12-18-2014, 06:03 PM | #1 | |
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Macmillan comes to terms with Amazon
...a bit ahead of schedule.
A multi-year deal, no muss, no fuss, no public spectacle. From Tor.com: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/12/a-m...m-john-sargent Quote:
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12-18-2014, 06:47 PM | #2 | |
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12-18-2014, 08:05 PM | #3 |
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No, quality competition is always a good thing. As far as Apple being the only ebook store not using agency pricing, that isn't irony, that is Judge Cote.
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12-18-2014, 08:58 PM | #4 |
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The irony is that under wholesale, when Amazon discounted an ebook, the discount came out of Amazon's pocket only and both the publisher and author made the same amount per unit regardless of what the consumer paid.
Post-conspiracy, when Apple discounts and Amazon price matches, everybody is chipping in to cover the discount. So the amount per unit the publisher and author get depends on Apple's willingness to discount. That is what Sargent is warning his authors about. Apple can discount like crazy (to take market share from Nook and Kobo) and still make a profit; Amazon matches (protecting its market share) and makes a profit, and the publisher (and their authors) have no say so, agency or no agency. (Betcha wholesale doesn't look so bad anymore, does it, Mr Sargent?) Not quite the outcome the conspirators wanted but one that the Judge probably approves of. |
12-18-2014, 09:32 PM | #5 |
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I don't care about competition (or lack thereof). I was only adressing Sargent's faulty suggestion that Amazon having 64% of McMillan's ebook market share is somehow limiting their ability to reach readers. At best, it's a dumb statement: at worst, it's a disingenuous one.
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12-18-2014, 09:52 PM | #6 | |
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12-18-2014, 10:06 PM | #7 | |
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12-18-2014, 10:35 PM | #8 | |
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Towards regaining total control that they once had, I would evaluate sites like kickstarter and indie editors as a bigger long term impediment than Amazon. |
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12-18-2014, 11:01 PM | #9 | |
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Because right now I am asking the question as to why any new author would want to publish an ebook with one of the big publishing houses. They seem to be surviving on their existing authors and chasing a few blockbusters, including print only and sometimes regional contracts with successful Indies. |
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12-19-2014, 06:37 AM | #10 | |
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You should care about competition or the lack thereof. Competition is what makes the free market work and forces innovation. Otherwise, you would be dealing with companies like the Post Office, or the pre-break up AT&T (remember the old comedy skits "We are AT&T and we don't have to care"?) |
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12-19-2014, 06:54 AM | #11 | |
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The BPHs have apparently adjusted their thinking about ebooks. They now see them as pure profit generators and, in accounting terms, as assets rather than products. This has lead to a change in thinking reflected in new contract terms. (And their quarterly financial reports.) The change is not in authors' favor. KKR has a detailed look at the way it used to be and how it has changed: http://kriswrites.com/2014/12/17/bus....ZmoWXmU4.dpbs Essentially, with the new contracts, signing with the corporate publishers is not terribly different from work for hire, with residuals. The publisher gets control of all the associated IP and derivatives, as close to forever as legally possible. Selling a book under those terms is pretty close to selling not just the story but also the characters and milieu. Kinda like in Hollywood, where selling a screenplay means selling the right to make sequels and remakes. They may be royalties forthcoming (or not, depending on contract land mines) but the author has no control over what is done with the IP they created after they sign the contract. VAMPIRE DIARIES is an (extreme) example of where this is headed. At a minimum, if the author of a popular book doesn't want to do a sequel or prequel or derivative, the publisher can just shrug, turn around, and farm the project to somebody else. And the author won't be able to do a thing. A future J.K. Rowling won't be able to decide that Harry Potter is a done and over with after volume 7. Instead, the publisher will be free to do RETURN OF THE POTTER, BRIDE OF POTTER, SON OF POTTER, and VOLDEMORT'S RETURN ad infinitum. What George Lucas did with STAR WARS voluntarily will be the norm now, whether the author wants to or not. So, when Sargent says they will be experimenting he doesn't just mean looking for new ways to sell the story; he means more ways to exploit the IP inside the story. Last edited by fjtorres; 12-19-2014 at 06:56 AM. |
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12-19-2014, 08:12 AM | #12 | |
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I have no problem with MacMillan wanting to broaden their retail ebook base (for their own financial security), I have no problem with MacMillan wanting to gain more control over their ebook business (for their own financial security). I simply have a problem with Sargent saying it's about being able to "reach readers," which has never been a problem--even when Amazon was playing "hardball." Readers buy the books/authors they want to buy, wherever/however they have to. They've never NOT been able to buy MacMillan etitles somewhere (except when they don't make them available). |
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12-19-2014, 06:24 PM | #13 | ||
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12-19-2014, 07:56 PM | #14 | |
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Amazon's competition had far less ability to make up for losses on bestsellers. Agency would have helped them. |
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12-19-2014, 08:26 PM | #15 |
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