The Kindle Fire is now sold out and not coming back, along with the Kindle Touch. Both have been removed from the Kindle Family menu pulldown (although they do still show on the banner when you click on Buy a Kindle) menubar). So, those rumors from China of a new tablet, are, it seems completely true ... or, at least some of them are. There should be new eInk and tablet Kindle editions at the end of this week, which is when the big announcement/press conference is scheduled for.On the Agency publishing front, the lawsuits have been settled in 49 states (sorry Minnesotans) and some type of compensation will be offered to every person who purchased one or more titles from an Agency publisher during the last two and a half years. You can read the press release from the Connecticut Attorney General for some of the details, but it appears that each store will handle things differently: some will send you a check, others send out an email asking if you prefer that or a store credit. Don't expect anything just yet, the settlement has to be approved, but once it is, watch your email as you should start getting contacts within 30 days. I'd also be very careful to make sure that any email you get about this is legit - seems like a good opportunity for the scammers/phishers out there to try to get your passwords with a fake email about the settlement.
The big news in the settlement, though, is that all Agency publishing arrangements that Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster have with retailers – such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble – will be terminated and pricing of books will go back to the retailers. Two publisher, Penguin and MacMillan, haven't opted in to the settlement and cases against them and Apple are still pending.
On the Amazon publishing front, it appears that Amazon has purchased Dorchester Publishing (although the press release isn't on the Amazon page, yet). Not only will they be paying Dorchester's authors in the future, they will be making good on the unpaid royalties from the past few years, so you don't to boycott them anymore (or feel bad if you didn't in the past). Dorchester joins Avalon Books and Marshall Cavendish US Children’s Books (both recent Amazon purchases), along with the Amazon founded imprints, which may mean that they will be Amazon exclusive publishers (if only because other retailers decline to carry their titles, as B&N has been known to do).
