So Amazon has decided to launch a number of publishing imprints. I don’t understand this.
Specifically, I don’t understand why Amazon needs to do it. Well-known authors are already turning down very attractive New York publishing deals in favor of Amazon’s vanilla-flavored, non-traditional self-publishing tools. With those tools, and its vast self-publishing marketplace, Amazon was already, it seems to me, on the way to drinking everybody’s milkshake.
So why this move?
Is it about ancillary rights? Do they wish they could have owned the inevitable Trylle movies? Surely not. Writers generally control ancillary rights even under the most annoying of traditional book contracts (exception: the comics/graphic novel field, which, as usual, is about one century behind the rest of the world).
Does Amazon imagine it’s necessary to invest, in individual books and authors, the kind of promotional and marketing budgets associated with traditional book deals, in order to beat back the iPad and Nook and their own self-publishing programs? That sounds like a strong possibility behind their motivation. A self-publishing marketplace might throw up an accidental superstar or two, but it takes real money to create a large stable of well-known celebrity authors out of scratch. I can see them thinking that, anyway. I don’t necessarily agree. My guess is that the power of the Amazon website itself is more than enough to accomplish this — but I’ve been known to be wrong.
And what are the advantages to authors? I note that J. A. Konrath, self-publishing advocate and Kindle success story, is one of the launch authors for the Thomas & Mercer, Amazon’s new “thriller” imprint. I can’t imagine that the deal is very similar to a traditional book publisher’s deal, if Konrath — who has been highly critical of traditional book publisher’s deals — is involved. On the other hand, though, if he’s already doing so well, what is the advantage of helping Amazon morph into a version of what Amazon was handily destroying?
I’m not angry or weird about this. Please don’t take this as a flame. I just don’t understand! Help me understand! I thought the world was going in one direction, and now it seems to be going in the other.
Just guessing here, but it could be that Amazon foresee a deluge of self-published books and they’re worried that having to wade through the 99.9% that will likely be unreadable will put people off reading new titles altogether. So their imprints provide a stamp of approval that ensures we keep downloading new books to our Kindle.
It’s entirely about marketing. Think about it — what part of the publishing food chain has Amazon not replaced yet? They’ve done away with the need for production (for the most part), distribution and the bookstore. What’s left? Other services provided to authors — editing, marketing, etc.
I understand your frustration. I am also in the throes of learning about Amazon and their self-publishing options. The best guess I can offer is that Amazon appears to be working on solving the problem of too much product, not enough product differentiation.
In other words, with thousands of authors putting their work up for sale on Amazon, how do I know what is good enough to purchase? Right now it’s a crap shoot. By setting up imprints, Amazon will have a place to offer the better, higher quality books. If I want mystery, I now know where to look. Harlequin already does this to an extent with their Carina Press. There, once your book gets past the editor’s wicket, you get published electronically. If sales are good, and your novel fits in the romance genre, Harlequin could pick it up for print distribution.
Bottom line, it’s all about the money for Amazon, in the name of providing better service to their customers.