Why Italy is charging higher VAT on ebooks without an ISBN

Posted on6 Comments

In their most recent email reminder regarding changes in VAT in the EU, Amazon added a footnote regarding Italy: that also of January 1st, Italy has implemented new legislation that charges a higher rate of VAT on ebooks that do not have an ISBN. eBooks that do not contain an ISBN are charged 22% VAT, while ebooks with an ISBN are charged a rate of only 4%. Before the indie forums light up with declarations that this is a war on ebooks and/or Amazon or Kobo (where ebooks can be Read More …

B&N’s new Nook Press: who owns your ebook?

Posted onLeave a comment

Barnes and Noble’s new Nook Press platform is making headlines among bloggers, but what I haven’t seen addressed yet is what happens to your original content if you decide to leave Nook Press. The Terms and Conditions state that: You hereby grant to Barnes & Noble, its distributors, licensees and partners a non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable right and license to make your eBooks available for sale, marketing, display, distribution and promotion in any commercially available electronic or digitized format or on any electronic device platform whether now existing or hereafter created Read More …

UK publisher Pearson invest in Nook

Posted onLeave a comment

Barnes & Noble’s Nook have slowly been making inroads into the UK market, selling their ereaders at grocery chain Sainsbury’s and through the bookstore chain Blackwells. Now it seems things are looking up for B&N with today’s announcement that UK publisher Pearson has bought a 5% stake in Nook Media for $89.5M. Previously, Microsoft had invested in Nook Media, which have been aggressively pursuing the academic market in the U.S., with Microsoft now owning a 16.8% share in the company. In the UK I expect to see B&N adopt the Read More …

Microsoft buy portion of B&N’s Nook

Posted onLeave a comment

Just a few months ago it was rumored that B&N would no longer develop the Nook, and Nook owners were worried about the fate of their devices. Today, it was announced that Microsoft have bought a 17.6% stake in the company, and plans are to integrate the Nook into the Windows operating system. On the surface this seems like exciting news, but with the advance criticism of Microsoft’s Windows 8 already making the rounds, it will be interesting to see how lucrative, if at all, this deal is for B&N. Read More …

ISBNs and the self-publisher Part I: the ISBN system

Posted onLeave a comment

(This is modified text from The Global Indie Author.) The ISBN System ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. The rules and regulations governing the use and distribution of ISBNs are determined by the International ISBN Agency, based in London. The international agency allots ISBNs to national agencies, who in turn allot them to their publishers; thus, a publisher cannot acquire an ISBN from a foreign national agency: a British publisher, for example, cannot buy an ISBN from the American ISBN agency and vice versa. Publishers then assign their ISBNs Read More …

The battle for ebook supremacy: Amazon versus everybody else

Posted on10 Comments

While self-publishing my novel, Baby Jane, to Amazon’s Kindle was relatively easy, publishing to the other devices is proving more challenging. Sony, who own the eReader, Apple, who own the iBookstore, Kobo, which is mostly owned by Indigo Books and Music Inc., and Barnes & Noble, who own the Nook, have all adopted business policies that exclude small publishers and self-publishing authors or, as in the Nook and iBookstore, have installed barriers that make it difficult for non-Americans (or non-Mac users) to sell on the their sites. Sony and Kobo Read More …