Rare Book Monthly
Articles - September - 2010 Issue
Last Month's E-Book Headline Reversed! The Publishers Strike Back, Forcing Andrew Wylie's Hand
Hunter S. Thompson, writer of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, another work in the reversed deal.
While this outcome affirmed publishers' power, it also undid the two-year exclusivity with Amazon.com for the majority of the Odyssey Editions' titles. This is great news for anyone with a Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook, Borders' Kobo, or any reader for that matter.
There are bound to be more disputes between authors and publishers as e-books gain more of the publishing market. Authors clearly want to be able to keep their digital rights separate of traditional publishing; publishers clearly the opposite. As long as publishers work to keep e-books available to all sources, however, whereas authors are signing exclusive deals with one source or another, I believe publishers have the upper hand. Their model benefits the consumer more. And for the majority of unknown authors, a smaller cut of larger sales would outweigh a larger percentage with a smaller audience.
More on this topic as it comes!
