Shortlist announced for Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize - The Guardian

 When Panzer was sweeping the floor in the Panzermobile he found a folded up post under the carpet. Smoothing it out our fastidious kitty boy discovered it was a post from The Guardian site about Waterstones.

 

Another debut book prize?

According to Sarah Shaffi's post, Waterstones announced six finalists for their debut fiction prize. The books cover a wide range of genres, locations and times. Waterstones booksellers select the books to be considered for the prize. The post includes a synopsis of each book's plot and has author quotes.

 

Panzer says, "They look like interesting books."

 

Note: This is a very long post. Bring a big glass of iced tea, a sugar cookie (biscuit) and a brownie for this reading selection.

 

To read the post tootle over to Waterstones Debut Fiction

Amazon Moves U.K. Sales Processing

They're moving.

Panzer made a trip to The Bookseller site today. Our big bad kitty explorer discovered some interesting news about Amazon there.

According to a post by Sarah Shaffi, as of May 1 Amazon no longer processed its United Kingdom sales through its Luzembourg European Headquarters. They began processing the sales through their U.K. sales office. Amazon has already stopped using the Luxembourg sales office and begun processing local country sales in Germany, Italy and Spain.

Panzer says, "No more Google Tax in the U.K. for Amazon."

To read the post, tootle over to Amazon

Kobo Trying A New Publishing Path

Now, where is that path?

Panzer was out in the Catosphere today.  Our big bad kitty pilot stopped in at The Bookseller site.

He couldn't believe what he learned in a post by Lisa Campbell and Sarah Shaffi. Kobo is jumping into the traditional publishing venue. They've signed a contract for digital and print publishing rights for a book by Kevin Donovan.

Panzer says, "Is this just the beginning of a bigger change at Kobo? Or just a fluke? Only time will tell."

To read the full post, tootle over to Kobo

VAT Will Increase Ebook Price

What do you do with the tax money?

Panzer got jerked out of his noon nap today by all the CATerwauling going on in the Catosphere. He hopped in the Panzermobile to track down the trouble. My poor sleepy kitty pilot found the answer at The Bookseller site.

In a post by Lisa Campbell and Sarah Shaffi he learned about a new European VAT.  This new taxation law of digital products goes into effect on January 1. Ebooks are included in the EU taxation change. The change will mandate an ebook is taxed at the location of the buyer not the location of the seller. According to Ms. Campbell and Ms. Shaffi, this means the European price of ebooks could be significantly higher after the first of the year.

Panzer says, "How can you increase the tax on a bunch of electrons from Luxembourg just because  they travel to the UK or Germany? You humans tax everything."

To read the complete post and what this change will mean for ebook prices in Europe, tootle over to ebook prices

Peter Carey: No To Assange, No To Amazon, And No To Man Booker Prize

No! No! No!

Panzer made a quick trip to The Bookseller site today. He found a post there by Sarah Shaffi documenting her interview with Peter Carey. During the interview Mr. Carey strayed from talk about his new novel Amnesia to talk about Julian Assange, Amazon's dominance in the book market world, and the Man Booker Prize.

Mr Carey revealed in the interview he turned down an offer to co-author a book with Julian Assange. He also spoke of his belief that Amazon gained its dominance in the retail book market because publishers allowed it. Finally, Mr. Carey stressed he is unimpressed with the Man Booker Prize since they have allowed American authors to be added and thus diminished the Prize.

To read the whole post, tootle over to Peter Carey