Amazon gets exclusivity deal

[whitearrow]

I know the issues are complicated, but at this point I'm happy with anything that gets more backlist titles in the market. Hopefully these titles have been proofread, not just scanned, OCR'd and dumped out there as some publishers have been doing.

[abookreader]

I agree whitearrow - hopefully they are quality ebooks. The good thing though is that since it is Amazon we will be able to return them if the quality is poor.

I have an August 15th pre-order in for Love Medicine which I remember reading in High School and really liking. I've considered the Updike Rabbit series but I'm trying not to spend my kid's college education on ebooks this month.

[JSWolf]

Anytime you get exclusivity like this, you take away books from a large segment of readers. This is not a good thing at all.

[HarryT]

It is if the alternative is not to have any eBook version at all.

[krischik]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It is if the alternative is not to have any eBook version at all.

Where is the difference in:

1. No eBook because is it just not there.
2. No eBook because I am banned from buying it.

For those on the wrong side of restriction there is none.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by krischik

Where is the difference in:

1. No eBook because is it just not there.
2. No eBook because I am banned from buying it.

For those on the wrong side of restriction there is none.

That's true, but, with respect, even if you personally cannot buy it, you must surely acknowledge it is a good thing that it is available to many people.

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by krischik

Where is the difference in:

1. No eBook because is it just not there.
2. No eBook because I am banned from buying it.

For those on the wrong side of restriction there is none.

There's also - you can't buy it, but because it is available someone might upload it so that everyone who is prevented from buying it can get it if they want it.

If it doesn't exist, that is not possible until someone scans one.

So it definitely is better for it to exist than not exist at all.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by B.Tackitt

To bad they are all @ $9.99

Even better ... they are finally $9.99 in Canada as well. They were all positioned at $11.99 when this thread started. I am glad to see the price reduction.

[charleski]

•Interior typography adhering to best conventions of book design and reading on Kindle
•Colophon, book covers and series design optimized for the Kindle screen

So proper ebook design is now a selling point...

[carld]

Originally Posted by charleski

So proper ebook design is now a selling point...

Given the state of some ebooks, yeah it is. "Buy our books. They're entirely adequate!"

[J. Strnad]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's true, but, with respect, even if you personally cannot buy it, you must surely acknowledge it is a good thing that it is available to many people.

It depends on whether you're looking at it in the short run or the long run or the longer run or the longer-run-with-hindsight.

In the short run, some books are being made available to some people, which would seem to be a net gain.

However, in the long run, if the exclusivity prompts competitors to lock up their own backlist titles with exclusive deals, the gain is not so clear. Again, some ebooks are being made available to some people, but at the cost of confusion in the marketplace.

At this point, people who are trying to choose an ereader will be faced with the daunting task of choosing A) the reader they want, and B) the store they want based in part on C) the books they want, since each outlet now has its own exclusives.

The result in similar situations in the past has been for large numbers of people to throw their hands in the air and sit it all out and wait for the dust to settle and not buy anything, which is bad for ebooks.

Eventually, in the longer run, the dust does settle somehow (someone's format dominates, or some form of cross-compatibility emerges, or the outlets get tired of chasing exclusives as the cost ramps up exponentially, or a combination of all of the above) and we end up with nearly all of the books available to everyone, which is good.

But, in the longer-run-with-hindsight, everyone sees that if they'd just cooperated a little bit initially instead of going for each other's throats like rabid jackals, they could have arrived at the same point a lot sooner and spent a lot less money getting there with a lot less aggravation.

Whew.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's true, but, with respect, even if you personally cannot buy it, you must surely acknowledge it is a good thing that it is available to many people.

Why? It is much better if films and books are available at the same time since you can easier avoid spoilers and you can discus the book or film with friends around the world. So simultaneous release is something good.

[ProfCrash]

Has there been any indication of why this ended up being an exclusive agreement? I understand why the e-books were available to a new publisher but I don't understand why they ended up only at Amazon.

I benefit from the agreement because I have a Kindle, and I have already bought two of the books, but it does not make sense to me that they are only available at Amazon.

[AnemicOak]

Looks like Random House will get their way on the titles they were after...

From Publishers Weekly...

We are pleased to announce that The Wylie Agency and Random House have resolved our differences over the disputed Random House titles which have been included in the Odyssey Editions e-book publishing program. These titles are being removed from that program and taken off-sale. We have agreed that Random House shall be the exclusive e-book publisher of these titles for those territories in which Random House U.S. controls their rights. The titles soon will be available for sale on a non-exclusive basis through all of Random House's current e-book customers.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...dom-wins-.html

[dcptcons4evr]

Originally Posted by B.Tackitt

To bad they are all @ $9.99

this is a plus