Monday, July 23, 2012

Department of Justice upholds "Final Judgment" in Antitrust Case against Publishers


A few months ago, the Department of Justice (DoJ) investigated and ruled on an Antitrust case against Apple, Inc, Hachette Book Group, Inc, HarperCollins Publishers, Holtzbinck Publishers d/b/a MacMillan Group, The Penguin Group, and Simon and Schuster, Inc. You can read more about the case and its implications in two earlier blog posts that I wrote for Indies Unlimited HERE and HERE.

The DoJ has determined that the proposed “final judgment” provides “an appropriate and effective remedy” for the antitrust violations. They are quoted as saying that the comments to dismiss the case were being submitted “by those who have an interest in seeing consumers pay more for e-books…”

The DoJ showed little interest in the comments from some of the big players in the industry, including Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and the Authors Guild. The go further to say that arguments that Amazon will eventually monopolize the e-book industry as “highly speculative at best.”

The DoJ also noted that not all authors objected to the settlement. Apparently, many mainstream or traditionally published authors were against the settlement. The largest group in favor of the settlement was self-published authors. In one comment by a group of self-published authors, the traditional publishers and literary agents were described as “… all kinds of middlemen which have gone from being indispensable to optional … “

The purpose of the Final Judgment is to 1) end the current collusion (price fixing); 2) restore competition eliminated by that collusion; and 3) ensure compliance. Specifically, the settlement enforces the following: A) Refrain for two years from entering into contracts containing retail price restrictions and price commitment mechanisms; B) stop communicating competitively sensitive information to competitors; C) not retaliate against retailers that exercise discounting authority; and D) agree not to fix terms or prices with competitors for the provision of e-books.

The final judgment does not impose a business model on the e-book industry. However, for two years, Settling Defendants cannot prohibit retailers from discounting e-books.

There’s much more in this 66 page document from the Department of Justice. I hope that I have picked out the key points to help us understand what it means and how it will affect us. For more information you can view the decision at http://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/f285300/285315.pdf

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is the author of the #1 Kindle bestselling novel, The Card, and a weekly contributor to the indie writing and publishing resource, Indies Unlimited.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Space exploration and writing - An Analysis of two similar paths



On this forty-third anniversary of the man first stepping foot on the moon, I thought I’d go space with my blog.

If you’re like me, writing is really important. I want to make a career of writing. I want to leave an imprint with my writing. I want to make people laugh, cry, think and dream. I’m not saying that I do—it’s what I strive to do. This past week I started to think about writing in the grand scheme of things. Get a load of this for a sec:     


Let’s say that we look at recorded history and squeeze it into a fifty year equivalent time-span. For the first forty years of our shrunken recorded time-line, we know very little.

Monday, July 9, 2012

New Review for The Card

I just received a new review for THE CARD, posted on Amazon and Hide and Read a review blog site. She rated it at three stars, which I'm really okay with because of the excellent comments. Every reviewer has their own process and scale in which to rate books.

Take a moment and check out the review, I especially liked this opinion straight from the review:

 "...This novel takes us inside the world of baseball, or specifically, that of bat boys, with the introduction of Van's new job. For young sports fans, this may present a point of interest, especially as it is told through the eyes of a neophyte who is both awed and enthralled by each new experience. This "insider look" is one of the high points of the novel and ... "

A big thank you to Hide and Read for taking the time to read and post a review.

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is the author of the #1 Kindle bestselling novel, The Card, and a weekly contributor to the indie writing and publishing resource, Indies Unlimited.



Saturday, July 7, 2012

Stop the Insanity - Using the Right Words in the Right Places

I’m not big on posting boring lists, but today, I’ll make an exception.

It's RBI not RBI's
We all run across words, phrases and issues from time to time, that don’t make a lot of sense. Okay, I’ll come right out and say it, they are flat out WRONG. I don’t consider myself an expert on grammar or proper use of words so I’ve kept an ongoing list of the top pet peeves/mistakes I’ve made in the past. Here we go and, hopefully I hope, you’ll find a couple that will help.

Friday, July 6, 2012

The Devitt Clan has expanded

I'm back!

After a brief hiatus here on the blog, I have returned to the blogosphere with a new addition to the family. My wife and I recently brought Jovie Taylor into the world. This little bundle of joy was born on June 4th, 2012.


Her four-year old brother Gavin loves having a new sister!

I'll be back to regular submissions now that we've gotten through the first month. Stay tuned for some cool and informative articles.