Macmillan Publishers

Writer Charles Pellegrino's "Last Train to Hiroshima" had been enjoying great reviews until it was revealed to rely on an unreliable source. Now the publisher plans to reprint the book with author revisions, a costly, embarrassing headache for publisher Henry Holt.

That battle may be over, but more is on the way. Publishers Hachette and HarperCollins are now also on board with the pricing model championed by rival Macmillan, which sets e-book prices higher. Amazon has restored Macmillan's titles to its site after a one-week protest -- but a much bigger, costlier fight looms.

In a deal certain to impact the next generation of Kindles, Amazon has acquired TouchCo, a start-up that has created some remarkable new (and remarkably inexpensive) touchscreen technology.

Macmillan, one of publishing's Big Six, has become the first company to fight Amazon's pricing of e-books. Amazon lost this battle, but it's going to be a long and costly war, with other publishers and with Apple, which unveiled its iPad last week.

When should an e-book be published? Before the physical copy gets published, or months later, or at the same time? Publishers must increasingly weigh tradition against the tide of consumers who want to read their e-books when they want them, and on any device they choose.

When publishers and literary agents haggle over authors' book contracts, the boilerplate is a starting point: a work-in-progress, by definition. But one publisher's plan for a new standardized contract, announced this week, suggests it's getting bolder about tightening its grip on authors' digital...