The blogger pointed out that you can't count on retail ebook sellers or their cloud storage to keep your books accessible, and gave several
examples of ebook retailers who changed their policies or went under.
Not exact matches
In many cases, the content the riidr makes available is the same
ebook that a North American customer might purchase from any number
of branded
retailers, like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Kobo, but in the case
of the Danish translation
of those works, for
example, the publisher who owns those foreign rights can sell the
ebooks directly to the consumers.
To help answer this most important
of questions, we have redesigned the Sell page to provide an at - a-glance summary
of Lulu's distribution options, services, tools, and
retail pricing
examples for both print and
eBooks in distribution.
Regarding royalties, it goes like this: Smashwords Wholesale compensation = 60 %
of retail (when sold on sites other than their own)
Example: if your
eBook is selling for $ 7.95, the author would get $ 4.77.
For
example, in order to have access to a copy
of The Cambridge Companion to Kant, a book I've been reading along with the works
of the philosopher this summer, I had to buy the paper edition ($ 29.50
retail), the Kindle edition ($ 28.42) and the «Amazon Upgrade» PDF version ($ 7.39) in order to access the book physically, through the
eBook reader I own and the PC I use, respectively.
Barnes and Noble, for
example, was the first major
ebook supplier to put the popular game Angry Birds on its NOOK Color device; the
retailer is the official U.S. sponsor
of the game.
Obviously, a number
of publishers are upset about this and feel it's just another
example of Amazon using its considerable status to make demands on the publishers; another contract term that has raised ire is the requirement that the publisher inform Amazon before offering its titles to another
retailer at a lower price, despite the fact that this requirement is actually in accordance with a German law that requires all booksellers to sell each specific title at the same price throughout the country, including
ebooks.
For
example, as
of this writing, if you use Amazon KDP for your
eBook, it is a «non-exclusive» arrangement which allows you to offer your book in multiple
retail venues, both online and offline, though some restrictions may apply.
Most formatters will assure your placement in the Smashwords Premium Catalog for distribution to
retailers listed here: http://smashwords.com/distribution Review the Smashwords Style Guide to learn how
ebook formatting is different from print formatting (
ebooks can not and should not look like a facsimile
of the print book, for
example).
Mr. Scalzi says: «Amazon's assumptions don't include, for
example, that publishers and authors might have a legitimate reason for not wanting the gulf between
eBook and physical hardcover pricing to be so large that brick and mortar
retailers suffer, narrowing the number
of venues into which books can sell.»
Amazon's assumptions don't include, for
example, that publishers and authors might have a legitimate reason for not wanting the gulf between
eBook and physical hardcover pricing to be so large that brick and mortar
retailers suffer, narrowing the number
of venues into which books can sell.
We have implemented some
of these in Books4Spain (exclusively online and specialising in books about Spain)-- both on the website and on our blog, for
example: independent «expert» reviews author interviews and links to them and author blog from book result page on our website ability to but non DRM
ebooks and Kindle books direct Win books competitions Lots
of added value content on blog Our favourites, special offers, recommended books, popular books and featured authors on website All this via a software platform which we have developed in - house and re Hildick - Smith warning that entering digital book
retail is very, very expensive — that is not necessarily the case since we intend to license our software platform on a white label ASP basis to other independents (
retailers and publishers) at a very reasonable price.
For
example, in January 2017 the company took over the Tolino
ebook technology platform in Germany, teaming up with a conglomeration
of book
retailers.