Tag Archives: macmillan
The Publishers Strike Back

The Publishers Strike Back

The publisher backlash against the Wylie Agency creation of Odyssey Editions and the exclusive, two-year ebook deal with Amazon is neither surprising in its vehemence nor its lack of understanding of the ebook market. Random House immediately went for the throat. They suspended contract negotiations with the Wylie Agency and have told Amazon that they’re […]

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How Random House Can Save Itself!

How Random House Can Save Itself!

Tom Dupree alerted me to a Wall Street Journal article (the article is behind a subscriber screen) that indicates that Random House has opted out of the agency-model deal with Apple. Their books will not be for sale in the iBookstore, though they will continue to talk with Apple. Random House expressed fears that ebooks […]

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Authors Can Be Stupid: Price War Motives

Authors Can Be Stupid: Price War Motives

It has been suggested that the battle between publishers and Amazon over ebook pricing actually had two motives. The first was to prevent Amazon from establishing a “monopoly” over ebook sales. The second was to create a “sustainable price model.” I’ve suggested a third motive: greed. Monopoly: Amazon never had a monopoly, wasn’t going to […]

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Authors Can Be Stupid: I Just Want To Write

Authors Can Be Stupid: I Just Want To Write

One of the laments that is oft heard concerning the coming changes in the industry is this: “Look, I just want to write.” The whole idea is that the writer in question enjoys writing. All they want to do is just to turn out stories. They don’t want to have to learn HTML. They don’t […]

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Authors Can Be Stupid: Entitlement? Really?

Authors Can Be Stupid: Entitlement? Really?

My post yesterday, Authors Can Be Stupid: Please Feed The Authors, can seem to have been rather unsympathetic to authors who are caught in the Amazon-Macmillan fight. They could very well be in a difficult position, and panic can be expected. I have no idea what percentage of sales go out through Amazon, but it’s […]

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Authors Can Be Stupid: Please Feed the Authors!

Authors Can Be Stupid: Please Feed the Authors!

A number of authors who have books published by Macmillan have opined on their blogs that the authors whose books are no longer available on Amazon really need our support. We really need to go out to brick-and-mortar stores or to other websites and order their books. We need to do this because these authors […]

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The Amazon-Macmillan Flap

Over the weekend we all got to watch the first of several fights over the pricing of ebooks. It occurred between Amazon, who is dedicated to keeping ebook prices as low as possible (having previously noted that delivering an ebook costs about 15 cents) and wants ebook bestsellers at $9.99 or less; and Macmillan. Macmillan, […]

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