City & Business: A long time dying
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.REPORTS of the death of the Net Book Agreement have been greatly exaggerated. The restrictive practice, which prevents retailers discounting newly published books, has been about to expire for at least the last five years.
Terry Maher, the former head of the Pentos retail chain, constantly claimed he was about to breach the NBA and so slay it. He never did, but he garnered an outrageous amount of free publicity for his Dillons book chain.
The NBA was about to die when the major publisher Reed International announced it was publishing all its titles non-net. That was two years ago and was supposed to open the floodgates.
Sir Bryan Carsberg's decision to challenge the NBA in the Restrictive Practices Court had the obituarists out again, despite the fact that a judgment could be three years away. And last week Hodder Headline's decision to follow Reed again had the hearse revving up.
The NBA is an archaic piece of nonsense. Only cynics who believe books are commodity items bought on the basis of price alone can seriously fear its demise. People won't stop reading T S Eliot because the latest Jeffrey Archer is a few quid cheaper.
The NBA will eventually wither away, and we'll wonder what all the fuss was about. But don't hold your breath.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments