Welcome to Wylie World!

Posted July 23rd, 2010

On Thursday, July 22, the Andrew Wylie Agency announced it had formed an agreement with Amazon.com for the online bookseller to be the exclusive supplier of e-book editions written by authors represented by Wylie.

The Wylie Agency lists 757 clients, the vast majority of whom are writers and writers’ estates, including Dave Eggers, Richard Flanagan, Mary Gaitskill, Ian Frazier, Philip Roth,  Anne Lamott, Hendrik Hertzberg, Wells Tower, and the estates of Richard Yates, W. H. Auden, I. F. Stone, and Saul Bellow.

HOW TO GET TO WYLIE WORLD?  “DOWN THE RIVER” 

Amazon is the company that, when Macmillan Publishing refused to agree to the company’s price demands, removed the ”buy” button from all the company’s titles.  Amazon is the company that, once threatened by the George Orwell estate for selling 1984 without their permission, electronically removed the text from its customers even as they read it.  

Amazon manufactures a reading device, the “kindle,” which requires its owners to buy digital merchandise exclusively from Amazon – a bit like our selling you books that you could read only by using the bedside lamp you must also purchase from us.  And this would be the only way you could read these books.  Wylie’s authors’ electronic books will be available only via the kindle, only via Amazon, a soiling of first amendment principles that many of the agency’s authors, such as Arthur Miller and Salman Rushdie, have fought so hard to protect.

As you look at this display, we encourage you to think about the ramifications of this effort to vertically integrate the book industry and limit or exclude access to information and free expression.   And, as always, we encourage you to support independent booksellers everywhere.  Together we can let books live.

google

Submitted by jhsmith400 on Mon, 08/30/2010 - 2:35pm.

google

Thanks for sharing

Submitted by Robertrade on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 5:04pm.

Hi,
Thanks for sharing this information. I think this will help all book lovers.

Robert from San Diego Movers

Where are the authors?

Submitted by sustenancebooks on Sun, 08/01/2010 - 3:39pm.

Wow. Great display. Intense discussion. I am wondering what the authors think of this move by Wylie. I haven't seen anything, and I'd imagine some of them would have a reaction to this Amazon exclusivity. Anyone heard any peeps? Also, in response to other comments: comparing newspapers to blogs is as apples2oranges as comparing Amazon/Wylie arrangement to Apple selling imacs.

Wylie and Amazon

Submitted by MichaelNMarcus on Wed, 07/28/2010 - 1:55pm.

>>And this would be the only way you could read these books.<<

Wylie may be limiting your store's income but is not limiting my freedom to read.

I don't have a Kindle, but I have no trouble reading Kindle-formatted eBooks on my iPad or computers. I find it hard to believe that Amazon would limit Wylie books to be read on Kindles only, especially since Amazon makes a lot of money selling Kindle books for reading on non-Kindle devices.

You may not like it, but terrestrial bookstores are just not important for distributing eBooks, and are becoming less important for books in general. If I have a spare hour or afternoon, I love to explore a bookstore. But it I want to buy a specific book, it's very convenient to order a pBook for next-day delivery, or an eBook for immediate download.

The Wylie-Amazon alliance is not terribly restrictive or inconvenient. It's no worse to have to use Amazon as a source for Saul Bellow books than to have to use Costco as a source of Kirkland-brand products, or Apple as a source of Macs and iPads.

Vertical integration and exclusive distribution are nothing new.

Michael N. Marcus
-- Independent Self-Publishers Alliance, http://www.independentselfpublishers.org
-- "Become a Real Self-Publisher: Don’t be a Victim of a Vanity Press," http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981661742
-- "How to Get the Most out of Self-Publishing Company,"
http://silversandsbooks.com/booksaboutpublishing/selfpubcompanybook.html
-- "Stories I'd Tell My Children (but maybe not until they're adults)," http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981661750
-- http://www.BookMakingBlog.blogspot.com
-- http://www.SilverSandsBooks.com

Response to Michael

Submitted by Square Books on Wed, 07/28/2010 - 3:26pm.

Sounds like a remark by someone who either uses amazon for their own commercial benefit, or -- an extraterrestrial!

Awesome site!

Submitted by karen61 on Wed, 07/28/2010 - 11:26am.

Keep up the great work

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read September 25−

Submitted by petukh1969 on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 4:52pm.

I really hope you still have this display up for Banned Books Week. Now, that would be a fun contradiction in bookseller history.

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm

Odd...

Submitted by dwndrgn on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 11:51am.

I don't see why you would post a sign saying 'These books not for sale.' since the paper editions would continue to be available wherever books are sold. Only the ebook rights for those certain authors was contracted (ie, for a certain period of time) to Amazon and that's just the way the market works. Amazon was willing to offer more money to the authors, so they signed on there which is no different than them signing with any single publishing house.

I don't get all the hullaballoo. With the advent of ebooks, publishers must realize that they are no longer the biggest kids on the block and understand that there will be other outlets for authors' works. Therefore they are going to have to change the way they do business if they want to stay in business.

Odd... response

Submitted by Square Books on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 4:10pm.

Thanks for the comment.   You're right that e-books and hard-copy books are completely different.   We are not actually refusing to sell the books in the window (that wouldn't be smart!) -- but we are trying to illustrate the point that an arrangment between a supplier (Wylie) and a retailer (amazon) that excludes all other suppliers and retailers is dangerously limiting.

Publishers perform many important functions for authors and their work; they are not merely printers.    They are getting in the ebook business, and, as you suggest, changing.   Perhaps this is why amazon and Wylie are making this leap at this time.   Wylie seems to be making a big risk at his authors' expense, and amazon is just trying to do what it always has -- have a monopoly on all book commerce outside physical stores.

Doomed I Say

Submitted by ct on Fri, 07/30/2010 - 11:41am.

I think you're underestimating the extent to which publishers are locked into their current (dying) business model. Before the Internet, it was practically impossible for an author to reach a large audience without signing a contract with a big publisher who could print, distribute, and market that work on a huge scale. Now the printing costs $0, and the distribution is as simple as posting an epub file. Taking away several of the core things that made publishers necessary is going to result in more drastic changes than them finally trying to break into the ebook business after new companies like Amazon have already established a dominant position in the market.

The only thing the traditional publishing industry has going for them is that most people still prefer physical books to ebooks, but that's not going to last forever. Just look at what's currently happening to the newspaper industry if you want to see the impact of an audience deciding to read digital text rather than words printed on pieces of paper. If publishers really wanted to compete in a world where ebooks are popular, they would have developed devices like the Kindle that make reading ebooks a better experience rather than letting Amazon beat them to the punch. The fact is that traditional publishers aren't going to be able to compete in the new digital marketplace any more than newspapers can compete with blogs, because it would mean abandoning everything that makes them profitable today and adopting a completely new business model.

Wylie and ebooks....

Submitted by TheWildBurro on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 10:05am.

Thanks for taking a stand on this. Though it is no different than some of the deals that authors (and musicians) are making directly with Walmart. It seems to me that publishers and authors are shooting themselves in the collective feet. Apparently the sales clout of companies like Amazon, however, makes it okay for them. Not so great for the independent bookstore, authors, small publishers...anyone I'm missing? Again - congrats on taking a stand.

response to wild burro

Submitted by Square Books on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 4:24pm.

Thanks for the note.  We are less worried about the direct effect all this has on our bookstore than the potential harm it holds for publishers and, consequently, us.    Publishers used to make double digit profits, year after year, and today they, most of them, are operating on very thin margins.   There is little room for mistake in this digital transition.

Wild Burro -- have you seen that book, The Wisdom of Donkeys, by Andy Merrifield?   It's a lovely, informing read on how difficult it is to be a donkey and how easy to be an ass.  Sort of analagous to this whole digital book / real book discussion....

Wylie world

Submitted by librabooks on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 5:26am.

As a British bookseller, I loved your piece on Wylie. Your allusion to 'the soiling of first amendment priciples' really made me think.

I love your shop and blog, discovering it has made my day.

response to librabooks

Submitted by Square Books on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 4:30pm.

Thanks, chap.  We're having fun talking to customers who look at the window and read everything and walk in and want to talk.   Thanks for your 2 cents.