Little more than a day since the launch of paid Aussie titles in Apple’s local iBookstore, Borders has hit back with price cuts across their ebook range.
Due to the “old publishing” paradigm of geographical restriction, Borders in Australia can’t formally guarantee to beat Amazon’s price on ebooks, as they do (incl. postage) with paper books. However, a quick check of Borders.com.au reveals that they are selling most books cheaper than Amazon.
Parent company REDgroup Retail is the first to sign all of Australia’s major publishers to ebook deals, as well as many of the small indie publishers missing from the iBookstore.
In a release, James Webber, Managing Director – Ecommerce and Digital, said;
“Borders have agreements with 302 publishers with Australian rights eBooks. In quite a few cases Kobo have converted files for local publishers to help them enter the eBook market and meet local demand.”
So that gives Borders the best range in ebooks, and only “complete” set of local ebook deals with Australian publishers. Their ebook publisher list now includes Allen and Unwin, Harper Collins Australia, Hachette Australia, Macmillan Australia, Simon and Schuster Australia, Penguin Australia, Random House Australia, Mills and Boon/Harlequin Australia, Lonely Planet Text Publishing, Scribe, Black Inc, The Vulgar Press, Hardie Grant, Murdoch, University of Western Australia, Wakefied Press and Spinifex.
Out of 2.1 million titles, REDgroup’s Borders and Angus & Robertson sites have more than 236,000 titles for sale.
Strangely enough, despite this increased competition, yesterday it was revealed that Hachette Australia have employed the “agency model” here, and it seems the anti-competitive pricing model is set to make further inroads into the Australian market. Many indie publishers were also surprised and angered yesterday by the launch of local paid content into Apple’s iBookstore, saying their were promised inclusion, then left out in the cold.
Yesterday Apple also announced the hiring of Chris Burgess to the role of manager, iBooks Australia and New Zealand. Sources in the industry expressed surprise at the signing, saying Burgess, who has been in the role of general manager at ReadHowYouWant, is not particularly well-liked within local publishing.
Over at REDgroup Retail, yesterday it was announced that chief executive Dave Fenlon has resigned. Fenlon joined Angus & Robertson as general manager in January 2006, and an replacement hasn’t yet been named.
Editor’s Note: Jason Davis is an Australian journalist who also runs the Bookbee and EbookAnt sites. PB
