Wow. Just absolutely - Wow.
In the last couple of weeks someone hit the fast forward button on the ebook revolution. Changes that bespeak of major industry shifts have occurred like a landslide. One rock goes, and then another and before you know it, at the foot of a mountain, there's a new road you can follow that will take you to the unexplored territory of the future.
First came the deal of the Jackal. Andrew Wylie is a superagent whose "feral pursuit of clients and their interests earned him the nickname of 'The Jackal.'" The Jackal's roster of clients reads like a who's who of publishing and includes Mailer, Updike, Nabokov, and Cheever. The Jackal apparently saw what many authors saw - publishers have been screwing authors out of their fair share of royalties for years. The old book numbers were set in stone, the system likely crafted when books began to be mass produced. But at the dawn of a new day in publishing power shifted to the hands of the creators who wrote the work. The Jackal was smart enough NOT to let history repeat itself. This time he, on behalf of his clients, would craft a system that would be fair to the folks who made the system possible. So The Jackal created a digital only imprint, Odyssey Editions (gotta love the name) and inked a deal with Amazon to sell electronic versions of work of 20 amazing authors.
To do the deal Wylie exploited a hole in older publishing contracts written before the era of e-books. Writers and Wylie believe that the contracts leave those authors and/or their estates free to negotiate separate deals for the ebook versions. The publishing royals read the contracts differently and believe the older deals should include the ebook rights - because they're the publishers and they've always had the power to set the terms. Publishers have decided to punish The Jackal where it hurts - the pocketbook. Random House held the print rights to many of the works in question and it's announced it won't do business with Wylie until the issue is resolved. I'm hoping that the Jackal's clients are sending him champagne and telling him that they never liked Random House anyway. After all, Wylie is trying to craft the terms for the new ebook industry at the dawn of the era, so that when they get set in stone, it'll be in the authors' favor. In my opinion, Wylie is to be lauded, revered and much - much imitated. The biggest literary award for the new e-book industry should be named for him - the Jackal or the Wylie.
As the Author's Guild noted, publishers have brought this on themselves. But the next bit of news shows that some publishers are actually looking to the future, instead of behaving like the playground bully. Dorchester Publishing, a mass market romance company, has dropped its old framework in favor of POD (print on demand like Lulu or Createspace) AND epublishing. Starting in September, paper versions of its book will on be available only on demand. All of its future books will be ebooks. In announcing the move, company president Jim Prebich noted that "These are like pioneer times in publishing. We felt like we needed to take some chances and make a bold move." So hurrah to Dorchester too. It's the first Royal to make such a move. The company hasn't, to my knowledge, vacated the castle yet though. I'm waiting for Dorchester to announce a program of open equerying or better yet - that Dorchester will have its editors reading ebooks and inviting e-authors to submit the full e-manuscript for review and consideration.
In the wake of Wylie's E-Jackal gambit and Dorchester's Epic E-Shift, Amazon's donning its Nostradamus cap doesn't seem so strange. Amazon earlier announced that sales of ebooks had passed hardcovers. This month, Amazon's Prez Jeff Bezos was interviewed for USA Today and said that in a year or less he expects SALES OF EBOOKS TO PASS THE SALES OF PAPERBACKS.
Lots of indie authors saw the E-Revolution coming, but I don't know that any of us foresaw it happening so fast. But it is, at this point, inevitable. Technology never marches backward. No one ever said - let's forget this whole moving vehicle thing and go back to horses. Ebooks are fast to instant and there is a MUCH, MUCH larger variety of ebooks out there than ever did or ever will exist in paper form. And more ebooks are coming every day. Now there are even great programs - like the one offered by Sony (my reader, which I love) which gives ereader owners the ability to check out an ebook from their local library without ever leaving home. How great is that, reader friends?
As much as anything else, programs like Sony's will allow readers to read anything - including the newest releases - with no effort or trouble. I also expect that it will be a huge incentive for the stubborn and wrong past the point of idiotic royals of publishing to lower their ebook prices. Now eowners can say - No I won't pay $12.99 for that hot new book. I'll read it for free thanks to my Sony and my public library.
Many ereader owners will now begin to buy the less expensive books and read those pricey ones for free. It's another big ole' boost to indie authors everywhere and to smart companies like Harlequin who price their work to sell. The E-Revolution is the Indie Revolution. They are one and the same. Only a few very courageous and bold companies have boarded the E-Train, but they'll all soon leave their competitors in the dirt.
The Revolution is the great E-qualizer. My book sits side by side with the Avon book, the Random House book, the Harper Collins book. Which one will a reader buy? The one that gives them the most of what they want at the moment for the best price. And my price will beat Avon's, Harper Collins', and Random House's by a wide, wide margin. It doesn't mean I'll get the sale, but it does mean I've got as good a shot as any of the royals.
Every agent should study Wylie. Every publisher should follow Dorchester. You know why? Because Nostradamazon is right. Ebooks are gonna leave the old order and the agents and publishers that follow it, far, far behind. The royals and their favored agents will be looking for a horse while Dorchester and The Jackal speed by in their Rolls or their Benz.
Vive la revolution..........maybe Wylie will give 'em all a wave as he passes them by.