Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I still don't see why they would actually want to.
Why would they expend 'political capital' renegotiating their agency agreements?
When you say should you seem to mean that you want them to, rather than that you think it is their interests to do so.

They should because it is in the publishers' best interests to combat Amazon's entry into their field.

If Amazon had to adopt ePub and the same DRM scheme as every other ebookseller, then it would make less economic sense for Amazon to offer exclusives in some other format because the only books that would be in that other format would be those few exclusives. That would permit all publishers and ebooksellers to compete on a relatively level playing field.

Just view it like the movie industry. It made no sense for some studios to have one DRM scheme and others to have a different scheme. Ultimately consumers won because they could buy DVDs anywhere. It really isn't a difficult concept.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by rhadin

They should because it is in the publishers' best interests to combat Amazon's entry into their field.

They won't do jack about it.

Amazon US sold around $6bn of books last year, plus another $8bn international. B&N was around $4.3bn, and another $0.85bn at BN.com -- an amount that is slowly dropping.

Regardless of format, Amazon is going to insist on Whispernet and is never going to accept Adobe DRM.

Amazon apps are available on every platform except Nook, Sony and a few bit players. I'm fairly confident you can root most of the Nooks and get an android version of the Amazon reader onto it.

There's absolutely no way publishers will resort to the Nuclear Option just to make Amazon adopt ePub+Adobe, and/or to help out B&N and Sony.

Nor is this a mortal threat to the publishers -- more like another whip in Bezos' hands. If they scored Stephen King and JK Rowling in one week, that'd be a different story; but I'm guessing they are working more on undervalued low-priced mid-range authors, i.e. the ones who are left in the cold by current publisher practices.

[stonetools]

Agree with Kali . This talk of formats and DRM is stuff that only geeks care about and that the rest of world doesn't even comprehend.
Where I disagree is that it does represent significant competition for what is now the scarcest and valauble resource in the book industry-authorial talent.
In the brave new world of ebook publishing, anyone and everyone can put out a book. Unfortunately, most of that everyone has no talent, which means that there is an ocean of unsold crap sitting on Amazon's servers.
Amazon wants to move product and the only way to move product is to put out quality ebook product. For that , you need quality authors. Its better if that quality product is exclusive product too, giving you an advantage over competitors. Best of all is if you don't have to share any profits with those publishing houses.
For quality professional authors, this is win-win. More competition for them means more, and bigger advances. If Amazon is willing to pay a premium for exclusivity, that's fine too. (Contrary to MR mythology, authors really are interested in more money.)

Who may lose out is indie authors. If Amazon develops its own stable of established writers, it may be less willing to push indie authors. Simply by the way it publishes its rankings, it could de-emphasize the offerings of indie authors. Hopefully, this won't happen, but don't expect Amazon to do anyone any favors.

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

They won't do jack about it.

Amazon US sold around $6bn of books last year, plus another $8bn international. B&N was around $4.3bn, and another $0.85bn at BN.com -- an amount that is slowly dropping.

Regardless of format, Amazon is going to insist on Whispernet and is never going to accept Adobe DRM.

Amazon apps are available on every platform except Nook, Sony and a few bit players. I'm fairly confident you can root most of the Nooks and get an android version of the Amazon reader onto it.

There's absolutely no way publishers will resort to the Nuclear Option just to make Amazon adopt ePub+Adobe, and/or to help out B&N and Sony.

Nor is this a mortal threat to the publishers -- more like another whip in Bezos' hands. If they scored Stephen King and JK Rowling in one week, that'd be a different story; but I'm guessing they are working more on undervalued low-priced mid-range authors, i.e. the ones who are left in the cold by current publisher practices.

undervalued low-priced mid-range authors,
sounds like stock that I would like to buy.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by afa

That's why they're called Kindle exclusive. My argument is that whatever publishing entity Amazon creates will not necessarily be Kindle exclusive.

But Amazon is working so hard at getting exclusives. Why wouldn't they do that with titles that they don't have to work so hard for? Exclusives would give Amazon the title of biggest ebook library.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

But Amazon is working so hard at getting exclusives. Why wouldn't they do that with titles that they don't have to work so hard for? Exclusives would give Amazon the title of biggest ebook library.

Amazon is not a library, they are a book seller. And this thread is about being a book publisher in addition.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Amazon is not a library, they are a book seller. And this thread is about being a book publisher in addition.

Sorry, I should have said the longest list of ebook titles, but library was shorter.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Just view it like the movie industry. It made no sense for some studios to have one DRM scheme and others to have a different scheme. Ultimately consumers won because they could buy DVDs anywhere. It really isn't a difficult concept.

Yet when the battle for the replacement for DVD was going on, that is exactly what did happen. Some studios released only in HD-DVD, some released only in BluRay.

[BearMountainBooks]

This really isn't news. Amazon started publishing some known (and unknown) authors a few years ago. They're just adding editors and getting more serious about it. Last year they already had several imprints; they just added a horror imprint this year.

They have approached both trad authors and indie authors who are doing well. Karen McQuestion had a deal with them, although I think she is now with ... oh darn. Harper? I don't remember. There's a few others that have been picked up by Amazon and I know at least one author...no actually 3 authors who were approached by Amazon. They've been at it a while.

As for monopoly that will only happen while they are front-running and being better at things that other companies. Other companies will start getting more and more competitive to keep up--or surpass!

[IVISUAL]

I think that the core business of Amazon was started by selling books. So it is meaningful to them. In Apple case, Apple sells hardwares such as Mac,iPhone,and iPad... Two companies have a different look of the ebook market.

I saw Amazon is trying to adopt a new service calling renting ebooks for readers through Kindle. To make it easier, I think Amazon is trying to directly deal with authors.

[afa]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

But Amazon is working so hard at getting exclusives. Why wouldn't they do that with titles that they don't have to work so hard for? Exclusives would give Amazon the title of biggest ebook library.

It depends on what they're going for. If the publisher aspect is just a way to feed into the Kindle store, then you're correct.

But if Amazon is intending to create a true publishing competitor to the incumbents, then it won't work. For the publishing arm to stand on its own merit, it would have to act like a publisher; i.e., try to sell its books via as many channels as possible.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by afa

It depends on what they're going for. If the publisher aspect is just a way to feed into the Kindle store, then you're correct.

But if Amazon is intending to create a true publishing competitor to the incumbents, then it won't work. For the publishing arm to stand on its own merit, it would have to act like a publisher; i.e., try to sell its books via as many channels as possible.

Exclusivity (or proprietary design) tends to work very well for a company in the initial stages of sales. I'm guessing that is something they will go for initially without caring too much later on. They want the headlines and attention more than anything else.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by afa

It depends on what they're going for. If the publisher aspect is just a way to feed into the Kindle store, then you're correct.

But if Amazon is intending to create a true publishing competitor to the incumbents, then it won't work. For the publishing arm to stand on its own merit, it would have to act like a publisher; i.e., try to sell its books via as many channels as possible.

Amazon is mainly a retailer. I don't think that that will change.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Exclusivity (or proprietary design) tends to work very well for a company in the initial stages of sales. I'm guessing that is something they will go for initially without caring too much later on. They want the headlines and attention more than anything else.

The initial stage of sales makes most of the money. The exception would be those that sell very well. And in those cases they would want to keep them exclusive.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

The initial stage of sales makes most of the money. The exception would be those that sell very well. And in those cases they would want to keep them exclusive.

They might want them to remain exclusive, but the one author I know who signed with them ... If I recall, the contract only calls for exclusivity for a year (and I'm not certain that was the final contract.) The authors naturally fight to either get out of that clause or limit it so there's really no fear that it's going to become a huge deal for a lot of authors. The exclusivity gives Amz that nice big burst out the gate and later they are still able to garner sales if the book remains popular.