Terry Goodkind finally an eBook Author

[carld]

Sorry for those non-Kindle folks that won't be able to read his books, at least for now. But, I think it was a smart move on Amazon's part. They found a popular author who wasn't releasing ebooks at all, showed him a Kindle (the may have given him one for all I know), and got him to sign an exclusive deal.

Like it or not, that's good business, and exactly the way I would have done it. Amazon isn't in the business of making Sony or iLiad or Gen3 owners (or anyone else) happy. They're in the business of selling Kindles and Kindle ebooks. Sony is no different, and if they had gotten there first (and the could have - Sony had a year lead) I don't think a lot of you folks would be complaining.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by carld

Sorry for those non-Kindle folks that won't be able to read his books, at least for now. But, I think it was a smart move on Amazon's part. They found a popular author who wasn't releasing ebooks at all, showed him a Kindle (the may have given him one for all I know), and got him to sign an exclusive deal.

Like it or not, that's good business, and exactly the way I would have done it. Amazon isn't in the business of making Sony or iLiad or Gen3 owners (or anyone else) happy. They're in the business of selling Kindles and Kindle ebooks. Sony is no different, and if they had gotten there first (and the could have - Sony had a year lead) I don't think a lot of you folks would be complaining.

Well, Amazon also sells the Sony PRS 505 and the ILiad along with the Kindle. So, I would say it's more a matter of whether Sony or IRex would allow Amazon to sell their proprietary formats. The problem is ... if they were to do that, then their goes a good hunk of their ebook revenue (along with worries that Amazon might undercut them).

[carld]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

Well, Amazon also sells the Sony PRS 505 and the ILiad along with the Kindle. So, I would say it's more a matter of whether Sony or IRex would allow Amazon to sell their proprietary formats. The problem is ... if they were to do that, then their goes a good hunk of their ebook revenue (along with worries that Amazon might undercut them).

Well yes, technically they do. I almost specified "Amazon's Kindle Division", and I guess I should have. And yes, Amazon would gobble up a sizable chunk of their sales if they did that, so I don't see that happening.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by carld

Sony is no different, and if they had gotten there first (and the could have - Sony had a year lead) I don't think a lot of you folks would be complaining.

The point of contention would be the same.

[carld]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

The point of contention would be the same.

Would it? Would there be "Sony is ruining eBooks!" posts? Somehow, I doubt it.

[Barcey]

I think the "exclusive deal" thing will backfire on Amazon.

The idea of this type of promotion is that you better buy a Kindle because we have content that others e-book readers don't. It's likely to scare away more potential electronic reader buyers then it will convince to purchase a Kindle.

Some will decide that I better hold off on buying one of these devices until the winner is decided.

Others will think, "Do I really want to be tied to getting all my content through Amazon? Sure today I can buy my books from other online stores but if they start doing exclusive deals will I be able to tomorrow? What will the books cost of they don't have any competition?"

Hopefully there will be a lot of backlash and they will realize... OK that was stupid.

For the people that asked about Terry Goodkind. This is a very good book and I would recommend it. I read most of the series in hardcover first release and loved the first few books in the series. (I have them sitting in a box in my garage waiting to be donated to a charity). I gave up on the series though because IMO it became the worst kind of fantasy series. Repeat the same story over and over again without advancing the plot and sell #14 in the series. It still doesn't stop me from recommending the first books in the series.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by Barcey

I think the "exclusive deal" thing will backfire on Amazon.

The idea of this type of promotion is that you better buy a Kindle because we have content that others e-book readers don't. It's likely to scare away more potential electronic reader buyers then it will convince to purchase a Kindle.

I don't agree with that. If it were an author that I was really into, it would make it more likely that I would buy a Kindle.

Now if exclusive deals started popping up all over the place, one author for this reader another for that one, then I would pause and maybe decide to bypass the whole ebook deal altogether.

On the whole, I don't think the most people will care. Some of the folks on Goodkind's own boards weren't even aware of the issues.

[Taylor514ce]

Originally Posted by carld

Sorry for those non-Kindle folks that won't be able to read his books, at least for now. But, I think it was a smart move on Amazon's part. They found a popular author who wasn't releasing ebooks at all, showed him a Kindle (the may have given him one for all I know), and got him to sign an exclusive deal.

Like it or not, that's good business, and exactly the way I would have done it. Amazon isn't in the business of making Sony or iLiad or Gen3 owners (or anyone else) happy. They're in the business of selling Kindles and Kindle ebooks. Sony is no different, and if they had gotten there first (and the could have - Sony had a year lead) I don't think a lot of you folks would be complaining.

Wrong. We'd all still be complaining. Have you seen how many kindle owners there are, here? We'd be wondering how an author could miss the most popular e-book device on the market!

No one... well, scratch that... *I* am not claiming this was evil or unscrupulous on Amazon's part. I think it was a bad move on Terry Goodkind's publisher's and agent's part. If you're going to enter the e-book market, it would probably be best not to do so in a manner calculated to piss off a whole lot of e-book buyers. Good business on Amazon's part, but bad move on Goodkind's.

[carld]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

Wrong. We'd all still be complaining. Have you seen how many kindle owners there are, here? We'd be wondering how an author could miss the most popular e-book device on the market!

No one... well, scratch that... *I* am not claiming this was evil or unscrupulous on Amazon's part. I think it was a bad move on Terry Goodkind's publisher's and agent's part. If you're going to enter the e-book market, it would probably be best not to do so in a manner calculated to piss off a whole lot of e-book buyers. Good business on Amazon's part, but bad move on Goodkind's.

I disagree that we'd all still be complaining. There seems to be a special level of vitriol and invective reserved for the Kindle. And I think that's what's coming through here.

I also disagree that it's a bad decision for TG. I'm guessing (and just guessing) that he got a special royalty rate for releasing exclusively for the Kindle. TG obviously believes the positives outweigh the negatives, or he wouldn't have gone with a Kindle exclusive release.

What is actually interesting, is what happens next. Will sales justify subsequent Kindle only releases, will he go multi-format for future books or will he exit the eBook market completely?

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by carld

I disagree that we'd all still be complaining. There seems to be a special level of vitriol and invective reserved for the Kindle. And I think that's what's coming through here.

I also disagree that it's a bad decision for TG. I'm guessing (and just guessing) that he got a special royalty rate for releasing exclusively for the Kindle. TG obviously believes the positives outweigh the negatives, or he wouldn't have gone with a Kindle exclusive release.

What is actually interesting, is what happens next. Will sales justify subsequent Kindle only releases, will he go multi-format for future books or will he exit the eBook market completely?

Or .... let's talk about the third possibility, that a standard format will be adopted by all makers of ebook devices, and people will be able to purchase the device the features of which they prefer, and be able to convert all of their books into the new standard format, and online bookstores will sell content to everyone. This resulting from the fact that all of the manufacturers and all of the publishers will have pissed all of the readers off to the point that we show up on their doorsteps with lit torches.

[Taylor514ce]

Originally Posted by carld

I disagree that we'd all still be complaining. There seems to be a special level of vitriol and invective reserved for the Kindle. And I think that's what's coming through here.

I also disagree that it's a bad decision for TG. I'm guessing (and just guessing) that he got a special royalty rate for releasing exclusively for the Kindle. TG obviously believes the positives outweigh the negatives, or he wouldn't have gone with a Kindle exclusive release.

What is actually interesting, is what happens next. Will sales justify subsequent Kindle only releases, will he go multi-format for future books or will he exit the eBook market completely?

That's what's coming through from JSWolf. Not all of us. I stand by my own histrionic inarticulate howling rants. tor. TOR!! TORRRRRR!!!!! :shatner:

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by Alisa

If he's a bit of a technophobe like they say maybe he thinks his works are less likely to be stolen by evil darknet pirates on a more closed system like the Kindle. We all know that's not true, but I think Amazon uses it as a differentiating point with publishers. Personally, I think going exclusive makes it more likely people will illegally share his work.

Originally Posted by carld

I'm guessing (and just guessing) that he got a special royalty rate for releasing exclusively for the Kindle. TG obviously believes the positives outweigh the negatives, or he wouldn't have gone with a Kindle exclusive release.

I think both of these speculations are true. I think Amazon does try to convince publishers (and now writers and/or agents) that their platform is somehow "safer" with respect to piracy (and I also think that if anything locking the format to a single device makes it more likely that the work will be hacked and distributed. I also suspect Amazon offered a premium if TG would sign with them exclusively. They've just cut out the publisher-as-middleman entirely.

I wonder if they're sending a free Kindle to J.K. Rowling now? They probably have a bit of an "in" with her, after bidding fairly high on her charity auction and then convincing her to do these special editions of Beedle the Bard for charity. I could just see them negotiating for the rights to sell a special Kindle edition (Red with the Gryffindor Lion or Green with the Slytherin Snake) with all 7 books plus the 3 charity titles pre-loaded-- with some percentage of proceeds to go to charity. Rowling was quite keen to endorse the "Ancient Forest Friendly" recycled books I bought from Canada. If someone could convince her that the Kindle is the right platform, pointing to Goodkind as an example, perhaps, it would be quite a coup for Amazon.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by carld

I disagree that we'd all still be complaining. There seems to be a special level of vitriol and invective reserved for the Kindle. And I think that's what's coming through here.

I also disagree that it's a bad decision for TG. I'm guessing (and just guessing) that he got a special royalty rate for releasing exclusively for the Kindle. TG obviously believes the positives outweigh the negatives, or he wouldn't have gone with a Kindle exclusive release.

What is actually interesting, is what happens next. Will sales justify subsequent Kindle only releases, will he go multi-format for future books or will he exit the eBook market completely?

The Kindle is a good device. The problem is what Amazon is doing with exclusive eBooks. Especially eBooks a lot of people have been wanting for a long time now.

If Terry goes multi-format for other books in the series and does not for the first one, people will be even more pissed then they are now. I'd not be happy if he signed with just Sony either. It's not about getting eBooks just for the device you happen to own. It's about getting eBooks in all formats so you can then have a choice of what device you want to won because the books are there for all of them.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by nekokami

I think both of these speculations are true. I think Amazon does try to convince publishers (and now writers and/or agents) that their platform is somehow "safer" with respect to piracy (and I also think that if anything locking the format to a single device makes it more likely that the work will be hacked and distributed. I also suspect Amazon offered a premium if TG would sign with them exclusively. They've just cut out the publisher-as-middleman entirely.

The truth is that AZW is as hackable as Mobipocket is using the same program. I think one of the safest formats is LRX. That is the Sony format with DRM. That has yet to be hacked to remove the DRM. We will eventually have lrf2html once it's finished being written as part of Calibre. So from what I see, Sony is safe and Amazon is not unless they go for Topaz.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I don't agree with that. If it were an author that I was really into, it would make it more likely that I would buy a Kindle.

Now if exclusive deals started popping up all over the place, one author for this reader another for that one, then I would pause and maybe decide to bypass the whole ebook deal altogether.

On the whole, I don't think the most people will care. Some of the folks on Goodkind's own boards weren't even aware of the issues.

Actually it looks like you do agree with me.

I'm not saying that some people won't be drawn into it. I just think more will be scared away. Most people understand that Amazon isn't going to get away with signing exclusive deals and competitors won't react. Publishers will be threatened by it also. When people see this type of exclusive content they are more likely to decide to take a pass on the technology for a while and let it iron itself out.

Just look at what happened in the HD DVD vs Blu-ray debacle. When Paramount signed an exclusive deal with the HD DVD consortium some people might have decided they liked Paramount movies so they'll buy a HD DVD player but the vast majority just took a pass on either technology. Sony apparently "won" the war but the last reports I've seen Blu-ray still isn't selling well. A lot of people think that downloadable HD content will be the winner.

I agree with Jon. It doesn't matter if it's Kindle, Mobipocket, BBEB or eReader. Exclusive agreements like this are bad for the electronic book industry.

My theory on this specific instance is that Terry Goodkind is afraid of e-books. Amazon probably tried to get all his books in Kindle format but he didn't want to lose everything to evil pirates. Amazon says, "Look your first book was published in 1994 how much money do you really expect to make off it in the next x years. Let us pay you that amount up front and then any sales you make on top is a bonus. You can't lose anything and we'll prove people will pay for your book. You get comfortable with it and we'll talk about the rest of the series."

Short term it looks like a win/win situation. Long term... well it's shortsighted.