S: Great stuff! Tell us more about the problems you’ve had with Amazon, if you don’t mind. I’m so glad I opened up dialogue on this topic. I have pointed an Amazon PR guy to my latest post, in hopes of getting Amazon’s side and helping the company better serve the non-Coveys. Certainly other examples from you and other folks would be great for my case, even if they involve paper books rather than e-books. I’m eager for the world’s largest online store to be more responsive. Amazon isn’t going away. But maybe if enough of us speak out and the media actually will pay attention, we can make its treatment of nonVIPs less barbaric.

F: Given that the big chains won’t even carry The Solomon Scandals in their brick-and-mortar stores—despite a great writeup in the Washington City Paper—I’m kind of laughing about risks. I need Amazon a lot more than it needs me. Still, since it’s the largest store online, it’s worth the time to try to reform, especially since I’m already on its S list in effect, whether it intended this or not (I doubt it did). The Quixote in me can’t resist.

Thanks,
David

What happened with David is that another copy of his book was picked up, and that one does have DRM. Unfortunately, unless you’re a huge selling author, or have some form of extraordinary clout (ala Stephen King), it’s extremely difficult to get Amazon to fix a problem once a book is in the online catalog. That’s what David is hitting against, and I’ve had this issue with paper books.

This all should be easier, but Amazon’s systems may be efficient, but they completely fail when something falls outside of the box.

The way the article presents it, Covey wanted a better deal than S&S’s take it or leave it, generic 25%, and took his ebook rights (which he may or not control) to Rosetta, who *then* negotiated a one-year exclusivity deal with Amazon, after the fact.

To me, the story breaks into two parts, one major, one minor:

The major part is that the BPH’s baseline assumption that generic *book* publishing contracts autoatically include *ebook* rights retroactively is about to end up in court in a deep-pockeed fight..

The minor part is that the challenger has negotiated a video game-like, timed exclusive, deal with amazon. I see this as minor because term-limited exclusive deals are common in the video game industry and are negotiated *only* when the publisher has no intention of keeping the product on a single platform beyond the end of the term. Otherwise, the deal is announced as an exclusive with no mention of an expiry date.

In other words, Amazon, gets a few months head-start on availability of a *back-catalog* non-fiction book that’s been available in print and audio for what? Decades? The sky ain’t falling, guys.

It *is* however a sign of the times; the book publishing business is starting to look like, gasp!, the video game publishing business!

About time!
(They *are* direct competitors, after all!)

By the way, if anyone knows the current DRM situation at the Sony and Barnes & Noble e-stores, I’d be grateful for the information. Will Sony and B&N carry e-books without DRM? If so, how can writers and publishers arrange for this to happen? Not to pick on Amazon alone!

Thanks,
David

But what about authors and small publishers not affiliated with O’Reilly? … Will Amazon allow independent authors and small publishers to publish and sell on Amazon, without DRM?

I totally agree with you that Covey’s publisher could have been more generous with e-royalties! That should apply not just to bestselling authors but to others.

Thanks,
David

This is clearly a failure of the publisher to negotiate and they are the onew to blame – if blame is to be allotted to anyone here.

What about Random House, Simon and Schuster, and other big publishing houses?

We’re potentially talking about one company, Amazon, lessening the number of voices within publishing. I do not want a single corporation to count so much as a gatekeeper. I’d rather see many gatekeepers.

This is one reason why I believe that antitrust authorities and legislators should investigate Amazon to see, if nothing else, whether there is need for corrective legislation.

My thoughts apply especially when Amazon wants to position itself as the only retail outlet for such-and-such bestsellers.

By contrast, e-”reprint” houses like Open Road Integrated Media will offer their wares through a variety of outlets. I fully support their right to do e-editions. As far as I’m concerned, they can even sell directly to consumers—just so other outlets can also offer the titles.

Thanks,
David

“Disintermediation is giving the user or the consumer direct access to information that otherwise would require a mediator…”
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci211962,00.html

When it comes to books, two elements are indispensable; the author’s creativity and the consumer’s wallet. Everything else is optional.

The big publishing houses have been gatekeepers of the industry so long they’ve come to think they are indispensable. The 21st century reality is that they have to “sing for their supper” and add value to the product chain, like everybody else, or be left out. Their focus/reliance on volume discounts and big-name “brand” writers is setting them up for a big fall if they don’t wake up and smell the coffee.

Note S&S’s response: “Adam Rothberg, a spokesman for Simon & Schuster, declined to comment directly on Covey’s moves, but said, “Our position is that electronic editions of our backlist titles belong in the Simon & Schuster catalog, and we intend to protect our interests in those publications.” ”

Translation: lawsuit!
Yup, that’s going to help; sue your authors, sue the retailers…
(They already sued Rosetta last decade and ended up settling out of court, so if Rosetta is back in the game its because this time they’re going all the way. And do note that it is Rosetta who negotiated this deal. Amazon has one year exclusivity but it is Rosetta who is holding the ebook rights in dispute; they were the ones who decided to go with Amazon over the Adobe gang.)
Looks like the issue of retroactive rights is going to be settled sooner rather than later.

But it goes beyond this, surely: the Covey deal is a one-year exclusive. That makes me foresee a world in which the big-name authors shop around their rights, year by year, should they not wish to sell directly on their own. (Covey as a smart businessman will probably end up selling on his own.)

It would make for a world in which the rich authors get richer, and leave less for the rest of us. The money Amazon, B&N, Sony, Apple, Google and the others spend to garner exclusive rights to Danielle Steele, Stephen King, John Grisham, and the rest of the creme de la creme, would needs come out of the pools of money available for the lamented long tail authors.

I feel bad for the New York editors. They are not superstars, they are unknown outside the industry, and they cannot set up shop as independent gatekeepers of the digital ebook world. They will also lose out in this new world, as the big publishers cut salaries in order to maintain profit margins.

Litigation is surely inappropriate as is legislation. How does this violate antitrust laws? Is it an antitrust violation that some movies are only available on DVD and not on Blu-ray or vice-versa? That not every recorded album is on vinyl as well as CD? That some music is only available on iTunes and nowhere else?

Moreover, these books are available in print editions! No consumer is unable to purchase these books at a reasonable price.

I double-checked, and yes, my books at Amazon through O’Reilly are DRM free now.