Agent publishes 20 'modern classics' on Kindle, cutting out publishers
Report from Crave, the gadget blog from CNet
 July 22, 2010

The Wylie Agency, which represents authors such as Norman Mailer, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, and John Updike, is publishing 20 books through its new Odyssey Editions imprint and making them available for sale exclusively in Amazon.com's Kindle Store for $9.99.

Andrew Wylie, the founder and head of the agency, has been locked in a battle with publishing houses over the digital rights to a number of modern classics and "backlist" titles. His new move makes a big statement to big-name publishers, which have been shut out of a potentially lucrative revenue stream. Because digital rights have only been included in more-recent book publishing contracts, the electronic rights to a multitude of famous books are held by authors.

Deals, such as this one with Wylie, have the potential of netting authors or their estates much higher royalties than if they'd signed an e-book deal with a major publishing house.

Currently, the standard cut offered by publishing houses to authors is 25 percent of the net price of an e-book. Amazon offers a 70 percent cut to self-published authors of Kindle titles, so you get an idea how the numbers likely skew much better for authors in the deal struck by Wylie.

Amazon said this is the first time any of the titles--which include Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead," Philip Roth's "Portnoy's Complaint," and Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man"--have been available electronically. All of the books are exclusive to the Kindle Store for two years. Other titles include Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children," Oliver Sacks' "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita," John Cheever's "The Stories of John Cheever" and four novels from John Updike's Rabbit series.

Wylie's move points to a future in which small, upstart micro-publishing houses like Wylie's Odyssey Editions can go toe-to-toe with larger publishing houses in the digital arena and represent the new paradigm for publishing. Other publishing start-ups are launching with the similar goal of bringing out other modern classics, including Open Road Integrated Media led by veteran publishing executive Jane Friedman, who has raised $7 million to back the venture.

In a New York Times article, Wylie suggests that he could publish authors he doesn't work with directly. "We're perfectly happy to entertain the idea of publishing authors we don't represent," he said.
Of course, the rub in all this is that the titles cost $9.99.

More at Crave.

Footnote:
My thanks to London-based NZ author Chad Taylor for alerting me to this link.

This is a major development, here is the PublishersLunch take on it, an excellent comprehensive roundup.


Wylie Agency Launches eBook Company, Gives Amazon Exclusive on First Titles 

 Andrew Wylie has made good on threats to create his own company to distribute ebooks by making deals directly with etailers rather than traditional publishers, announcing the launch of Odyssey Editions. In the first announcement, Odyssey will issue ebook versions of select titles from some of the key authors and literary estates The Wylie Agency represents, including John Updike, Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis and Hunter Thompson--and has given Amazon a two-year exclusive. The 20 titles announced so far including the Rabbit tetralogy from John Updike, MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN and LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov. Many of these titles are appearing in digital format for the first time. They are priced at $9.99 and were designed in collaboration with Enhanced Editions, which created newly designed jackets and typography as part of an "elegant and unified new look."

Wylie, who is on vacation through the end of the month and thus could not be reached for direct comment, told the NYT that Odyssey would focus on older titles whose digital rights are not owned by traditional publishers. "The fact remains that backlist digital rights were not conveyed to publishers, and so there's an opportunity to do something with those rights," said Wylie, even though from many a publisher standpoint, the digital backlist issue for print editions released prior to 1994 is up for debate.

Wylie didn't disclose financial terms of the deal or what the royalty rate would be on these titles, but he did say "they were more favorable than the terms that other publishers were offering." He also didn't illuminate who represent the interests of the authors and their estates while his companies serve as both publisher and agent. (He holds the title of president of Odyssey Editions.) In previous exclusive deals with Rosetta, Amazon has provided promotion rather than additional financial considerations. There was no indication of why, when other players including Barnes & Noble, Apple's iBookstore, and Sony are growing market share and Google Editions, Blio and others are waiting in the wings, these titles are best served through a two-year exclusive.

A large portion of the 20 titles Odyssey Editions will distribute via Kindle are available in print editions from Random House, and especially from Knopf and/or its paperback arm Vintage. Random House spokesman Stuart Applebaum told us this morning, "We are disappointed by Mr. Wylie's actions, which we dispute.  Last night, we sent a letter to Amazon disputing their rights to legally sell these titles, which are subject to active Random House publishing agreements.  Upon assessing our business options, we will be taking appropriate action."

The Bookseller reports that in the UK, Penguin appears to be the most affected by the launch of Odyssey Editions, as its UK arm publishes seven writers (a spokesperson for Penguin said "the company is not commenting.") Meanwhile, Waterstone's head of e-commerce David Kohn expressed his displeasure: "It's incredibly important to the health and growth of the e-book market that our biggest and most important writers are available to download, and it is very disappointing to see that some of our best writers' work is to be only available in such a limited fashion. It does not help build the market, nor does it serve readers well," he told the Bookseller. VP of Kindle Content Russ Grandinetti said in Amazon's release calls it "another great step" towards the company's overall goal even though it is for just 20 titles.

A number of literary agencies have been formulating plans for ebook publishing ventures, with goals that range from ebook editions of older works to publication of new works electronically (including Scott Waxman's recently-launched Diversion Books.) As for Odyssey Editions, its roots appear to stretch back to earlier in the spring: a corporate filing search reveals that Odyssey Editions LLC was incorporated on May 11 in the state of Delaware (where the Wylie Agency established itself as a limited liability company in 2008), while a domain registration search reveals that the Wylie Agency - and not the "completely separate company" - bought and registered the name on May 17 (and only paid for a one-year registration).

Some publishers we spoke to in advance of the announcement were more concerned with attempts by agents to bifurcate print rights and digital rights to new books than negotiations over older works. In a variety of conferences this year, many of the largest publishers have said plainly they will refuse to acquire new books if only the print rights are available.

And commenting on our piece, Trident Media Group President Robert Gottlieb identified a key issue raised by agent-directed ebook publishing ventures: possible conflicts of interest between agents and authors. "It is one thing to advise a client as a traditional agent it is another to be in business with the client where their can be a conflict in interest. I can envision litigation between author and agent/publishers down the road. It is the nature of the times we live in today." Gottlieb also doesn't think "giving any publisher/retailer exclusive rights to books serves the authors interest."

Odyssey Editions
NYT
Amazon Release