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Anobii has postponed until 2013 an affiliation scheme it devised to enable independent booksellers to sell e-books, The Bookseller understands.
The social networking site for book readers was originally going to offer bookshops the capability to sell digital books to their customers by this month (September), along with Kobo.
At the Bookseller Association’s a.g.m in June this year, Anobii’s then c.e.o Matteo Berlucchi said the Anobii offer was a "classic affiliate" model based on booksellers taking an email address from customers who want to buy an e-book, for which booksellers will receive an instant commission on each sale. For every sale which takes place after customers leave the shop, booksellers would be able to choose between earning a higher commission for a shorter affiliate period or a lower commission earned over a longer period of time.
While the company, whose shareholders are Sainsbury’s, HarperCollins, Random House and Penguin, is still expected to have an affiliation scheme for bookshops, its won’t come into effect in time for the Christmas period as originally promised, but some time in 2013 instead.
Sainsbury’s declined to comment.