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Amazon started life as a book retailer, and as a book retailer they made books cheaper. Then they were pioneers in the e-book industry where they made books cheaper. Their recently announced plan to give readers free e-book copies of books they buy in physical form doesn't make books cheaper per se, but it does give readers greater value for their book-buying dollar. This is all great stuff. But not everyone agrees. Emily Gould complains that "When ebooks and pbooks are bundled, the ebooks are sold at a loss. That's authors', publishers' and, associatively, non-AMZN retailers' loss" and "frustrating we have to keep explaining that ebook production is not free. digital objects are not made by elves."

Google closer to entering the book market as distributore and retailer.

The clash between what e-book retailers are doing and what the e-reading audiences want.

Strained relations between e-book publishers and the major online retail channels.

The Internet retailer has acquired Touchco, a New York start-up, according to a person briefed on the deal.

Software maker reached licensing agreement that covers open-source software used by Internet retailer. " />

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc said on Thursday that its Kindle electronic book reader posted its best sales yet in the month of December, as the battle for the digital reader

The retailer cut the price of the e-reader to $259, from $279, only a couple of weeks after sales began.

Borders has announced that it will close approximately 200 stores in its Waldenbooks Specialty Retail group in January. The store closings will leave Borders with about 130 mall-based outlets. About 1,500 positions will be eliminated in the downsizing, most of which are part-time jobs.

There's a blurb and a video at this link -- go take a look. (Also, would it be illegal if instead he was selling ebooks? Do the retailers' laws even cover that, does anyone know?)

Fascinating read on bundling print books with free e-books.

In which, among other things, ebook retailer giants (Amazon, Apple) turn down e-books because they contain links to a competitor's product.

Best Buy announced on Sept. 9 that it will begin selling Amazon's Kindle in stores. Best Buy will then be the only retailer where consumers can compare, in person, the Nook, Kindle, and Sony readers, plus the iPad.

Publishers and e-book sellers are working through glitches and confusion as they adopt a new model for pricing ahead of Saturday's debut of the iPad." />

Barnes & Noble, the leader in bookselling for 40 years, re-examines its business model." />