THE STEAM MOLE is turned in about twenty five minutes back which, seeing as I have been busy with edits since 4 AM means I am a tired little soldier. If only the sergeant major would come and tuck me in little wooden bed…
Anyway to celebrate –
is still available for free if you get in really quick
I was going to tell about TOR going DRM free, but Amanda beat me to it. In theory this MAY be the prelude to them selling off their own site (my guess). However, I am ready to put good money on a bet that 1)They won’t match Amazon in royalties paid to the author – they will be lucky to get a crumb or two tossed their way … maybe an extra 0.5% or some generous gesture like that.
2)It will probably hurt if you dare publish outside them.
3)The authors will be expected to bark up business for them – for free. No associates payments here, I’ll bet. 0 X 0 = 0. Much whining about Amazon will ensue. (No, actually I have no reason to love Tor, and dislike St Martins quite intensely. They’re the only US publisher to greet me with open discrimination – happened a few times with UK publishing. I might have suffered closet nasties from some of the others (‘Baen?’ unclean, unclean) but St. Martins has a special place in my little cold heart)
As another ‘development‘ – it’s going to be interesting times. I wonder if Part A (above) relates to part B.
Of course publishing could move into selling off their own websites very effectively, and cut Amazon’s throat, but I don’t think they’re prepared to do it, as it would mean paying authors the money they lose on retail and distribution. By the way… what do you think distribution is worth? Keep in mind that retail force publishing, and individuals to use these darlings. They add very little if any value to readers and pretty little that could not be done for pennies to authors… except retail like them. They are the gatekeepers of choice.
Every time you hear a retail outlet moan about how they can’t compete with Amazon – that percentage would let them cut prices (a lot) and make bigger profit. All it takes is a little organization.
Any guesses?
Mad Genius Club 
19 responses to “steam mole is done”
My understanding on this latest contract beef between major publishers and Amazon is over Advertising Dollars, the Co-op payments to get put on the front page and in the emails sent to customers. Basically the online version of the Co-op payments for Endcaps and Front Table Book Dumps at brick and mortar stores. Amazon is saying “if you want preferential treatment we want more money, we have LOTS of demand for that precious front page space!”
The 2 publishers that aren’t signing the Co-op deals are still selling books through Amazon, just not paying for special placement anymore.
Yes, I got that. My point was IF that special placement had value, 1)that value needs to be established. Too bad for you if you’re Penguin author coming out this month, your publisher is using you as a probe. Yes, actually it is your figures, your career, your future they were perfectly content to do this with. For them it’s money and an experiment, for you it’s your future. They love you. Can’t you tell? 2)I would not be surprised if the willingness to buck Amazon was directly proportional to the company’s determination to find another plan. Ergo IF the end of DRM means you will soon be able to buy your books direct from say Tor-dot-com, they will care slightly less about Amazon-dot-com.
I agree with your points as far as it goes for just books.
I think what the publishers are running up against with Amazon’s Co-op payments is that Amazon sells a lot more than just books and ebooks. I suspect that Amazon can get a lot more Co-op from companies like Movie Studios and Video Game companies that have a lot more advertising dollars to spend than Book Publishers do. They probably sell a lot more copies of a title they are pushing as well.
Amazon probably doesn’t care what sort of product is on the front page as long as they maximize their profit from selling the space. Publisher’s with their small to non existent publicity budgets for most books have probably just been priced out of the market for that front page.
true
Thomas P beat me to my comment. I’ll add that I have a feeling that the co-op payments will become a larger factor in the negotiations with Amazon now that the DoJ has filed its lawsuit. The next year or so — as the parties work through the settlement (at least those who have settled) and the pretrial motions begin for those who haven’t — will be interesting to say the least. The only losers, in my opinion, are going to be Like Dave, I don’t see TOR increasing the author royalties any substantial amount. I do see even fewer contracts being offered, especially to mid-listers, and more series being dropped. Of course, also in my opinion, if the authors realize it, this may actually be for their good because it will free them from onerous contractual terms that prevent them from offering their work to other publishers or publishing it themselves.
I guess all I can say is “welcome to the rollercoaster. Please make sure the safety bar is locked in place and your seatbelts are tightened. It’s going to be bumpy ride.”
Gah, hit enter before I meant to.
Dave, YIPPEE! on getting Steam Mole done.
My feeling is NONE of the publishers have yet got their heads around the fact that the landscape has changed, and that they need to change their outlook and adapt. They’re still saying ‘if we just shift the deck-chairs around we can go on doing business as usual’. Business as usual means our focus is STILL on serving a handful of clients (distributors, large chains -who grow less important by the hour) through the same channels. And pleasing them is actually all that is important. The idea of doing retail – pleasing millions of clients – just isn’t beginning to penetrate. The implications of disintermediation (because they are no longer essential to the important parts of the process – producer and buyer,) have not even tinged their attitudes — despite the fact that both producers and buyers have been deserting them. The idea that authors might be _customers_ for their services, quite capable of choosing other services, and therefore more important to serve than their handful of traditional clients… do you want their heads to explode?
Dave, do you really want me to answer that? You know me. You know I love the vision of brain spatter in the morning 😉
Why do I have a vision of it happening to the strains of Strauss’s Blue Danube Waltz?
The newly freed authors dancing around downtown Manhattan with that soothing orchestral accompaniment punctuated by staccato bursting of the traditional publisher’s heads emphasizing certain musical phrases…
🙂 You are both bad people
Thank you! 🙂
The 1812 Overture, I believe, already has appropriate places for the bursts. Traditionally done with artillery, but I suppose you could do it with publishers’ heads, if that’s what you happen to have handy.
Artillery aimed at publisher’s heads. Fixes all the problems.
Thats more my style. And if you videoed it you could probably sell the video on amazon, which of course might cause more publishers heads to explode;)
Semi off topic.
Dave, have my purchases of non book items at Amazon after following your associate links been successfully adding “free” money to your associate account? They were items I was planning on buying anyways from Amazon.
aha! Yes they have. And thank you very much! I saw this morning and was talking to Barbs about what a great thing it was for writers. I’ve been rather slack about it, but I have $1.50 more to earn and will be in line for my first ‘associates’ check. Which is all rather nice, and does encourage me to try harder with that.
Thanks again.
You are welcome. Its an easy way for me to give “free” (to me) money to a “starving artist” whose work I appreciate. Since I was using an Amazon Credit Card I get 3% cash back for any purchase through Amazon and their prices are competitive with other outlets and the shipping is free with Prime. I’m finding it a win for all involved. 🙂
Now i just need to wait for that credit card payment to hit the account so I can buy the rest of the parts for the new video gaming computer I’m building for my wife’s birthday present (and mine as well I’ll admit). I should have you that last 1.50 by the end of the week. 😉
Heh. I wasn’t fishing for it! I was just amazed at the feedback loop. Enjoy the gaming machine! (does it have hamsters on a treadmill? All the best ones do.)
I know you weren’t fishing for that last $1.50. I’m on a deadline to finish the computer build, Diablo 3 comes on on May 15th and I have to have this machine up and running smoothly by then or face a grumpy wife! So the rest of the parts need to be ordered as soon as the CC cools back off. 🙂
It will have 4 Hamsters in it’s little wheel with highly caffeinated sugary drinks in their water bottles! It should be quite an upgrade from the half dead geriatric gerbil that has a bad sleeping pill habit my current computer is powered by…
And the compensation rate for just having folks follow a link from your website or blog seems to compare fairly well to the percentages Traditional Publishers pay for paper books… https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join/compensation.html Shows a lot higher percentages than I was expecting you to get. I really doubt any of the Big Publishers is going to pay THOSE sorts of rates for referrals if/when they open their own retail websites.