Tuesday, 24th August 2010

AP: Exclusive E-book Deal with Amazon Is Called Off; Joint Statement from Wylie Agency and Random House

From the AP (via Crain's NY Business):

An exclusive e-book deal between Amazon.com and the agent for such classics as "Invisible Man" is no longer exclusive, and no longer a deal.

Random House Inc. and the Wylie Agency announced Tuesday that "Invisible Man," ''Rabbit Is Rich" and more than a dozen other works were being "removed" from a program brokered between Wylie and Amazon that offered them as e-books available only through the online retailer.

Instead, Random House, which had claimed electronic rights, will publish the books on a "non-exclusive basis." The original deal had enraged publishers and rival booksellers and led to Random House suspending business with Wylie.

From Publisher's Weekly:

A Joint Statement From the Wylie Agency and Random House

"We are pleased to announce that The Wylie Agency and Random House have resolved our differences over the disputed Random House titles which have been included in the Odyssey Editions e-book publishing program. These titles are being removed from that program and taken off-sale. We have agreed that Random House shall be the exclusive e-book publisher of these titles for those territories in which Random House U.S. controls their rights. The titles soon will be available for sale on a non-exclusive basis through all of Random House's current e-book customers. Random House is resuming normal business relations with the Wylie Agency for English-language manuscript submissions and potential acquisitions, and we both are glad to be able to put this matter behind us."

From the ResourceShelf Archive:

+ A Complete Client List from The Wylie Agency

+ From NPR: In E-Publishing Revolution, Rights Battle Wears On

+ eBook News: Wylie/Amazon

+ Amazon.com Makes EXCLUSIVE Deal DIRECTLY With Leading Literary Agency To Publish e-Books of 20 Classic Titles (July 22, 2010)

+ Random House wins battle over e-rights with Andrew Wylie (via The Bookseller)

In a surprise joint statement issued by Markus Dohle, chairman & c.e.o of Random House, and Andrew Wylie, president of The Wylie Agency, the two companies said they had "resolved" their differences over the disputed Random House titles included in the Odyssey Editions e-book publishing program.

[Clip]
The move leaves Odyssey Editions with just seven titles that will be sold exclusively via Amazon's Kindle device for two years as part of a deal originally heralded as a "power shift" in the industry. Amazon has not commented on the development.

The Seven Remaining Odyssey Editions Titles (Exclusive to Amazon.com for Two Years) Are:

+ The Adventures of Augie March
+ Brideshead Revisited
+ Ficciones
+ Junky
+ Love Medicine
+ The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
+ The Naked and the Dead

UPDATE (August 25, 2010): Amazon Loses E-Book Deal (via WSJ)

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