Top US/UK Trade Talk: Will the UK Get Cheap Ebooks?; Munro Nixes Giller Prize

By Edward Nawotka

Sony’s general manager for content and services development, Richard Palk, said that the UK would likely have to follow suit with US pricing of ebooks as the devices become more widespread in the UK. The Bookseller reports that publishers and booksellers are divided on the issue, with publishers setting prices as the same as hardcovers and while retailers are forced to offer discounts. A survey conducted by Waterstones found customers preferred paying about £6.50 (very close to the US Kindle and Sony pricing of $9.99) per book.

Alice Munro has pulled her latest book Too Much Happiness out of the competition for this year’s $50,000 Scotiabank  Giller Prize, one of Canada’s most prestigious literary awards. Pundits were relishing a showdown between Munro and Canada’s other literary juggernaut, Margaret Atwood, whose The Year of the Flood is also coming out later this year. Her reason is that she has won twice and would like to leave the field to younger writers, Douglas Gibson, Munro’s publisher at McClelland & Stewart, told The Globe and Mail. Could the 79 year-old Munro have been referring specifically to the 70 year old Atwood, who has won the prize only once? Mmmm. No.