So unless you have been hiding under a rock (and sometimes with all the changes in the industry I would like to do this!) you will have heard that Amazon is offering to lend e-books to its Kindle-owning Prime members for free. Since then a number of issues have been raised which I think, quite rightly, places the spotlight on just how authors are going to be fairly compensated for this.
The Association of Authors’ representatives (AAR) has issued a statement stating: “The agent and author community have not been consulted about this new sort of use of authors’ copyrighted material and are unaware of how publishers plan on compensating authors for this…”
From what I have read publishers (those that consented to be in the program, at least) are being paid a lump sum for inclusion in the e-book lending library no matter how many times their titles are borrowed. Other publishers, who have apparently not been contacted (!) or consented (!), will be paid the wholesale price for the ebook any time someone borrows it. But what about the authors?
Here are some of the issues as I see them (and I would love your input on any or all of these):
- Is what Amazon is proposing even covered by the publisher-agent contract? The AAR statement states that they think “free lending of an author’s work as an incentive to purchase a (kindle) device and /or participation in a program (i.e. Amazon’s Prime) is not covered by most contracts – nor do most contracts have any stipulation for how an author would be compensated for such use.”
- What is the basis for author compensation? If a publisher receive a flat fee, how will that be allocated to the author? Again, the AAR seem to believe that there is really no basis for either distributing this income to authors or for determining how much authors would get as an aggregate sum in the first place for their work being in Amazon’s ‘library’ program.
- What will be the impact on ebook sales and prices? Will Amazon’s move further devalue books? Will it decrease the price people are willing to pay for ebooks (“hey, I could have borrowed it for free!”)? Obviously we already have physical libraries where people borrow books but still, I think Amazon’s program is a significant new step. My understanding is that many of the ‘big’ 6 publishers have not agreed to be part of the Kindle lending library program – presumably over fear it would impact sales or devalue their books – but given Amazon’s clout (and willingness in the past to shut publishers out) will they feel pressured to join? Also, finally…
- Is it a good thing that Amazon now has so much market power – both in terms of retailing and publishing?
What do you think? Sure, it’s great for Amazon Prime members who own a Kindle but what about for authors? Is it nothing more than storm in a teacup or yet another example of authors being screwed?
When I saw what Amazon.com is planning, my take on it is that it is a good thing for authors. Granted, I am the publisher of my own books, so I don’t have to worry about how the author gets paid, but I see this as being a way for readers to try books that they wouldn’t have otherwises risked spending money on. They are limited to one borrowed book per month, so if they read a book and discover they like the author, they’re going to have to buy his other books if they want to read them before next month.
Clare,
I’ve been wondering about this too.
In a perfect world a sample would be lent, not the entire work.
Maybe the best we can hope for is that the lendees love the book so much they buy their own copy, and look for other titles by said author to purchase.
I think publishers should pay the authors a percentage, even when the book goes out this way.
Could we lobby for that, or has Amazon become so big that there’s no touching them?
And, I understand there’s only a fourteen day period for a book to be sent out like that – is that enough time for the ‘average’ reader to consume the work, what with all the other daily distractions that keep people from reading?
Clare, thanks for blogging on this today. I’m in favor of anything that will get more people reading my books.
So if an author has self-published, does that mean he or she will get the flat fee? Is there a way to opt in to the program as a self-published author? For the traditionally published, this sounds like an area that is not covered by existing contracts. I think the writers should get a portion of that fee. But then, I’m a writer! Publishers will have to include those numbers in the annual statements they send to authors.
My other thought: people have always lent out print books and resold them at will, with no money going to the publisher or author. At least with e-books we will be able to track and recoup a bit of that value.
Well I have to back up and ask–are authors compensated each time someone borrows a physical book from the library? I don’t know how that works.
Apparently Amazon, for a two-year license, is paying each publisher a fixed fee for each book offered, although in some (but not all) cases they are treating each book as a wholesale purchase each time it is borrowed in order to entice publishers into the program. Hmm. It will be interesting to see how much of that trickles down to the authors. My further understanding is that no self-published books are included in this mix; only books from traditional publishers are offered at the moment, and actually, only a relative few of those.
Herewith, a link to the list of the 5,376 books which are currently part of the Kindle Lending Library: http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_p_n_feature_browse-b_mrr_2?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_85%3A2470955011%2Cp_n_feature_browse-bin%3A618073011&bbn=283155&ie=UTF8&qid=1320670642&rnid=618072011?tag=publishmarket-20
This is really an awful thing. Without a negotiated royalty for content use there is no upside for the author. Libraries purchase the books they lend for free (and I don’t object at all to the concept that the “purchase” of an e-book for a library expires after X number of lendings although I think that number needs some fine tuning). Amazon does not intend to do that. E books borrowed from libraries drop off from the device after a predetermined length of time, say 15 days. With this Kindle program “there are no due dates”. They can stay on the device indefintely. This scheme is not to introduce readers to writers, but to provide enough free content to induce consumers to purchase Kindles. With Amazon Prime now providing free books and free movies, tv shows etc – all seemingly royalty free to the creators – it is clear to me that they don’t value content and especially not the creators of said content. They value the money they will receive from your Kindle purchase and your Amazon prime membership. Think about that next time you purchase anything from Amazon.
I think it’s a quandary for authors and publishers. I do believe that so much concentrated retailing and publishing power isn’t necessarily a good thing for authors. Though we have libraries I still worry about Amazon. Sure they are dedicated to giving consumers the lowest price possible and acces to books (no problem with that per se) but they aren’t interested in fair compensation to authors. I am glad the AAR at least are looking out for us:) so we will have to see what happens….
I should also disclose that I just found out that my agent, who is head of AAR’s digital rights committee, actually wrote the statement on this! I hadn’t realized but after blogging on this I wrote an email to him to get his take on this…pretty much the AAR view obviously!
This is a great post Clare. The comments are also very enlightening. Thanks for answering a lot of my questions.
Your welcome Hannah! I think it is hard to gauge the impact of this as yet and as Joe said there aren’t all titles included yet anyway…also self published works aren’t included as far as I am aware. I will have to check in with my agent regularly and keep up with the issues (and report back on the TKZ blog too!)
Last week I posted my first author interview on my blog. I’ve read about author interviews for debut novels and such on other sites, but I didn’t understand the motivation behind them.
When I discovered that one of my writing critique group partners published a novel several years ago, I secretly purchased and read it. Then, because I enjoyed it so much and was amazed that I even knew someone who was published and I was actually flattered that he was in my writing group, I gathered the nerve to ask if I could publish an interview on my blog.
He said yes, and I did it. 🙂
Publishing and reviews need to start at the bottom. Seriously, in my quest to learn about writing fiction, I’m also reading and promoting my fellow writers when I read good shit.
Quick update (on Wednesday) there was a piece in PW about the anger over this program and it does note that self published titles are included in program. Just to clarify. Also states that Amazon is talking with publishers and agents who expressed anger over the program and the way they hadnt been consulted.