Harper Starts Selling Under New eBook Contracts, Often At Higher List Prices

PublishersLunch

At least some new pricing for ebooks started Monday, in advance of any indication from the courts whether an appeal might stay formal imposition of the settlement with the Department of Justice. As spokesperson Erin Crum told Publishers Lunch Monday afternoon, "HarperCollins has reached agreements with our e-retailers that are consistent with the final judgment." One reason to initiate new contracts as soon as possible is to get the process over with; each publisher must wait two years after execution of new contracts, whenever that occurs, before being able to return to unimpeded agency.

The results of those new agreements--including new, often higher list prices on Harper ebooks, as well as discounts on at least some of those ebooks--are reflected in many major ebookstores. Be warned, however, that many accounts you will read are either incomplete or simply wrong.

As Harper says in the statement above, they have reached new agreements broadly with their ebook accounts. This is not a story just about Amazon, and to paint it that way is a serious misrepresentation. The confusing part is that the implementation appears to vary among ebook accounts. There are at least two possible reasons for this. As we observed previously, implementation of new pricing schemes may vary as publishers change terms for lists of thousands of titles. One retailer confirmed on background that they were displaying and working under Harper's new pricing, but are discounting manually and selectively until their system is up to speed. Another retailer said on background that they were in discussions with the settling publishers and did not have any new agreements in place, yet that site also started displaying updated HarperCollins ebook prices--so it's possible that etailers are doing what the competitive landscape requires as they finalize and execute their new Harper agreements.

Kohn Goes Directly to Appeals Court With Emergency Request For A Stay of eBook Settlement

With no response yet from District Court Judge Denise Cote to his Friday motions seeking permission to both stay and appeal the ebook settlement, entrepreneur and attorney Bob Kohn filed an emergency request with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday morning. He asked the Appeals Court "to consider and rule upon" his motion for a stay by this Friday. Reasserting many of the arguments made last week to Judge Cote, Kohn posits that "without a stay of execution of the final judgment, an appeal becomes moot and the consequent harm to the public becomes irreparable."

To meet the court's conditions, Kohn argues his appeal "has a sufficient possibility of success" given the case law he has cited; that "absent a stay, e-book consumers and the public generally will suffer irreparable harm"; and that a stay "would not harm" either the plaintiffs or the defendants.

People

In further executive turnover at Lagardere Publishing, ceo of Hachette Australia and chairman of Hachette New Zealand Malcolm Edwards "has indicated his desire to retire at the end of 2013, after nearly 20 years at the helm." He will be succeeded by current sales and marketing director Matt Richell, who for now becomes deputy managing director of Hachette Australia, reporting to Edwards. He will take over as ceo of Hachette Australia on February 1, 2013, reporting to Hachette UK's Commercial Director. From February 2013 until the end of the year, Edwards will serve as part-time non-executive Chairman of Hachette Australia, and executive chairman of Hachette New Zealand and Alliance Distribution Services. Finally, at the end of 2013, Richell will add responsibility as executive chairman of Hachette New Zealand and Alliance Distribution Services