I came
across this article that mentions that during the bidding war for
Amazda's new series Amazon was in there fighting with other big
publishers.
Executives at several houses said they knew of no other instance in which the company had competed with major publishers for a high profile commercial author.
The article also mentioned that they made a deal with
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to provide the print version of her books to "sweeten" their offering. And also this little tidbit...
St. Martin's Press ended up winning the auction, paying $2 million for the series of four novels, but Amazon actually made the highest offer of the six bidders, according to insiders. Amazon had insisted on exclusivity for the e-book edition, said a high level publishing executive familiar with the deal. That made the offer less attractive to the author and her literary agent.
I find this fascinating...
6 comments:
Fascinating ain't the word.
Well done for digging out this nugget.
It's heartening to see to see that good 'ol fashioned corporate politics came into play with the print sweetener.
I also noted with interest that the article stated Amazon's market share was 65% & dropping!
You could almost (nah!) feel sorry for amazon as the chances are that without them and the Kindle there would be no amazda $1m+ phenomenon. She might well have sold well elsewhere, but probably nowhere near the bazillions that she has achieved.
Roy
I imagine the nook in particular is going to pose a challenge, although I've heard Amazon is coming out with their own counter-nook.
Tara Maya
The Unfinished Song: Initiate
The Unfinished Song: Taboo
I'm suspicious of the 65% and dropping number. Since no data is posted on this no one really knows but just based on "gut feel" I think they are still around 80-85%
well, the fact that this was published on April Fool's Day makes me take it with a grain of salt--lots of unnamed sources and vagueness.
Still, a broadening of the market is good for everyone (except Amazon shareholders)
Scott
Robin wrote "based on 'gut feel' I think they are still around 80-85%"
That might be true, but I wonder if the "and dropping" actually has merit. From that Blake Crouch spotlight on Konrath's blog to Selena Kitt's massive success, and now the recent news that the Nook Color has been selling on the order of 600,000 units per month since January (and a million in December), and it looks like Barnes and Noble and the Nook store are starting to gain some significant ground in both readership as well as relevance for indie publishers.
Even Konrath is starting to take notice in the "Joe sez" section of the Crouch spotlight.
In any event, it looks like a fantastic time to be writing eBooks!
I'll definitely agree with the "and dropping" part - after all they only recently started getting some serious competition in ereaders (Sony never made a big splash) but since nook and ipad came onto the scene - yeah no question it has cut into their share.
Post a Comment