Kindle

On Sunday, a letter denouncing Amazon’s tactics in the ongoing negotiations between it and book publisher Hachette ran as a paid, full-page advertisement in the New York Times. Signed by more than 900 authors, the “Authors United” letter calls Amazon out for blocking sales of Hachette titles, singling out authors “for selective retaliation” and “inconveniencing Continue Reading →

Out here in the woods, at the end of not one but two dirt roads, in a shack equipped with a picture of the Dalai Lama, a high-speed data line and a copy of Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,” Amazon’s dream of dominating the publishing world has run into some trouble. Douglas Preston, who summers in this Continue Reading →

Amazon is finally providing some explanation for its ongoing dispute with the publisher Hachette, explaining that it’s taken issue over Hachette’s insistence on pricing ebooks above $9.99. In a note on Tuesday, Amazon explained that it’s not actually looking for a particularly large share of the revenue on ebook sales: it’s only interested in taking Continue Reading →

They include some of the biggest literary names on the planet, among them Stephen King, Donna Tartt, Paul Auster, James Patterson and John Grisham; a Pulitzer prize winner in Jennifer Egan; and four from this year’s Man Booker longlist, Joshua Ferris, Karen Joy Fowler, Siri Hustvedt and Joseph O’Neill. Then there are first-time writers, historians, Continue Reading →

When word first got out about Amazon’s (then-rumored) Kindle Unlimited, I was more than a little excited. Unlimited e-books! $10 a month! I’m going to read everything all of the time, forever! When the program actually rolled out, I was underwhelmed. Yes, having access to 600,000 books for $10 a month is a ridiculously good Continue Reading →

So, you’ve signed up for Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited service and now you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by what’s on offer? That’s OK; it’s not often that you’re faced with the sudden availability of over 600,000 digital books to sample at once. If you’ve spent the weekend scrolling through your reading options in a nervous haze, Continue Reading →

True to the webpages uncovered earlier in the week, Amazon has unveiled a new e-book subscription service. Dubbed Kindle Unlimited, the service gives access to both e-books and audiobooks, though with restrictions on the latter. Kindle Unlimited is priced at $9.99 per month with a 30-day free trial, and it allows users to read any Continue Reading →

Amazon is testing an ebook and audiobook subscription service called “Kindle Unlimited” that offers “unlimited access to over 600,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks on any device for just $9.99 a month.” Most of the test pages were pulled down Wednesday after some users on the Kindle Boards noticed them, but they are still available Continue Reading →

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday said it is suing Amazon over the way the retail giant lets kids use real money to buy “coins,” “acorns” and other digital goods on devices like the Kindle Fire. The lawsuit, filed in Seattle, comes after Amazon defiantly stated that it would take its chances in federal court Continue Reading →

Amazon has found itself on tense terms with publishers as it begins to really use its size and power to gain favorable terms in distribution deals, notably with the major publisher Hachette. Now, the BBC and trade publication The Bookseller are reporting that Amazon is attempting to introduce some strong new terms in its contracts Continue Reading →