Is Big Five Publishing Positioning Itself for Large eBook Profits?

big five publishing vault of money pixabay safe-913452_640As an Indie author, I’ve always sided with Amazon because Amazon made my career as a writer possible. Nevertheless, I was a little confused recently by the retail giant’s apparent about-face with regard to the agency model.

Essentially, the agency model does two things:

  1. It allows traditional publishers to set the price of their own eBooks, and
  2. It prevents Amazon from discounting those prices.

In practical terms, this means that many traditionally published eBooks are more expensive than their paper counterparts. Not surprisingly, this has led to an overall drop in profits for publishers.

A less obvious effect has been to make some readers angry with Amazon because they think the retail giant is to blame for the high prices. So why has Amazon allowed this to happen? And why are traditional publishers willing to take such a big hit to their profits? Continue reading “Is Big Five Publishing Positioning Itself for Large eBook Profits?”

Are Hardcover Books on Life Support?

One of the reasons writers give for wanting a real, live, honest-to-goodness contract with a traditional publisher is that they want to see their work in hardcover. Paperbacks are all very fine, but there’s nothing like the heft of a hardcover to make you feel like you’ve arrived. Or so I hear.

Anyway, the point is that it used to be a given: if you got an agent and signed on with one of the Big Five, you were guaranteed that your book would be in print in some form or fashion, usually hardcover followed by paperback. But Publishers Weekly reported this week that as the number of brick-and-mortar bookstores dwindle, and as e-books become more popular, agents are beginning to see this change – to the point that eventually, a dead-tree edition may not be guaranteed. Continue reading “Are Hardcover Books on Life Support?”