Stephen Covey ditches Simon & Schuster, gives exclusive rights to Amazon

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

It won't--it'll just let you know which ones are worth getting even though they haven't been through an editor. If you can trust the comments, that is.

Which, for the most part, you can't.

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Barring the absolute shitty-end of the stick we as consumers will no doubt have to hold, can anybody think of a reason why Amazon wouldn't go into business as a publisher, considering they have the paper (POD with createspace) and ebook infrastructure locked down already?

I can. Amazon's business plan is all about volume--more products, higher volume, slim margins. The last thing they'd want to do is take on more of the tasks now handled by the publishers. It doesn't gain them anything over the current situation.

What I could see them doing, though, is changing the rates for their self-publishing options: say, giving the content provider a bigger percentage for exclusivity.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

. I'd say the real novelty here is that the author is cutting out the publisher. Separately there's the question of whether Simon & Schuster are just going to let this go, or actually take action to protect what they may assert are their exclusive rights to publish these particular titles in electronic formats.

I think that is clearly not the case here. The author who retained the ebook rights has taken them to an new publisher - Amazon.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I think that is clearly not the case here. The author who retained the ebook rights has taken them to an new publisher - Amazon.

Maybe, but Covey may be the publisher since (from what I can tell) he is holding the rights, just granting Amazon a one-year ebook exclusive.

I don't think we can say Amazon is really taking on most of the "real" publisher roles. They'll do the conversion and formatting, but probably not much more marketing and PR than they'd do on a retail level. They're not hiring editors and sending Covey on a book tour....

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Maybe, but Covey may be the publisher since (from what I can tell) he is holding the rights, just granting Amazon a one-year ebook exclusive.

I don't think we can say Amazon is really taking on most of the "real" publisher roles. They'll do the conversion and formatting, but probably not much more marketing and PR than they'd do on a retail level. They're not hiring editors and sending Covey on a book tour....

True, depending on where that line is drawn and who actually does the formatting, setup, etc. and what part Amazon plays -- either just as a retailer or something more.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

However, I have to say I don't think this is a fantabulous development. This ought to be a warning to those who view publishers as Pure Evil, since without them we are in an even more balkanized ebook world....

Not exactly. Yes, there's a kind of Balkanization, but it does not have nice tidy borders. There's a sort of overlapping crazy quilt that I think breaks down into this:

(1) If you want a dedicated eBook Device, like the Kindle, Sonys, Nook &c, you are going to be limited to a linked ecology of bookstores, ranging from the major fenced off bookstores, to some third party bookstores selling books that can run on more than one dedicated device.

(2) If, however, you have a multimedia device, like the iPhone/Touch, or a computer, or perhaps the rumored Apple Tablet, you will be able to interface with all of the bookstores and read any book.

The immediate problem, from my point of view, is simply that I have a preferred dedicated eBook reader (Sony 300) on which I cannot read every ebook I'm willing to buy.

On the other hand, I can acquire and read any ebook I want on my iPhone or my computer. However, the problem here is that the portable device is either too large or too small for my convenient use - there is no useable portable multi-device approximating the size & weight of any of the dedicated readers, much less with the extended battery life a dedicated reader has.

So here's the result:

(1) A small, portable ebook reading device can be used to acquire and read any ebook, but is too small for deep reading by many, if not most, serious readers.

(2) A large, somewhat portable ebook reading device can be had to read every ebook, but does not lend itself to deep reading, and cannot be carried around without a hassle.

(3) A comfortable, portable, practical ebook reading device can be had, but it will not display all available books.

This situation reminds me of the situation I face whenever I want to buy a car. There are all sorts of options out there, but it seems that I can never get the precise ones I want in the same car. So I get a car that covers most of the bases, and live with it.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by wallflower75

I was thinking the same thing. When the K4PC came out, I noticed that books in Topaz looked like they'd been scanned in. I was disappointed because three of the books I'd really been looking forward to buying were Topaz---so now I'm waiting for someone to crack the DRM (oops, did I say that out loud??) before I go ahead and get them.

I believe that is the case. When enough people click the "I'd like to read this book in a Kindle edition" to make Amazon decide to offer one, there often isn't an electronic file to start from. Amazon produced the Kindle edition by scan and OCR, but as far as I know does not edit or proofread the result. Whatever OCR produced is what you get.

I haven't heard that anyone has cracked Topaz, but unless you really want to spend the time cleaning up Amazon's mess, I'm not sure why you would want to.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I know it's mean & petty & cynical of me - but after reading all the publishers' BS press announcements this week, I am hoping a MAJOR selling author (such as Rowling - as mentioned in another speculative post, or Stephanie Meyer, etc) jumps ship from their publisher and locks into a deal with Amazon. While I deplore added restrictions on a book's availability, the sheer stupid ineptitude - I can't even think of a word strong enough to describe their ignorance level - of publishers in regards to ebook publication leads me to conclude that the ONLY way to get their attention is through their pocket-book. If not a readers' boycott -- then an authors' boycott - of their alleged services.

Don't blame the publisher for Rowling not being available in ebook form. She holds the rights, and she refused to permit it. I have no idea why. (Scholastic publishes electronic editions, though apparently limited to PDF at the moment.)
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Barring the absolute shitty-end of the stick we as consumers will no doubt have to hold, can anybody think of a reason why Amazon wouldn't go into business as a publisher, considering they have the paper (POD with createspace) and ebook infrastructure locked down already?

Easy. They are a high volume retailer, with the infrastructure in place to sell and deliver electronic books. That same infrastructure allows them to offer services whereby people can get their book published, but "published" in this case means "put into ebook and/or printed form, and offered for sale"

They have no interest in getting into the business of acquiring books and editing manuscripts to make them publishable. They'll happily provide the services for a fee to produce and sell an end product for you, but creating that end product and making it something publishable is on you.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Wonderful! We need more and more of this!

Authors taking charge of their work and gaining a fair income from it.

It works for an established author with a following. New authors and midlist authors are unlikely to gain from such a deal.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by TGNY

Kindle owners all sound the same to me, they are pro-monopoly

No, they are like any other human being. They are pro what works for them. The Kindle provides an acceptable platform for ebook reading, and Amazon carries everything they want to read, at a price they find reasonable. They'll accept vendor lock-in in exchange for convenience. I wouldn't, but I understand why someone else might.
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Dennis

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Not exactly. Yes, there's a kind of Balkanization, but it does not have nice tidy borders.

H'm, I didn't think that "Balkanization" suggested a neat and well-defined situation, maybe I have the wrong metaphor.

At any rate, while I agree that in this situation you would have smartphone and PC options (which I mentioned to bust Wolf's chops), the open question is the role of dedicated devices in the future. My expectation is that they will be around for awhile, both for specialized uses (e.g. education) and for heavy readers. One thing to note is that the "heavy readers" represent a disproportionate percentage of the market; so you could have 80% of ebook readers using PC's and smartphones, but each of those readers only buys 2-4 books a year; whereas the remaining 20% of book buyers purchase 5-15 books per year (or more) and thus represent 50% or more of revenues. (I don't recall the exact figures offhand, but something like this is the current structure.) So the dedicated device market could have far more of an effect than we normally assume.

Originally Posted by Harmon

This situation reminds me of the situation I face whenever I want to buy a car. There are all sorts of options out there, but it seems that I can never get the precise ones I want in the same car. So I get a car that covers most of the bases, and live with it.

I suggest you read Stumbling Upon Happiness, by the way, as the author discusses how being exposed to too many options can actually result in your being less satisfied with your choices....

[forkyfork]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

I suggest you read Stumbling Upon Happiness, by the way, as the author discusses how being exposed to too many options can actually result in your being less satisfied with your choices....

There's another book like this too called The Paradox of Choice.

Oh, and stupid question, but what's Topaz?

[kennyc]

Topaz is Amazon's DRM (in addition to Mobi-DRM)

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

No, they are like any other human being. They are pro what works for them. The Kindle provides an acceptable platform for ebook reading, and Amazon carries everything they want to read, at a price they find reasonable. They'll accept vendor lock-in in exchange for convenience. I wouldn't, but I understand why someone else might.
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Dennis

Not all Kindle users accept "vendor lock-in".

Many have the brains and desire to break out of the box.

The convenience factor is huge......but not everything.