Aside from the unfortunate puns, this is a fascinating story. It marks a real danger for publishers as ebook publishing for estates and the backlists of successful authors becomes much, much easier.
As it does and as the royalties offered to authors who go direct to AMazon, B&N and Apple remain more attractive than working with a publisher, estates and authors will sacrifice their relationships with publishers to gain revenue. It’s a sensible decision but one that further increases the pressure on publishers and peels away at the basis of their business model:
The estate of the romance writer Barbara Cartland has fallen to the embrace of digital, in a move that sees her print publisher suffering a painful rejection. About a quarter of Cartlands extensive ouevre is to be published digitally in e-book format by her estate for the first time on Valentines Day.
The deal has echoes of the decision by Ian Fleming Publications to release the writers James Bond books as digital editions, but not through his current publisher Penguin. The works, part of the Pink Collection, comprise 160 titles and are being made available through a partnership between Barbaracartland.com and M-Y Ebooks
via Barbara Cartland is latest author to be wooed by digital | TheBookseller.
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