Ironically, for a company that has fought sales tax collection, Amazon appears to be defining the agency model plan, which most of the major publishers are adopting for e-books sales, in a way that would make publishers responsible for collecting sales tax in many states--and publicizing it, according to Techflash.com.
In a posting on a Kindle Community page, Amazon wrote:
"Several publishers have recently changed the nature of their relationship with Amazon, moving to a business model whereby the publisher, not Amazon, is the seller of record for their books. Kindle books sold under this model are subject to sales tax based on the publisher's state tax reporting obligations and the taxability of digital books in those states. Books where the publisher is the seller of record say "This price was set by the publisher." Nothing has changed with respect to sales taxes on Kindle books where Amazon is the seller of record."
And on its sales tax requirement page, Amazon listed four large publishers as merchants and noted the states in which it believes they should collect sales tax.
The Boston Globe traces the encouraging tale of how the Pulitzer Prize–winning Tinkers by Paul Harding (l.) came to be published after sitting in a drawer for three years. The "unlikely success story" highlights the power of word of mouth for making a successful book: "a handful of people who were so moved by the richly lyrical story of an old man facing his final days that they had to tell others about it."
The stars included Jonathan Rabinowitz of Turtle Point Press, Erika Goldman of Bellevue Literary Press (Tinkers's eventual publisher), Michael Coffey of Publishers Weekly, Lise Solomon of Consortium and Sheryl Cotleur of Book Passage, Corte Madera, Calif., plus other booksellers and writers.
The author put in a lot of post-publication work, too. In the past year, Harding "drove all over, whether to bookstores or people's living rooms. 'People would get together, and they'd cook food, and they'd read the book, and I'd sit amongst them and do the Q&A,' he said."
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Book trailer of the day: The Karma Club by Jessica Brody (FSG Books for Young Readers).---
The Seattle Mystery Bookshop in Pioneer Square has had "a noticeable drop in sales" since the city forced owner J.B. Dickey to remove a sandwich board down the block that helped point locals and tourists to the store, mynorthwest.com wrote.
The city limits sandwich boards to just one outside a store. Dickey said he has used sandwich boards almost since opening neary 20 years ago.