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Amazon exclusives lock up some Covey bestsellers: Tough luck, Sony and Nook owners
December 15, 2009 | 7:15 am
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By David Rothman
If you own a Sony Reader or Nook and want to read certain Stephen Covey books, you’re apparently out of luck for now. Ditto if you hope to borrow them via your local public library’s arrangements with OverDrive, the biggest player in that space.
Covey is granting Amazon the exclusive e-rights to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, as well as Principle-Centered Leadership, for a year; and some other titles are to follow. Since Amazon refuses to use the standard ePub format—or rival companies’ e-book DRM—your Sony or Nook won’t be able to display these Covey books.
I see more deals like this ahead, unfortunately. Not content just to deploy the proprietary Kindle format, which also helps balkanize the e-book market, Jeff Bezos is relying on the spinelessness of Washington, where “antitrust” is apparently an obsolete term. I don’t know if a flurry of Covey-type deals would violate current law, but if not, D.C. needs to pass appropriate legislation.
Do we really want to be able to read a certain author only on the Bezos-blessed Kindle or his so-so software for other devices?
Granted, the Kindle has many wonderful features, such as text to speech (at least when publishers don’t use Jeff Bezo’s DRM to deny it to you), and mine is now an important part of my life—a way to enjoy books while I walk. But Jeff Bezos is to e-book choice what Bull Connor and his ilk were to civil rights.
Setback for typical writers
I haven’t even begun to explore what Kindle exclusives for VIP writers could mean to typical authors and publishers—Amazon hogs 65 percent of revenue and inflicts DRM on small-press writers and publishers even when they feel it is bad for both society and their careers, at least if my experience is typical. Twilight Times Books and I have yet to be able to get Jeff Bezos’s people to zap the unwanted DRM edition of The Solomon Scandals that is stealing ranking from the authorized edition without “protection.” Jeff and the big boys love e-book DRM despite his lie on the Jon Stewart show that Bezos is agnostic about it—my publisher couldn’t even sell Scandals through Jeff’s Mobipocket store without agreeing to the use of DRM; and then the same tainted edition remained in the main Amazon store even after Twilight withdrew Scandals from the Mobi store. Now with Covey-type writers to promote even more aggressively than before, will we see the Jeff still more fanatical about e-book DRM, in addition to continuing to screwing authors in other ways?
There are also nasty repercussions for publishers and, of course, Amazon’s retail rivals such as B&N. Although Covey is going through little RosettaBooks right now, such Amazon exclusives may help pave the way for disintermediation of the big houses or at least reduce their clout. Stephen Covey might well have dealt with Jeff directly. Meanwhile B&N and Amazon competitors may be tempted to strike back with their own own exclusives. My advice would be, “Don’t do it and jeopardize the welfare of the book industry as a whole by making it harder for readers to connect with their favorite books and writers.” People in the content industries have been most effective at getting their way in D.C. on copyright matters; let’s see them do the same, in Amazon’s case, on antitrust matters.
Update, 11:34: Corrected “rely in” in the third paragraph. Meanwhile, some further thoughts on Amazon and DRM: Some people are saying that Amazon does not force DRM on writers and publishers not wanting it. But as I’ve said, that’s exactly what happened at the Mobipocket store to The Solomon Scandals. And then Amazon took the DRMed edition from there and turned it into a Kindle book, which remains online even though my publisher deleted the Mobi edition with my encouragement. Perhaps we wouldn’t have had DRM forced on us if we hadn’t used the Mobi store. But we did, and that’s what happened. I filled out an Amazon form asking that the DRMed version be removed, but so far I’ve had no luck. If you don’t believe me or Alan Wallcraft about Amazon giving me an unwanted DRMed edition, then get it yourself and examine the DRMed file. The nonDRMed version, the authorized e-book, is here.
Detail: Even now, I see just one Covey title at bn.com—just a workbook for Habits. This is real news, gang—not just a newspaper headline.
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Comments:
Amazon doesn’t force DRM on Kindle books. At least, not all books.
You can publish a DRM free book. You have to change the process of creating the book, but DRM is supposedly, from what we’ve been told, not Amazon’s decision. It is the publisher’s decision.
I double-checked, and yes, my books at Amazon, though, O’Reilly are DRM free now.
http://toc.oreilly.com/2009/04/over-160-oreilly-books-now-in-kindle-store-without-drm-more-on-the-way.html
And you, yourself, wrote on this:
http://www.teleread.com/2009/04/11/drmfree-tag-campaign-starts-on-amazon-help-identify-safer-to-own-books-and-other-items/
Gah, sorry, typo:
I double-checked, and yes, my books at Amazon through O’Reilly are DRM free now.
“Jeff Bezos is relying in the spinelessness of Washington, where ‘antitrust’ is apparently an obsolete term. I don’t know if a flurry of Covey-type deals would violate current law, but if not, D.C. needs to pass appropriate legislation.”
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.
This is what publishers truly fear: big-name authors selling directly to the public, and taking their big-money streams away from the Big 6. If this catches on, New York publishers might even be forced to find new authors and hire good editors instead of deal-makers palling it up with the big-name writers.
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.
Repeat after me: dis-inter-mediation.
“Disintermediation is the removal of intermediaries from a process, supply chain or market. ”
http://moneyterms.co.uk/disintermediation/
“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.
Felix, thanks for your usual thoughtfulness, but I’d still disagree.
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
Shelley: I appreciated your comments, and I hope you’ll do more on other posts. Meanwhile see my reply here. – David
“Amazon hogs 65 percent of revenue”
What about Random House, Simon and Schuster, and other big publishing houses?
One thing missing in all this discussion and Amazon bashing is that the New York Times reported that Amazon is giving the author a 50% royalty and his own publisher pays only 25% on ebooks. If you were the author which deal would you take?
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.
But Paul, the author is a special case—as Rosetta itself has noted.
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
Shelley: O’Reilly authors are able to get their ebooks published DRM-free in Amazon. O’Reilly has a special deal with Amazon, we can assume.
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?
Betsy, many thanks for caring about this. Just so people know, the exact issue isn’t the ability to publish DRM-free books at Amazon’s Kindle Store (different from the Mobi store, where it’s possible DRM is still required). Smallfry can do that. Rather the issue is that Amazon has inflicted a DRMed edition on my publisher and me at the Kindle store (picked up from the Mobi store) without the authorization of either of us. We have a nonDRMed editon, so you can imagine the confusion that the DRMed one creates. It apparently even means a lower Kindle ranking, since we’re talking about two editions.
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
With all due respect, I would suggest that focusing on Amazon *in this case* is kinda backwards.
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!)
BTW, what if we look at it from the author’s point of view? Picking a fight with the print publisher over e-rights is a risk. Limiting the availability of the e-edition limits the damage to the p-book publisher so, in case the treeware publisher wins the first few rounds, the liability generated by the gamble is limited.
To me, the real story here is Covey+Rosetta vs S&S, not Amazon.
Sorry!
Betsy, as David mentioned, all publishers, and authors, should be able to place their books DRM free. I believe the format you use determines whether the book is DRM or not. Amazon isn’t the best at providing good information about any of this.
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.
Shelley and Felix…
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