From Ibookcollector Newletter # 235
The books industry appears to be losing out on millions of pounds because publishers have failed to sign up the digital rights to authors' work. The fear comes after the estate of Ian Fleming announced that all the James Bond novels are to be made available as e-books in the UK for the first time this week, but not through the author's print publisher Penguin. Instead, the digital versions of the 007 books will be released by Ian Fleming Publications, which looks after the rights to the Bond books.
The 14 titles, including Dr No and Diamonds Are Forever, will launch on November 4, and will be available via online e-booksellers such as Amazon.co.uk and Waterstone.com. The deal has happened because Penguin did not own the digital rights to the Bond novels – a concept that wasn't a concern when Ian Fleming was writing.
There are many authors still active that have not signed away the digital rights to their books, allowing them to cut out their traditional publisher if they chose to. Agents say they have grown "increasingly irritated" by the low royalty rates offered by publishers for digital rights.
Philip Jones, deputy editor of ‘The Bookseller’ said: "This has big implications for the established publishing houses, which are already under threat from internet retailers, who are pricing very aggressively. "They could be missing out on millions of pounds worth of revenue in the future because they never signed up the digital rights to their authors.
"There are also issues around new books, with publishers insistent that digital rights have to be included as part of any deal, otherwise they could end up paying for all the marketing, while the upstart owner of the digital rights reaps the benefits." Industry insiders suggest that best-selling authors yet to sign away their digital rights, including JK Rowling, Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie, would be looking at the deal closely.
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