Hachette v's Amazon
Hi all, this is tickling
my fancy in a peculiar way.
In Ireland self
publishers seldom get a chance to publicise their books on or in the
media. It appears traditional publishers have an unseen veto, on who
can get on air or into papers, to ramp up interest in their books.
There are some exceptions
to this when a retired "Personality" of radio or TV writes
a book - on "How I Tied My Shoelaces Each Morning." They
will be indulged by an editor or producer they worked with.
Of course when that
happens - I immediately Tweet the program and ask if I can come in
and talk about my book as well.
I'm still waiting to be
invited.
So Publishing Houses
ganging up on us -that's us, as in we authors, and Amazon our outlet
for sales - in not new to me - just amusing.
More so in fact when I
hear Stephen King has signed up to the campaign on the Publisher
side.
Mr. King tried very hard
from 1982 – 2000 to sell his book, The Plant, directly on the Net.
He was griping about his publisher and the money they were taking
from him. He wanted all the royalties for himself.
His idea was to offer the
first few chapters as free download, then he tried to sell
the remaining chapters at $1 each. The project was a failure. And
after six instalments it folded and the book is yet to be completed.
The last instalment was
published on December 18, 2000. The book is yet to be completed. The
original instalments are now available for free on Stephen King's
official website.
So King has tried Self
Publishing and is now against authors trying to directly produce and
sell work.
When Paperbacks were first
produced Hardback Publishers were also up in arms. But when they got
into the market by producing their own Paperbacks they "Cried Off" the
protest, instead of crying about the process.
Watch this space when
traditional publishers get "Bought Off" by Amazon this
"Storm In A Teacup” will blow away. I wonder though when it
does - will the traditionally published writers get an increase in
their 8, 10 or 12% royalties? Maybe also an increase in their signing
on advance. An advance that is paid back from the royalties.
But it's not the money I
get by self publishing my work that attracts me: it's the publication
rights, the film rights, the hardback rights, the magazine rights
etc., that I retain for myself.
That's the clincher and
maybe this traditional publisher against Amazon may not be just about
money: it's also about publication rights.
The traditionally
published writers who are jumping on the band wagon didn't retain
their publication rights: they have taken the 30 pieces of silver
and perhaps now regret that they did.