MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - If you could change some things on the 505, what would it be?

dhbailey · 10-24-2008, 04:56 AM

The other factor in getting anyone's favorite authors and books in Sony format (or Kindle or any other ebook format, for that matter) is the publishers and authors themselves. Many of the older and bigger names control electronic rights to their works while newer or smaller names do not, but even if the author is willing to let electronic forms of their books come out, the publisher has to be willing.

I think another factor in this whole mix is that Amazon has amazing market pressure it can bring to bear on a publisher -- "Let us release a version for the Kindle or we'll stop selling all your books" sort of strong-arm tactics. Sony has no such clout and so has to rely on business persuasion of the "once the book is converted you have no investment, just sit back and let the ebook profits roll in" sort.

I've contacted all my current authors by email and have gotten responses ranging from "Over my dead body!" to "I'd love to but my publisher doesn't want to" to "Wow, you say there's an ebook version of one of my novels out there? I need to call my publisher because I wasn't aware of that at all!"

The availability of content isn't always up to the distributor!

10-24-2008, 04:56 AM	#64
dhbailey Guru Posts: 604 Karma: 733 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: HP iPAQ211 / PRS 500, 700 and 505	The other factor in getting anyone's favorite authors and books in Sony format (or Kindle or any other ebook format, for that matter) is the publishers and authors themselves. Many of the older and bigger names control electronic rights to their works while newer or smaller names do not, but even if the author is willing to let electronic forms of their books come out, the publisher has to be willing. I think another factor in this whole mix is that Amazon has amazing market pressure it can bring to bear on a publisher -- "Let us release a version for the Kindle or we'll stop selling all your books" sort of strong-arm tactics. Sony has no such clout and so has to rely on business persuasion of the "once the book is converted you have no investment, just sit back and let the ebook profits roll in" sort. I've contacted all my current authors by email and have gotten responses ranging from "Over my dead body!" to "I'd love to but my publisher doesn't want to" to "Wow, you say there's an ebook version of one of my novels out there? I need to call my publisher because I wasn't aware of that at all!" The availability of content isn't always up to the distributor!