, Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, Judith McQuown, Orel Protopopescu, Christopher Norris, Kate Douglas, Marie Brennan and Ryk E. Spoor about their distaste for HarperCollins new ebook library policy.  Most of the authors quoted have actually been published by HarperCollins.  Here's the full article by Carol Scott (Creative Commons Licensed): Asked in February what he thought of HarperCollins' decision to cash in on libraries by selling them "self-destructing" e-books, literary superstar Neil Gaiman tweeted back in just five words: "I think it's incredibly disappointing." HarperCollins author Gaiman - best known for novels Coraline and Stardust, as well as the...

HarperCollins ceo, Victoria Barnsley, says that the 7% drop in the retail value of paperback fiction this year is "almost entirely" dut to the sale of ebooks, even though the combined sale of ebooks and print books has increased. In an article in The Bookseller she says: "The signs are that consumers expect e-books to be priced considerably lower than physical books. There's no easier way to drive an e-book up the charts than by massive price reductions," she said. Whereas in a bricks and mortar environment other factors, like the look and feel of books and recommendations from booksellers, can influence...

That's the number on the counter from this petition site. From the site: On March 7, 2011, the publisher HarperCollins instituted an expiration policy on eBooks that are licensed to libraries. Under this new arrangement, eBooks would "self-destruct" after being checked out 26 times. This would require libraries to re-purchase the eBook if they wanted to continue to make it available.Libraries across the country are boycotting future purchases of HarperCollins eBooks, but our voices alone will not change their policy. We need...