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Originally Posted by Blue Tyson
He means that he has the rights to sell books to the WHOLE WORLD in some cases.
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Sure... if he, as a publisher/retailer actually puts it into his contracts that he holds the international rights.
However, if a specific publisher doesn't have those rights, and the author does not agree to amend the existing contracts, the retailer can't just haul off and start selling internationally. For starters, that would be stomping all over the existing contracts.
Why, exactly, is it OK for a publisher to disrespect the agreement they've got with the author?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Blue Tyson
So that a shop that will only sell those books in the UK when they could sell them anywhere is stupid.
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No, not really.
Let's say I run an ebook store online. I'd like to keep my books simple, deal only in one currency, keep VAT / sales tax payments simple, avoid customer service issues due to language issues, cut down on fraud, minimize payments to my credit card processor, not run afoul of a nation's laws to which I am oblivious (do you
really think you can sell
Naked Lunch in Saudi Arabia and not get noticed?), and have reasonable marketing and advertising costs.
Merely because you
can do something does not mean it's a smart business move. I can sell kitty litter at my online bookstore, does that mean I should?
Completely aside from international rights issues, there are tons of intelligent reasons to stick to one market.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Blue Tyson
Especially as it will drive publishers to set up their own sales, which generally speaking should be able to undercut retailers nicely.
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First, the biggest step forward in this mess was taken by a retailer, namely Amazon. I'm not sure how people have missed it, but the $2 fee is generally based on the cell phone service, not some "screw unAmericans" fee.
Second, if publishers are going to set up their own ebook stores -- which Penguin, Baen, Harlequin and others have already done by the way -- they're going to do it no matter how the international rights issues shake out.
Third, lots of publishers fully understand that 99% of customers don't give a rat's tuchas about the identity of the publisher. Most of them are either too diverse to put together a meaningful brand identity; others are too small to possibly benefit by pushing their own stores too hard. As such, publishers can't massively undercut retailers without repercussions that hurt their sales.
Fourth, the real issue here is merely one of availability. As ebooks become more popular, this issue is going to go away while a handful of prominent conservatives, Luddites and revanchists (The Beatles, JK Rowling) sit on the sidelines and lose sales. The market is going to put far, far more pressure on the entire system to get international sales in gear than any kvetching in a web forum.