Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeD
HP is so well known that they don't really need to be on Amazon, B&N and so forth for people to find and buy them, which could suggest they managed to negotiate a low %.
However, they were probably equally aware that people would resist the non-amazon way of downloading the books and in that sense it was important to fit in with the amazon way of delivering the books and be associated with amazon.
One other possible reason though, may be that they want people on the pottermore site for the ebooks in the hopes they'll return and make use of the sites other features as and when they're released? Had they just sold direct via amazon without the pottermore redirect, that may not have occurred.
That said, it may have simply being (and most likely) money and control, but to be quite honest, if I were in their position I think I'd have wanted the same control and set the site up in a similar way. Although I'd have not bothered with the watermark  |
All of the above.
If Rowling had done this even two years ago, they could have done it without the storefront links/transfers. But at this point the markets they are launching in are already heavily vested in the various walled gardens. So Pottermore does need the ebookstores as affiliate portals. If nothing else, to tell people that Pottermore is (finally!) open for business.
On the other side, neither Amazon nor the ePub ebookstores could afford *not* to carry the links as long as at least one of their competitors carried it (bragging rights and all that) so odds are the negotiations were probably evenly matched. Whatever the stores are getting as a cut probably covers their DRM licensing costs (for B&N and Adobe clients) and the storage and management costs as well as reasonable affiliate commissions.
I doubt the ebookstores will want too many high-profile authors going this route but they probably aren't too annoyed, either.
The biggest long-term effect is the example it sets for other "brand" writers and the extra leverage they will get in their future ebook royalty negotiations with the BPHs. Rowling *chose* to involve her print publishers and give them a cut of the money but all indications are she is happy in her dealings with them. Other authors (and their agents) that aren't quite as happy now have a stick to wave in front of their print publishers.
I doubt there will be a flood of Brand author sites like this (most have already signed away their ebook rights) but the precedent has been set and sooner or later somebody else will give it a try. With or without publisher involvement.
A worthy experiment, Ms Rowling.
