Backlist conversion slowing down? - Page 3

fjtorres · 03-28-2014, 04:30 PM

Apparently some ebook editions are being held back because authors are unwilling to accept the "industry-standard" 25% of net, which usually works out to 15% of list or less.

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/27/you_...k_royalty_war/

crossi · 03-29-2014, 03:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Apparently some ebook editions are being held back because authors are unwilling to accept the "industry-standard" 25% of net, which usually works out to 15% of list or less.

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/27/you_...k_royalty_war/

That bad? I wouldn't accept those terms either for all my work unless there was no other choice. Disgraceful. You do most of the work and they get most of the money. Like having to give up ownership of your house to the guy who fixes the roof.

Xanthe · 03-29-2014, 10:10 AM

Publishers unwilling to issue backlists as ebooks
Publishers trying to stiff authors financially, resulting in authors not willing to have ebook editions released
Books are available for sale in e-format in one country but not in another
Customers penalized with closed accounts if they try purchase an ebook from another country where it is legally sold

...and they wonder why the Dark Side exists and thrives.

Businesses and their ad agencies have created a culture of immediate gratification, and customers have come to expect to be able to buy what they want, whenever they want it. Then the archaic media industries create artificial roadblocks that hold both the creators and the customers hostage and prevent the legal sale of merchandise the customer is willing to buy. Then they cry "unfair" and "piracy" when their customer base becomes fed up with their antics and decide to take matters into their own hands.

/end rant

Victoria · 03-29-2014, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwalker8

The Blue Sword is available. I bought it Feb 7th of this year.

It's not available to me - I have a US (amazon.com) account, but am in Canada.

fjtorres · 03-29-2014, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crossi

That bad? I wouldn't accept those terms either for all my work unless there was no other choice. Disgraceful. You do most of the work and they get most of the money. Like having to give up ownership of your house to the guy who fixes the roof.

That bad.
Mind you, paperback rates have long run 7-8% and hardcovers 12% but that is generally based off list price, not Hollywood-accounting "net".

And all this is at a time the BPHs and their myriad imprints are recording record profits. Quarter after quarter.

Fbone · 03-29-2014, 01:58 PM

I recently heard from a backlist publisher that the effort locating the rights holder(s) often becomes a legal nightmare if not an impossibility. He gave an example of one deceased author whose estate eventually had spread to 12 people across the US. Each would have to be located and agree to terms. Then a title search performed to make sure no one was missed that could later sue or the rights sold by a long forgotten relative. The legal fees were more than he possibly would have earned selling a midlist sci-fi title.

MickiTee · 03-29-2014, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why did you set the regional settings in Windows to US? What does doing that achieve?

I'm hoping it will allow me to access the US sites for Kobo & Google. If I try from my primary user account I can only access the UK ones. Even Amazon knows I'm in the UK when I access amazon.com as I get a 'Shopping from the UK' message on the home page.

HarryT · 03-29-2014, 02:11 PM

That's because you have a UK IP address. It has nothing to do with your regional settings. Use a VPN that makes it appear that you're in the US. http://www.hidemyass.com is good and free.

pwalker8 · 03-29-2014, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Victoria

It's not available to me - I have a US (amazon.com) account, but am in Canada.

Sorry about that, I was wrong. I actually bought the book from Sony some years ago. I thought it was Amazon because of the date, but it was actually one of the books that I moved into calibre on that date.

cadele · 03-29-2014, 07:45 PM

I wish the authors who have retained their ebook rights would just self publish. At least they would have control on pricing etc then and we would have an opportunity to buy them.

I have been waiting for years for some books to be digitised and with deceased authors the hope is fading fast.

I finally broke down and bought Abbyy Finereader (at a frightening cost) and will now just scan and create my own personal version of the books. I have an aversion to reading paper now and I just want those books. I weighed it up and it is worth it to me.

shalym · 03-30-2014, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fbone

I recently heard from a backlist publisher that the effort locating the rights holder(s) often becomes a legal nightmare if not an impossibility. He gave an example of one deceased author whose estate eventually had spread to 12 people across the US. Each would have to be located and agree to terms. Then a title search performed to make sure no one was missed that could later sue or the rights sold by a long forgotten relative. The legal fees were more than he possibly would have earned selling a midlist sci-fi title.

...and this is EXACTLY why we need copyright reform. If there was a fixed term with the option to renew every few years, this wouldn't happen. Disney could keep the mouse by renewing the copyright every 10 years, but if an author dies and his/her heirs don't care about renewing the copyright, it falls into the public domain.

Shari

pwalker8 · 03-30-2014, 05:26 PM

There are many reasons that copyright reform is difficult, it's not just about the Mouse. For one thing, there are a number of international treaty. While I certainly am a strong believing in the idea that artists ought to be paid for their works, I also am a strong believing in the idea that it's a two way street and that artists have certain obligations that they ought to meet in order to maintain their copyright.

Tarana · 04-01-2014, 01:47 PM

I do think there is some truth in what you say. In some cases, I think the publisher is holding the work hostage because of the new law that releases copyright back to the author after 35 years. I've been waiting for a couple early books from Christopher Stasheff to be in ebook form. I'm going to have my omnibus edition OCR'd since I can't read it without conversion to ebook. Id been holding off because the book is destroyed in the process, but eventually, one just has to move on.

pwalker8 · 04-02-2014, 08:08 AM

Some of Stasheff's early stuff showed up in January in the Amazon Kindle store. I've picked up the first 3 of his Warlock of Gramarye series. I really do wish that there was a service like authoralert where they would notify me when certain authors or books show up as ebooks. I generally find them by going into amazon on an irregular basis and searching for specific books and authors. They don't make it easy to automate the process though.

I suspect that the biggest issue for a lot of the pre-computer backlist is simply there is no one with a financial interest who is pushing the process. It actually takes a certain amount of effort and expense secure the rights, then scan and proof read a book and most of these older books just aren't going to generate a huge return on investment.

pwalker8 · 04-05-2014, 12:40 PM

Speaking of older books coming out in ebook, I just picked up Tanya Huff's "Valor's Choice", the first of the Valor series that was first published in 2000. The later books were available as ebooks, possibly because they came out after the Kindle. I went ahead and picked up the first three books of the series (Valor's choice, The Better Part of Valor and The Heart of Valor). Her Keeper's chronicles series were release in ebooks last fall. With a little luck, her Quarters series may be next.

03-29-2014, 10:10 AM	#33
Xanthe Plan B Is Now In Force Posts: 1,894 Karma: 8086979 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Surebleak Device: Aluratek,Sony 350/T1,Pandigital,eBM 911,Nook HD/HD+,Fire HDX 7/8.9,PW2	Publishers unwilling to issue backlists as ebooks Publishers trying to stiff authors financially, resulting in authors not willing to have ebook editions released Books are available for sale in e-format in one country but not in another Customers penalized with closed accounts if they try purchase an ebook from another country where it is legally sold ...and they wonder why the Dark Side exists and thrives. Businesses and their ad agencies have created a culture of immediate gratification, and customers have come to expect to be able to buy what they want, whenever they want it. Then the archaic media industries create artificial roadblocks that hold both the creators and the customers hostage and prevent the legal sale of merchandise the customer is willing to buy. Then they cry "unfair" and "piracy" when their customer base becomes fed up with their antics and decide to take matters into their own hands. /end rant

04-02-2014, 08:08 AM	#44
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,196 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	Some of Stasheff's early stuff showed up in January in the Amazon Kindle store. I've picked up the first 3 of his Warlock of Gramarye series. I really do wish that there was a service like authoralert where they would notify me when certain authors or books show up as ebooks. I generally find them by going into amazon on an irregular basis and searching for specific books and authors. They don't make it easy to automate the process though. I suspect that the biggest issue for a lot of the pre-computer backlist is simply there is no one with a financial interest who is pushing the process. It actually takes a certain amount of effort and expense secure the rights, then scan and proof read a book and most of these older books just aren't going to generate a huge return on investment. Last edited by pwalker8; 04-02-2014 at 08:20 AM.

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03-28-2014, 04:30 PM	#31
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	Apparently some ebook editions are being held back because authors are unwilling to accept the "industry-standard" 25% of net, which usually works out to 15% of list or less. http://www.salon.com/2014/03/27/you_...k_royalty_war/

03-29-2014, 01:58 PM	#36
Fbone Is that a sandwich? Posts: 8,289 Karma: 101697116 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Nook Glowlight Plus	I recently heard from a backlist publisher that the effort locating the rights holder(s) often becomes a legal nightmare if not an impossibility. He gave an example of one deceased author whose estate eventually had spread to 12 people across the US. Each would have to be located and agree to terms. Then a title search performed to make sure no one was missed that could later sue or the rights sold by a long forgotten relative. The legal fees were more than he possibly would have earned selling a midlist sci-fi title.

03-29-2014, 02:11 PM	#38
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	That's because you have a UK IP address. It has nothing to do with your regional settings. Use a VPN that makes it appear that you're in the US. http://www.hidemyass.com is good and free.

03-29-2014, 07:45 PM	#40
cadele Addict Posts: 372 Karma: 3710372 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: Kindles, Sony 650	I wish the authors who have retained their ebook rights would just self publish. At least they would have control on pricing etc then and we would have an opportunity to buy them. I have been waiting for years for some books to be digitised and with deceased authors the hope is fading fast. I finally broke down and bought Abbyy Finereader (at a frightening cost) and will now just scan and create my own personal version of the books. I have an aversion to reading paper now and I just want those books. I weighed it up and it is worth it to me.

03-30-2014, 05:26 PM	#42
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,196 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	There are many reasons that copyright reform is difficult, it's not just about the Mouse. For one thing, there are a number of international treaty. While I certainly am a strong believing in the idea that artists ought to be paid for their works, I also am a strong believing in the idea that it's a two way street and that artists have certain obligations that they ought to meet in order to maintain their copyright.

04-01-2014, 01:47 PM	#43
Tarana Wizard Posts: 4,038 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	I do think there is some truth in what you say. In some cases, I think the publisher is holding the work hostage because of the new law that releases copyright back to the author after 35 years. I've been waiting for a couple early books from Christopher Stasheff to be in ebook form. I'm going to have my omnibus edition OCR'd since I can't read it without conversion to ebook. Id been holding off because the book is destroyed in the process, but eventually, one just has to move on.

04-05-2014, 12:40 PM	#45
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,196 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	Speaking of older books coming out in ebook, I just picked up Tanya Huff's "Valor's Choice", the first of the Valor series that was first published in 2000. The later books were available as ebooks, possibly because they came out after the Kindle. I went ahead and picked up the first three books of the series (Valor's choice, The Better Part of Valor and The Heart of Valor). Her Keeper's chronicles series were release in ebooks last fall. With a little luck, her Quarters series may be next.

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