Quote:
Originally Posted by ProfCrash
If more of the popular authors go this route then I can see them looking for exclusive deals with specific companies. Amazon is the largest bookstore with an international audience. Signing an exclusive agreement with Amazon would probably get the authors a large chunk of the profits and would give them access to the international market. It is not a bad move for the author and a great move for Amazon.
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Somewhere upwards in this thread I wrote the slightly peevish post that the discussion is very much centred on the US. I'm sorry, but I have to repeat myself. Amazon isn't remotely the huge player in some major markets as it is in the US. Amazon basically doesn't exist in the German ebook market because it doesn't have any German content. To my knowledge it is the same in the Japanese market. So that's a no-show in two of the biggest international markets. Same in the French market. It isn't nearly as important in the German paper book market either, as most Germans have a book store in walking distance that can get them most books for the same price overnight as well. An exclusive agreement with Amazon would lock the authors out of most of the relevant markets. Why should popular authors consider that as an attractive proposition?
What about translations? Would Amazon handle these as well? What would be the difference to traditional publishers in that case?