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I've been in publishing only a short while, but I've been around it enough to have seen some of the big brew-ha-has involving Amazon. The first was when Amazon yanked all print-on-demand titles not produced through their print-on-demand arm. The second was when all MacMillan ebook titles were pulled during the great agency debate. Well it's happening again.
Independent Publishers Group, a large distributor for independent presses and authors has had all 5,000 of their ebooks pulled from the Amazon kindle. The print versions of their books are still for sale.
The reason, is that their ebook contract was up for renewal and IPG wanted the same terms, and Amazon wanted a deeper discount. When they couldn't agree, Amazon pulled the titles.
What does this mean to me
For most authors to this board, not a whole lot...except to point out that you should put some things in place.
A publisher (or author) should have an alternate means by which readers can get books in ALL formats. For instance, my press sells ebooks directly through my website (www.ridanpublishing.com). So even if Amazon yanked my titles (which would be a disaster) I could still fulfill orders by people buying direct from me.
If you are an author who is pursuing publication through a publisher, try to get language inserted into the contract that allows you to directly sell your titles when they are unavailable for sale on other venues. This may be difficult to get - but you can use this example, and the MacMillan exmaple as cases as to why you need such a provision. Without it, you your fans will have NO MEANS to get your books. At a minimum, choose a publisher that sells all formats directly on their website so that you can keep the sales flowing.
If you are an indie author, going direct through DTP is your best chance of not having his happen to you. You can use a distributor for your print books, but keep the ebook rights in your control.
What about those using DTP?
Actually, it shouldn't effect you, other than a possible bellwether sign that Amazon may start squeezing you a bit more for a bigger piece of the pie. Don't get me wrong, I love Amazon, they have made me and my authors hundreds of thousands of dollars, but being the market leade means you have a big stick and from time to time they will swing it. Keep your eyes open and be prepared to make adjustments as necessary.
Also...it may be possible that you'll see a hit on our sales. Moves like this will generate huge anti-Amazon sentiment (which is already pretty high these days, because of recent exclusivity moves) there will be people who will boycott all Amazon sales as a sign of displeasure - so for those in the Select program (and exclusive) you might have a little rougher time for awhile. Those not in the program, may see higher sales from other venues.
In Summary
Once again, it is proof that this business changes at the speed of light - and you have to keep abreast of what is going on. Only those who are watching and are willing to adjust will survive.
Learn More
If you would like to learn more about the incident in question. You can go to any of the following sites but they all pretty much say the same thing:
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8 comments:
Hi Robin, Great to see you back !
I just saw your previous post from this month, and even if you were not present, it seems you kept well informed...
As for boycotter, I'm one. A hard decision it was, but I keep at it.
Thanks SFReader - not really back, so much as "dropping in" - I have so much work to do!! But this was too important a topic not to post on.
I just put one of my two titles in Kindle Select and I'm in the first day of a two-day free promotion. So hopefully no blowback!
But this novel, unlike my other, only sold on Amazon anyway so there's not much to lose. I'm releasing 4-5 books this year, so I'm really interested in how well Kindle Select will work for me. If I like it, I may start each book in it and then send it to wider distribution after that first three months
There's still so much we don't know about the IPG situation. It would seem obvious that Amazon wants a better cut but what was the previous deal with IPG? Was it more favorable than what other people have? Or the same? Or is there even a cut to the actual percentages? Maybe Amazon wants to change some selling technique that IPG thinks will lead to fewer sales.
David,
I'm pretty sure I read in one of the articles that Amazon's new terms would have resulted in a significant cut in actual revenue to IPG.
For my own stats, I've seen a healthy increase in Nook sales. For some reason, I have a short story that sells like crazy over there and it's leading to other sales. I'm now outselling at B&N over Amazon. A shock to me. Signs of anti-Amazon sentiment? Who knows?
Thanks Robin. Good info as always.
Although I'm a fan of Amazon for all the reasons that get hashed and re-hashed, I think it's crucial to remember that authors' interests and Amazon's interests are ALIGNED right now; they are not IDENTICAL.
Authors and small publishers are riding a tiger. For now, we're going in the same direction and that's wonderful; we should celebrate the advances in publishing and writing that partnership has created. But we forget who we're dealing with--and where their interests lie--at our peril.
Good to not have all our eggs in one publishing basket. Thanks for the heads up.
@Rob Cornell,
I wonder whether the fact that B&N sales surpass Amazon sales for some authors is related not only to the reduced number of books competing against the remaining Nook titles (and perhaps the goodwill of Nook owners and Amazon boycotters toward the remaining titles), but also to the severely reduced visibility of non-exclusive titles over at Amazon.
I think (but cannot rigorously prove) that the Select titles benefit from a disproportionate boost in ranking when someone borrows a copy. My feeling is that a borrow counts the same as several sales when ranking is computed. I do have titles in Select, and my perception is that the heavily borrowed ones have inexplicably good rankings for the number of sales. Unless a borrow is weighted more heavily. Which might make sense since borrows are strictly limited in number and therefore may be viewed by the user as more precious and represent a more considered purchase decision.
You mentioned an increase in BN sales rather than just an increase in your BN/Amazon ratio, which may weaken my theory, at least in your case. If you don't mind sharing, have you also noticed a decrease in Amazon sales?
brouhaha
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