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Old 12-14-2009, 10:07 PM   #1
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Stephen Covey ditches Simon & Schuster, gives exclusive ebook rights to Amazon

This is bad news for S&S and publishers in general, because others big name authors are very likely to follow Covey in taking ebook rights away from traditional publishers and granting them to Amazon (and perhaps Google, B&N and Sony if they set up similar arrangements)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/te...amazon.html?hp

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Ever since electronic books emerged as a major growth market, New York’s largest publishing houses have worried that big-name authors might sign deals directly with e-book retailers or other new ventures, bypassing traditional publishers entirely.

Now, one well-known author is doing just that.

Stephen R. Covey, one of the most successful business authors of the last two decades, has moved e-book rights to two of his best-selling books from his print publisher, Simon & Schuster, a division of the CBS Corporation, to Amazon.com for one year.

Amazon, maker of the popular Kindle e-reader and one of the biggest book retailers in the country, will have the exclusive rights to sell electronic editions of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” and a later work, “Principle-Centered Leadership.” Mr. Covey also plans to gradually make other e-books available exclusively to Amazon, which will promote them on its Web site.

...

Last edited by anurag; 12-14-2009 at 10:18 PM.
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Old 12-14-2009, 10:35 PM   #2
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He claims that it's not about dissatisfaction with Simon & Schuster and he will continue to publish other books through them. He claims this Amazon ebook move is a bit of an 'experiment'.

I want to see a major author like Stephen King tell his publisher to go jump and sell epub ebooks direct to public. A few major authors expressing dissatisfaction with the way publishers are handling things might get some change happening. The combined pressure of authors + consumers might get international licenses for ePub ebooks.

Some prominent musical artists like Radiohead/NiN sold albums direct to public and did very well out of it. I think authors could do the same and make a killing.
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Old 12-14-2009, 11:17 PM   #3
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I'm of two minds about this...

First, I think it's wonderful that any author can publish ebooks directly through Amazon, bypassing those publishers who're still sitting on the fence, dithering about releasing any novels in ebook format - any format.

For example, Daniel G Jennings has been struggling to get "Robots Just Want to Get Paid", a novelette, published for some time. Among other things, it's rather libertarian in bent and that is a problem with many publishers.

However, again using RJWtGP as an example, Amazon's DTM ebook publishing can be a disaster! (I bought a copy after reading about it, and his discovery of self-publishing freedom through Amazon, in The Libertarian News.) Given the plethora of syntactical and grammatical errors in this *SHORT* novelette, I wonder if the publishers rejected it more because of it's libertarian leanings *OR* because of all the mistakes it contained. Yes, it only cost a dollar, and the author has discussed, in an email exchange with me, how he considers it a 'work-in-process' and that corrections will be made as time goes by, but still, the ease with which a poorly-written story could become a 'published work' (and by published work, I mean it is truly published by Amazon) is - at this time - appalling!

Derek

I'm sure that my gentle and uplifting criticism will be taken in their spirit and that in a short time RJWtGP will be a worthwhile purchase and read. And for those of you who think that supporting auctorial efforts through purchase of 'early-alpha' E-ARCs makes sense, please feel free to cough up the $1 fee for this book - presuming you are of libertarian pursuasion.

Last edited by delphidb96; 12-14-2009 at 11:19 PM.
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Old 12-15-2009, 01:36 AM   #4
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After the tactics used by the publishers in recent days it's no surprise amazon is striking back. I just didn't expect it this fast.

Personally I think this is good news for the consumer this should result to cheaper prices. And with the middle man cut out more money goes to the authors.
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Old 12-15-2009, 01:46 AM   #5
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It seems that even if the publishers can't see that there is a valuable market for ebooks, that at least the writers can. I can't imagine not wanting to get my book (if I were an author) to as many readers as possible. Should be interesting to watch what happens.
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Old 12-15-2009, 01:48 AM   #6
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After the tactics used by the publishers in recent days it's no surprise amazon is striking back. I just didn't expect it this fast.

Personally I think this is good news for the consumer this should result to cheaper prices. And with the middle man cut out more money goes to the authors.
What I find worrying about this isn't the publisher relations, but that the author deals with Amazon exclusively. I realize that I'll probably be able to strip drm from Kindle4pc soon, but right now I can't buy something from the Kindle store and get it to my Cybook. I'd really prefer to see Authors use some service that lets books go to any retailer and format, instead of limiting things to just one.
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Old 12-15-2009, 02:08 AM   #7
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I hate to admit it, but I think Amazon just won the ebook game and it's the rest who are now going to play catchup.
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Old 12-15-2009, 02:19 AM   #8
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After the tactics used by the publishers in recent days it's no surprise amazon is striking back. I just didn't expect it this fast.

Personally I think this is good news for the consumer this should result to cheaper prices. And with the middle man cut out more money goes to the authors.

I think they've just become (or are in the process of becoming) the biggest book publisher in the world. They only need a few authors of Stephen King or Maeve Binchy popularity and that's it, game over for traditional publishing. Imagine if they could sign an exclusivity deal with Stephanie Meyer for her next book or an exclusive Pratchett deal? These are tactics Sony and the rest can't even dream of implementing; they may have the money, but they don't have Amazon's traffic. And what author wouldn't want to sign a deal with Amazon? Near enough triple the royalties and their book being positioned at the front of the Amazon store, a writer would have to be crazy not to sign up. Traditional publishing can't offer the same.

EDIT: With this move Amazon have also signalled the end of the agent/publisher relationship. The agent publisher relationship was all about minimizing risks on new talent and re-negotiation the deals for old talent. Amazon has very little risk. It can take almost anybody on and promote them at very little cost (bandwidth, maybe a little 3rd party editing). Back catalogues, new talent, Amazon can do it all and will make a profit every time.

Wow, just, wow. I never thought I'd see it happen so fast, but here it is, happening right in front of our faces. The publishers tried to outflank Amazon with ebook delays and that move has backfired. Anybody taking bets on when we see exclusive deals from Patterson, Parker, Meyer and King?

Interesting times indeed.

Last edited by Moejoe; 12-15-2009 at 02:39 AM.
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Old 12-15-2009, 07:13 AM   #9
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Some prominent musical artists like Radiohead/NiN sold albums direct to public and did very well out of it. I think POPULAR authors could do the same and make a killing.
Fixed.
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Old 12-15-2009, 07:24 AM   #10
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I think it's an interesting development - but Amazon exclusives always carry that undercurrent of "we don't want your money," to everyone who doesn't own a Kindle.
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Old 12-15-2009, 08:07 AM   #11
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I'd really prefer to see Authors use some service that lets books go to any retailer and format, instead of limiting things to just one.
Smashwords, for one, has a deal in place with Sony, B&N, and Amazon.
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Old 12-15-2009, 08:09 AM   #12
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Is amazon also going to do the proofreading, editing, promoting, and all the other 1001 details that go into the production of a quality book. I'm not saying that they aren't or that they can't, it is is just a consideration that they need to address. It doesn't matter if they are the only ones that can sell a book if that book is crappy and no one wants it.

I hope the traditional publishers take this as a giant kick in the pants!!
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Old 12-15-2009, 08:13 AM   #13
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I hope Amazon exclusivity doesn't signal even MORE books locked into Topaz! Yecchh!
(Will somebody PLEASE crack it now?)
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Old 12-15-2009, 08:26 AM   #14
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Is amazon also going to do the proofreading, editing, promoting, and all the other 1001 details that go into the production of a quality book. I'm not saying that they aren't or that they can't, it is is just a consideration that they need to address. It doesn't matter if they are the only ones that can sell a book if that book is crappy and no one wants it.
Exactly. How can you trust what Amazon sells if they are selling unedited books and there is no way to tell which these books are?
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Old 12-15-2009, 08:59 AM   #15
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There are two layers between author and the reader: publisher and seller.
This would eliminate one layer and hope this trend continues for ebooks..
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