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For most of the
reading public the very public negotiations between Hachette and Amazon over
pricing and control of ebooks is a big yawn. The number of readers who use
ebooks (iPads, Kindle, Nook, etc.) is relatively small compared to the reading
public as a whole. And even though this is the future for most popular fiction
and some non-fiction, in general the public just rolls its eyes over the
kerfuffle. But there are other more dire and ominous conversations being held
in the writer’s universe over this subject that are beginning to develop into serious
discussions and finger pointing between authors.
There is a growing
and rancorous conversation between writers and authors totally outside the
Amazon-Hachette negotiations. This conversation being held in lively
conversations within social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram. It is also becoming quite divisive.
Last Sunday a full
page add was placed in the New York Times supporting Hachette and their stance that
the publisher should determine and control the price of ebooks. Over 900
authors supported this ad that sold for more than $100,000. Most Indie authors
see this as the continuing battle between the haves and the have-nots of the
publishing world. The primary voice is author Douglas Preston and Authors
United. Noted authors Stephen King, Barbara Kingsolver, and Donna Tartt are
just three of the signers. It was paid for by the authors (nice to have that
semi-annual royalty check arrive just a few weeks ago—just saying).
Amazon has made direct
offers to the authors under contract to Hachette to continue to sell their work
(and they would get to keep all the profits) if they just tell Hachette to
settle. It has turned into a letter writing campaign between Amazon telling its
supporters to email Hachette and Hachette through Authors United to email Jeff
Bezos. Amazon tells its people to mention things like “illegal Collusion” and
other tasty bits in the letters. They also reference the coming of the cheap
paperback book as analogous to the current revolution with ebooks. Even George
Orwell is cited (the Orwell estate was not pleased).
The New York Times
wrote this last weekend: Click Here.
Most of the
Hachette authors have taken a hit in both sales of traditional books and
ebooks.
On the
self-publishing front mega-sellers such as Barry Eisler and Hugh Howey have
been able to sign up over 7,600 signatures in their response. All is not well
in the publishing business. Click Here for the Guardian's look at the issues.
Eisler says that
the big name writers are in it for themselves. The Guardian article says:
He (Esiler) added that "beyond that, maybe the most notable
thing about the New York Times ad is that it demonstrates how the top one
percent of authors are able to buy their desired media access. For them, a New
York Times ad is about the equivalent of a cup of coffee for anyone else, the
difference being that the ad leads to a ton of follow-on media coverage."
It’s also a way of
paying back homage to the NYT and their advantageous best seller placements.
It would be simple
for me to say that the traditional publishing houses are dinosaurs and Amazon
is the meteor speeding toward earth and their extinction, but none of this is
that simple. Amazon needs traditional publishers and the block-buster novelist
that populate the best seller lists and provide a significant number of dollars
to Amazon’s bottom line (this may be one reason why Amazon now has it’s own
publishing division beyond the ebook KDP and Createspace POD). There’s money to
be made in paper and electrons.
There is much to
blame for both sides. Neither understands where the world of publishing is
going—in fact no one has known since Gutenberg when the written word was
wrenched from the cold hands of the religious clergies and nobility. Authors
are taking more control of their work and their distribution—even the
traditional houses see this and are becoming a lot more flexible in their
negotiations with authors—or so I have been told.
More later . . . . . . . .
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