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?