ASA advises authors to send takedown notices to piracy site
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) is advising authors to contact piracy website Ebook Bike and request the removal of their titles. The ASA is 'deeply concerned' by the site's...
EU council allows VAT-free status for ebooks and audiobooks
The European Union’s (EU) Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) has agreed to allow all EU member states to reduce the amounts of value-added tax (VAT) on ebooks and audiobooks,...
Oceanofpdf piracy website returns
US-hosted ebook piracy website Oceanofpdf, which was recently shut down, has returned under a .net domain, reports the Bookseller. The Bookseller reported on 22 August that the website was offering...
Oceanofpdf piracy website taken down
US-hosted ebook piracy website Oceanofpdf, which was giving away ebooks for free, has been shut down, reports the Bookseller. The site, which was active for seven months, had offered thousands...
India reduces GST on ebooks
In India, the GST Council has announced that GST on ebooks will be reduced from 18% to 5%, but the lack of clarity has left publishers ‘perplexed’, reports the Hindu. The...
PLR to extend to ebooks and audio in UK
In the UK, Public Lending Rights (PLR) will be extended to include ebooks and audiobooks borrowed from libraries, reports the Bookseller. Effective from 1 July, the change means authors will...
‘Netflix for books’ launches in Australia
A new ebook and audiobook membership service has launched in Australia, after launching in the UK last November. Using a membership-based model, Bookchoice allows users to download up to eight...
International library news
PRH consolidates library ebook terms Penguin Random House (PRH) has announced that all ebooks sold to libraries in the US and Canada from 2016 will be supplied under the Random...
New ebook tracking and analytics platform demonstrated at DBW
UK ebook discovery company Jellybooks has demonstrated its ebook tracking and analytics platform at the Digital Book World (DBW) conference in New York, reports the Digital Reader. The platform encourages...
Nielsen study finds teens lag adults in ebook uptake
In the US, teen readers aged 13-17 are lagging behind adults when it comes to their uptake of ebooks, according to a study from Nielsen. The study found 20% of teens are purchasing...
Apple reveals 2014 top-selling iBook titles for Australia
The Apple iBooks store has released lists of its most downloaded fiction and nonfiction titles in Australia in 2014. The four highest selling fiction books have each had a film...
UK survey finds cheap ebooks boosts overall reading
A UK survey conducted by market research company Mintel has found that one in four (26%) ebook buyers are reading more because ebooks are cheaper than paperbacks. Among younger ebook readers (aged...
Canadian ebook sales plateau
In Canada, digital publisher BookNet has ‘paused’ its consumer survey on ereading because of a plateau in ebook sales, reports Publishers Weekly. ‘The numbers we’re hearing for ebook unit sales is...
Report finds 31% of ebooks sold on Amazon are self-published
A report from lobby group Author Earnings has found that 31% percent of ebooks sold on Amazon over the past three months were self-published, reports the Telegraph. According to the...
App, app and away: Interactive ebooks and apps for kids
At home and in the classroom, kids are swiping their way through a range of interactive ebooks and apps. Carody Culver spoke to Australian publishers about digital developments in children’s...
Apple proposes US$400 million settlement in ebook pricing case
Apple has proposed to pay consumers US$400 million (A$428 million) in damages as part of its ebook price-fixing case with US states and consumers, reports Publishers Weekly. The consumer payment is contingent on...
Forty-four percent of New Zealanders enjoy print and ebooks ‘equally’, report finds
A new survey has found that 35% of New Zealanders prefer reading print books, 22% prefer ebooks and 44% prefer ‘both equally’, reports Stuff.co.nz. The survey of a ‘nationally representative’...
Almost all public libraries can lend ebooks but over half ‘less than satisfied’ with content
The Australian Public Library Alliance (APLA) has released a report on ebook lending in Australian libraries that finds 97% of all Australian public libraries can now lend ebooks. This is...
Amazon has 78% share of ebooks at Hachette UK, 60% at Hachette US
Amazon has a 78% market share of Hachette’s ebooks list in the UK and a 60% share of its ebooks list in the US, an Investor Day presentation by Hachette...
International library news
Connecticut State Library to create state-wide ebook collection In the US, legislators in the state of Connecticut have passed a bill for the Connecticut State Library’s board of trustees to...