The reactions to the Andrew Wylie + Kindle deal have been amazingly swift and harsh.
Who would have guessed Publishers, used to taking a year or two to bring a book to market, would be able to respond this quickly?
In fact, Random House has gone so far as to say that it won’t be doing any more business with Andrew Wylie for English language books -
“The Wylie Agency’s decision to sell e-books exclusively to Amazon for titles which are subject to active Random House agreements undermines our longstanding commitments to and investments in our authors, and it establishes this Agency as our direct competitor.
Therefore, regrettably, Random House on a worldwide basis will not be entering into any new English-language business agreements with the Wylie Agency until this situation is resolved.”
This is awesome.
It’s setting up Kindle + Literary Agents versus Publishers. Quite frankly if Amazon gets Literary Agents on their side it’s game over. Literary Agents can handle the few remaining things Publishers were needed for now that Amazon are handling distribution and sales.
Do we even need Publishers?
Don’t have a very good answer for that.
However, if Amazon are eliminating a lot of what Publishers provided i.e. risk-taking, distribution, publishing – Then you have to consider the possibility that the better literary agents are quite capable of handling the rest.
Why give Publishers a 30% to 50% share if there’s no longer any risk?
With ebooks you can print and sell 500,000 ebooks for almost the same price as 50.
Really don’t know if Publishers are necessary – However, we are going to find out because they’ve declared war on Amazon with the Agency Model and on Andrew Wylie + Literary Agents with their refusal to share ebook profits.
Double Standards in eBooks and eReaders
When Publishers and Apple colluded and hiked up ebook prices to $12.99 and $14.99 only readers and Amazon were complaining. The Press were making up excuses and justifying the blatantly illegal price-fixing by claiming ridiculous things – it’s not collusion, we need it for the future of books, Publishers should be able to set ebook prices.
Now that Andrew Wylie has teamed up with Amazon the Press is pleading for the greater good. They feel that somehow customers are hurt if Publishers stop making money.
A sentiment that’s very pronounced amongst anti-Kindle and anti-reading people is that this deal is controversial and illegal.
Consider this ‘Wylie Kindle deal is bad for customers’ post at CrunchGear -
It’s a big win for Amazon, but the start of a painful period for consumers.
I’m just concerned that it ends up being a negative for the end user.
Joe Danielle-Steel-Reader is going to be angry when he finds that he is unable to get certain authors on his e-reader, or that he has to sign up at a new store and give his credit card information all over again.
Sure, you can get Nook or Kindle for lots of devices, but who wants to deal with a whole new interface and store for this or that author or book?
Firstly, this isn’t about ultra-casual readers. This is about the people who keep reading alive. The people Publishers are hurting with $12.99 and $14.99 prices.
Secondly, why is it that being able to get all these different apps on one device is a strength when you compare it with the Kindle and then when Kindle gets an exclusive deal using the Kindle app is suddenly painful. Wasn’t it painful before - When there were 30,000 new books in iBooks and 600,000 on Kindle for iPad?
Thirdly, we are in the middle of the Book Wars. Do the Press really think these pitifully weak ‘let’s do what’s for the greater good’ arguments will work?
Unfortunately, Publishers have now alienated the only people capable of making their self-serving, ridiculous arguments seem reasonable – the authors. Nicholson Baker is probably more interested in getting 70% of his ebook sales than penning another masterful article arguing in favor of physical books and Publishers.
Reality is that you have to fight fire with fire
We have had eReader and eBook companies in the past who did things that were supposed to help the greater good and they were good little schoolboys and let Publishers kill any chance eBooks had.
Wars aren’t won by people hiding in their closets because they don’t want to break rules or propriety.
The choice before eReader and eBook companies is clear -
- Get swayed by Publishers’ weak arguments and let Publishers regain everything they’ve lost. OR
- Realize that this is war and Publishers and their brethren, the news Publishers and Press, will use every dirty trick to manipulate you and sway public sentiment against you.
The greater good argument is the most ridiculous argument you could throw against Kindle and Nook.
Isn’t 70% for authors and lower prices for readers the greatest good?
In the time of Publishers we had 8% to 15% for authors.
Currently we are in a transition phase.
In the Time of Kindle, Nook, and Literary Agents and Authors we will have 70% for Authors. Take out 15% for Agents and we still get 55%.
Arguments that Wylie + Kindle is not for the greater good are ludicrous. Authors are going from 8-15% to 55%. Customers are getting new books (ebooks) for $9.99 instead of having to pay $15 to $25 for hardcovers.
What could be better for reading and books?
Customers benefit because when Authors start getting more they reduce prices. Publishers, on the other hand, are only trying to increase prices. You see it in Mr. Wylie selling his literary classics at $9.99 when he could easily charge a premium since they have never been in ebook format before.
Publishers should start making plans for what they’ll do in 2-3 years when the Publishing Houses start collapsing. Amazon already had customers, small publishers, and independent authors in its camp. Now it has literary agents and through them the top authors. That’s all that’s needed. Publishers are going to find out just how irrelevant to the New Publishing World they are.
Filed under: publishing Tagged: | future of publishing, kindle vs publishers
This is beautiful. We may have a couple heated arguments and some rough patches here and there, but this is leading down a good road for all of us. Except the publishers, who frankly are doing nothing but making themselves worse with every reaction. Their days are numbered, it is just a matter of time, unless they make some serious wholesale changes. And even with all the right decisions, it is debatable whether they will even be relevant/needed.
[...] agreements with the Wylie Agency until this situation is resolved". Some observers are speculating that this may represent the opening stages in a new war in which agents and authors will seek to [...]
God… yet another piece of eBook reader software that nobody wants. For as much money as I spend in this market, I sure hate it. Lots more thoughts in my blog entry: http://www.prestonlee.com/2010/08/11/the-worsening-fragmentation-of-the-ebook-market/