MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Falling in Love with E-books -- Harlequin does the full "e"

da_jane · 09-25-2007, 09:37 PM

The issue of author rights has been a big one in the past few years because of the epublished issue. First, my understanding is that most houses were able to make modificiations to many of its contracts without redoing wholesale the entire contract of an author.

Second, yes, there are some authors, like JK Rowling, who are resistant to the ebook (although I've read that there is a big push by the UK publisher to get those in e format now) but for the most part, most books that are on the NYT list are also in ebook format.

Third, S&S made what the Authors' Guild called a "rights grab" this past spring when it attempted to include a No Reversion of rights to the author so long as the ebook was selling. If it is out of print for a period of time, then the rights of distribution (which is what authors are selling to publishers), revert back to the author. Right now, I believe that there is some floor that says that the ebook must be selling in a certain quantity to be considered "in print."

As for romances having no value, I can tell you that at used bookstores, romances have the same amount of value as any other genre fiction book. If anything, they would have more value because they more faster and with greater velocity than any other genre.

Moreover, many romance readers keep their books and like to re-read them. It's true that the ability to resell or trade a book for another is something that voracious readers enjoy but I can tell you from personal experience that reclaiming the space that my 1500 paperbacks once took up is worth the trade off.

As for the value issue - it would be like saying that no intelligent person would go to the movies because once the movie is consumed at the theatre there is no residual value except the memory of the experience.

I applaud Harlequin for providing ebooks as well as print books. If readers desire to engage in the trade of romance books, they are still capable of doing that. If a reader, such as myself, prefers the convenience, immediacy, and portability of an ebook, she can do that as well.

09-25-2007, 09:37 PM	#42
da_jane Evangelist Posts: 405 Karma: 692 Join Date: Sep 2006 Device: Samsung Galaxy Note 3 \| Kindle Paperwhite \| iPad Mini	The issue of author rights has been a big one in the past few years because of the epublished issue. First, my understanding is that most houses were able to make modificiations to many of its contracts without redoing wholesale the entire contract of an author. Second, yes, there are some authors, like JK Rowling, who are resistant to the ebook (although I've read that there is a big push by the UK publisher to get those in e format now) but for the most part, most books that are on the NYT list are also in ebook format. Third, S&S made what the Authors' Guild called a "rights grab" this past spring when it attempted to include a No Reversion of rights to the author so long as the ebook was selling. If it is out of print for a period of time, then the rights of distribution (which is what authors are selling to publishers), revert back to the author. Right now, I believe that there is some floor that says that the ebook must be selling in a certain quantity to be considered "in print." As for romances having no value, I can tell you that at used bookstores, romances have the same amount of value as any other genre fiction book. If anything, they would have more value because they more faster and with greater velocity than any other genre. Moreover, many romance readers keep their books and like to re-read them. It's true that the ability to resell or trade a book for another is something that voracious readers enjoy but I can tell you from personal experience that reclaiming the space that my 1500 paperbacks once took up is worth the trade off. As for the value issue - it would be like saying that no intelligent person would go to the movies because once the movie is consumed at the theatre there is no residual value except the memory of the experience. I applaud Harlequin for providing ebooks as well as print books. If readers desire to engage in the trade of romance books, they are still capable of doing that. If a reader, such as myself, prefers the convenience, immediacy, and portability of an ebook, she can do that as well.