Amazon-Macmillan fight heats up

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Glad you found them Shel!

I think this is the first big skirmish of the coming war...

I think you're right. I just hope the other publishers are learning from this, and are more interested in making sales than in screwing their authors by chaining them to one outlet. I know one author, though, who is going to be very upset when I tell her what I just learned. Her brand new release in a new series was not released in ebook format at all. Publisher...yep, you guessed it....Macmillan. I've talked to her several times this week, and I am positive she was not aware of this. I don't know if it's just going to be delayed, or if Macmillan has no intention of releasing the title in ebook forms.

[MrBlueSky]

Originally Posted by mcl

Many of the ebook titles that became entirely unavailable when Amazon yanked them is because, for the most part, those titles were titles for which macmillan refused to produce an ebook. Amazon scanned it themselves, with Macmillan's permission.

To verify this, I think you'll find (when you check again), that most of the "exclusive" titles were in fact Topaz-format ebooks: a sure sign that Amazon themselves scanned and OCR'd the title.

Are you SURE that Amazon scanned and OCR'd them?

Most of Macmillan's books have been available DRM free from the 'Universal Library' in multiple formats for years now. it seems more likely that Amazon would have saved themselves a lot of work by 'sharing' the load!

Or are the Topaz-format ones too badly formatted for that?

[mcl]

Originally Posted by MrBlueSky

Are you SURE that Amazon scanned and OCR'd them?

Most of Macmillan's books have been available DRM free from the 'Universal Library' in multiple formats for years now. it seems more likely that Amazon would have saved themselves a lot of work by 'sharing' the load!

Or are the Topaz-format ones too badly formatted for that?

Are you suggesting that Amazon should sell pirated works?

Because that's...well, I've got a lot of words, but I think I just ran out, right there.

[bwaldron]

David Pakman (former CEO of eMusic) has some thoughts.

[Sydney's Mom]

As someone who was too poor to buy books as a child (it is all relative), I find Macmillan's stand on libraries unforgiveable.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by MrBlueSky

Are you SURE that Amazon scanned and OCR'd them?

Most of Macmillan's books have been available DRM free from the 'Universal Library' in multiple formats for years now. it seems more likely that Amazon would have saved themselves a lot of work by 'sharing' the load!

Or are the Topaz-format ones too badly formatted for that?

Are you talking about the Million Book Project by Carnegie-Mellon? I'm not familiar with what books Amazon has available for the Kindle, so I can't compare that to the list from CMU, but most of the books in the Universal Library are public domain so I'd be rather surprised if these are the MacMillan books that were being sold by Amazon. (Although I've run across other public domain books that were being sold so it's not impossible, just stupid, IMO.)

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

David Pakman (former CEO of eMusic) has some thoughts.

Thanks for that!

[=X=]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

David Pakman (former CEO of eMusic) has some thoughts.

Good article thank you.

[rmm200]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

David Pakman (former CEO of eMusic) has some thoughts.

Good find!

This is way too subtle a link. If you have not clicked it go read what he has to say. David actually understands economics. Highly recommended.

I think I have found a new candidate for president!

Robert

[Guns4Hire]

The big 6 publishers need to read this.

[sabredog]

I added my comment...

"I am amazed that all the blundering of the music/movie industry attempting to retain and enforce a totally outmoded distribution system has not come to your attention. It plainly has not has it? Instead of embracing the 21st century and the changes it has wrought like Baen has done, you have dug in your heels and refused to change. The demise of the Dodo comes to mind."

[sabredog]

It will certainly be interesting to see what unfolds. Looks like it is going to be as messy as the music/movie saga

[BeccaAnn]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

While I am not pleased with either party, I say this is the kick in the pants Macmillan needed to get off their complacent corporate butts and distribute their author's titles to retail outlets BESIDES Amazon. Donna Andrews, a Macmillan author that I'm a huge fan of, up until this week was Amazon only. Now she's available at B&N. I think there are two authors left on my wishlist that are still Amazon only, and published by Macmillan.
I hope the rest of the publishers take note and start wider distribution, now that they see how easy it is for an outlet to pull their titles.

EDIT: Yes, I know that's lousy grammar.

I too, love Donna Andrews' books. Just to let you know, two of her most recent books ("Swan for the Money" & "Six Geese-a-Slaying"), have been available at the Sony store for awhile now. "The Penguin Who Knew Too Much" has not been available before, anywhere. It's been out in pback for 18mths and B&N are selling it for $9.99. I'm glad that TPZ was cracked before this mess happened because I was able to get "Cockatiels at Seven".
I don't mind waiting for the book to drop in price since I've been doing it for years by waiting for the pback versions. I do mind paying more for an ebook version than a pback. I think $10 is too much for a book that has been pback for over a year.
I might consider getting "Penguins" (if I had the money), if I knew for sure which format it was in (ereader or epub). I think ereader DRM has been cracked but not the epub. Of course, I'm not sure if I want to go the hassle of stripping the DRM, since I had such a hard time with tpz.

Back on topic
I think Amazon was idiotic the way they responded to Macmillan, but I think Macmillan are idiotic in the way they consider ebooks. Ebooks are here to stay. They need to stop complaining how one company operates in regards to their books and make the books available in more stores. If their books were more readily available (in other stores, formats), they wouldn't need to depend on Amazon for the source of their ebook money. Start putting the backlist of pbooks out in ebook and get more money, without sacrificing paperbooks' money. And make sure that those backlist list books are priced low (as in under $7) and they'll make money. I've been waiting a couple years now for Anne McCaffrey's Rowan series to be available. The prequel trilogy is out and the last book ("The Tower and The Hive")in the series is out, but four books are missing and they are published by Tor. I'll be replacing pbacks, so Macmillan will be getting my money twice for the same book. How could they not like that?

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by BeccaAnn

I too, love Donna Andrews' books. Just to let you know, two of her most recent books ("Swan for the Money" & "Six Geese-a-Slaying"), have been available at the Sony store for awhile now. "The Penguin Who Knew Too Much" has not been available before, anywhere. It's been out in pback for 18mths and B&N are selling it for $9.99. I'm glad that TPZ was cracked before this mess happened because I was able to get "Cockatiels at Seven".
I don't mind waiting for the book to drop in price since I've been doing it for years by waiting for the pback versions. I do mind paying more for an ebook version than a pback. I think $10 is too much for a book that has been pback for over a year.
I might consider getting "Penguins" (if I had the money), if I knew for sure which format it was in (ereader or epub). I think ereader DRM has been cracked but not the epub. Of course, I'm not sure if I want to go the hassle of stripping the DRM, since I had such a hard time with tpz.

Back on topic
I think Amazon was idiotic the way they responded to Macmillan, but I think Macmillan are idiotic in the way they consider ebooks. Ebooks are here to stay. They need to stop complaining how one company operates in regards to their books and make the books available in more stores. If their books were more readily available (in other stores, formats), they wouldn't need to depend on Amazon for the source of their ebook money. Start putting the backlist of pbooks out in ebook and get more money, without sacrificing paperbooks' money. And make sure that those backlist list books are priced low (as in under $7) and they'll make money. I've been waiting a couple years now for Anne McCaffrey's Rowan series to be available. The prequel trilogy is out and the last book ("The Tower and The Hive")in the series is out, but four books are missing and they are published by Tor. I'll be replacing pbacks, so Macmillan will be getting my money twice for the same book. How could they not like that?

I never even thought to check the Sony store . I ended up buying everything through Penguins in pback, and had planned on getting those last two from Amazon at tax time til all this happened. I completely agree with you about getting the backlists out there, I've been begging for that ever since I started with ebooks. Ebook pricing is goofy, I'll tell you that. I found a title that was released in 2004 for over $20.00 today. And that is from two different sites. Oh, that reminds me...yes, BN epub is cracked..and it's an easy one.