Monday, October 17, 2011

"Everyone's Afraid of Amazon"

Hey authors:
Jeff Bezos has a fistful of book-dollars.
If you missed this morning's New York Times article, click here to read about how Amazon is set to shake up the publishing industry. Remember, oh, a decade or so ago, how music execs were throwing hissyfits over downloadable songs? Predicting the end of the world as we knew it? Something similar is happening in publishing: Amazon is now signing fiction and nonfiction authors directly -- bypassing agents and publishing houses. And thereby putting itself in direct competition with the the same booksellers it's promoting. Authors who've been dissed by New York publishing houses are now invited to show the established industry their hiney.

The Times article left some unanswered questions.

How much editorial love are authors getting from Amazon? The "editorial once over" one author mentions doesn't sound like more than a copyedit. It'll be interesting to see what the quality of these unagented, minimally edited (?), books turns out to be. And secondly, if authors are signing with Amazon directly, sans agent, who's watching their backs? Amazon's policies appear both more transparent (authors get access to stats about how and where their books are selling) and more secretive (authors may be cut out of the loop with publicity and marketing planning). One presumes authors will have to negotiate the legal and financial thickets of their careers on their own.

At any rate, it looks like a stranger has just ridden into town. Sheriff better get his posse organized. Thoughts?


Posted by Gail Shepherd at 9:10 AM
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14 comments:

  1. MG HigginsOctober 17, 2011 at 9:33 AM

    Yow! I've got to read that article. (You might want to visit my blog this morning!)

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  2. Sarah TokeleyOctober 17, 2011 at 10:23 AM

    This is a story that definitely bears following.

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  3. Janet JohnsonOctober 17, 2011 at 1:05 PM

    Wow, interesting stuff! I need to learn more, too. Definitely curious to see where this all ends.

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  4. JoannaOctober 17, 2011 at 1:54 PM

    I asked the same questions as you when I read this article

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  5. Elizabeth Varadan, AuthorOctober 17, 2011 at 3:11 PM

    Wow, everyone seems to be glued to this new development. I will certainly be interested to see what happens in the future.
    BTW, I passed on an award to you today. Mosie on by and pick it up.

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  6. Luanne G. SmithOctober 17, 2011 at 3:18 PM

    I wouldn't doubt if Apple starts doing the same thing eventually. Seems like Amazon and Apple are going to be running everything.

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  7. Alleged AuthorOctober 17, 2011 at 8:22 PM

    I do kind of wonder about the editing aspect. Great post!

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  8. Becca PuglisiOctober 17, 2011 at 11:19 PM

    My impression wasn't that people couldn't sign through an agent, but that the one author chose to do it herself. My gut response is that the first few people are the guinea pigs here. Contract issues and unfairness of that nature tend to come out in the open eventually. If Amazon does take advantage of people, authors will either rebel and encourage change or choose to go a different route. Same thing with the quality of the books. We'll soon know how well written and edited their acquisitions are.

    I'm very excited by this. Can't wait to see how it all pans out.

    Becca @ The Bookshelf Muse

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  9. Susanna Leonard HillOctober 18, 2011 at 6:19 AM

    I read that article yesterday. Very interesting and thought=provoking. It raises a number of questions, as you mentioned, and goes to show that the publishing industry is in even more of a state of flux than just the e-book and app revolution were causing. I don't think the New York publishing houses are going to like it, and I think it's going to cause more upheaval - but it's going to be very interesting to see how things turn out.

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  10. Gail ShepherdOctober 18, 2011 at 10:14 AM

    I read a tweet yesterday from agent Ginger Clark asking other lit agents if they'd had an invitation to lunch from the top Amazon publishing brass (implying that she did have such an invite). Which may mean Amazon is going to try to work with agents on some level. I'd think that would be in their best interests.

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  11. Wanton Redhead WritingOctober 18, 2011 at 9:25 PM

    That is spooky. Do you think it'll hurt the small epubbers more than the big houses. Right now, people who are independent can still get their book sold through Amazon. By wiping out the middle man, Amazon can only reap more profit and gain more control. I don't think an author looking to go to the big pubber will want to sign with Amazon anymore than an independent though. Do you?

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  12. Gail ShepherdOctober 19, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    @WRW Like most things, it probably depends on distribution and money. If Amazon can put your book in the hands of more readers, and pay comparable royalties, I don't see any reason authors wouldn't choose to publish that way. I doubt if it will affect the self-published authors that much; sounds like this is a different ballgame. But I dunno.

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  13. Aguilar ElliotOctober 23, 2011 at 8:50 PM

    i see this as a good development.

    ReplyDelete
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