E-Book Author Signs Print Deal With Simon & Schuster

nitaworm · Aug 22, 2011

E-Book Author Signs Print Deal With Simon & Schuster

By JULIE BOSMANJohn Locke, the first self-published author to sell one million e-books on Amazon.com, has made a deal with Simon & Schuster for the sales and distribution of his print books. Mr. Locke said he wanted to allow readers “traditional access” to his books, which include the Donovan Creed thrillers and several westerns. Simon & Schuster, which called it “a win-win for all concerned,” said it would begin to print and distribute Mr. Locke’s books in February, making them available in bookstores and through online retailers.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/e-book-author-signs-print-deal-with-simon-schuster/

Sheryl Nantus · Aug 22, 2011

I wonder what he's going to sell the print books for.

I'm willing to bet it's not going to be 99 cents...

Going to be watching how this one turns out!

shaldna · Aug 23, 2011

hmmmm. Interesting that another SP advocate has jumped the traditional publishing route as soon as it was offered to them.

Torgo · Aug 23, 2011

shaldna said:
hmmmm. Interesting that another SP advocate has jumped the traditional publishing route as soon as it was offered to them.

I'm assuming, like Hocking, Locke wants to be in print, and traditional publishing is still the only credible way to do that - but he'll still self-publish digitally.

thothguard51 · Aug 23, 2011

Unlike Hocking and other electronic self published authors who have found success, I don't see anything reporting what his advance might have been.

It sounds to me like this is a reissue in Print of some of his e-books and I don't see the article mentioning a new series. I wonder if S&S will be doing any extensive editing, or print as is...

Also, why should I buy a print version when the download version is less. Surely S&S will have to do something about that...

Yes, this requires watching...

Torgo · Aug 23, 2011

thothguard51 said:
Also, why should I buy a print version when the download version is less. Surely S&S will have to do something about that...

Several reasons spring to mind:

You don't read ebooks. This could widen Locke's audience to people without ereaders.
You read ebooks, but you want to gift a copy to your aunt, who doesn't. The price is less of an issue.
You like to have a physical souvenir. We tend not to chuck books away once we've read them, and often hang on to books we have no real intention of rereading. Books are trophies and ornaments for much more of their lives than they spend being read.
You don't mind paying a premium for nice typography and cover design - you expect ebooks to be cheaper because they are rawer.

AP7 · Aug 23, 2011

shaldna said:
hmmmm. Interesting that another SP advocate has jumped the traditional publishing route as soon as it was offered to them.

That’s not what happened. He gained access to Simon and Shuster’s vast distribution network and held on to his erights. That is unprecedented. I’m sure we’ll get the usual “John Locke is an outlier” dismissals but this has significant implications to the entire industry.

thothguard51 · Aug 23, 2011

All good answers, and the same answers I have heard time and time again.

But the question is, if these are reprints of Locke's previously published e-books, how is the publisher going to justify the higher price to his established audience. His readers are exclusively e-readers.

The trouble I have will all these e-book claims of selling a million downloads, is that we are not comparing apples to apples.

When a majority of the books are 99 cents like Hockings were, then audience is the 99 cents crowd. Jump the price to 9.99 for paper back, 19.99 for mass market or 29.99 for hardback, and will the audience follow, or even build? Will the publishers lower the print price for the 99 cent crowd. I doubt it...

Right now, there is no proof via numbers that these 99 cents e-authors can carry over into print with the same type of numbers. Of course, there are no numbers indicating they can't at this time yet. We have a way to go before I will proclaim this is the wave of the future...

Of course, for the authors getting the big advance, this is what they worked for and I applaud them. Who cares if the audience follows?

Answer, the publishers once the numbers start coming in...

Barbara R. · Aug 23, 2011

The REALLY interesting thing about this sale is that Locke seems to have retained ebook rights while selling print rights only to S&S. I don't know of any other case in which this has happened...unless Hocking managed it too, and I don't recall reading that. For a publisher to agree to less than full rights within its territory really marks a seismic change in the business. I wonder if Locke has an agent or negotiated this himself...

Torgo · Aug 23, 2011

Barbara R. said:
The REALLY interesting thing about this sale is that Locke seems to have retained ebook rights while selling print rights only to S&S. I don't know of any other case in which this has happened...unless Hocking managed it too, and I don't recall reading that. For a publisher to agree to less than full rights within its territory really marks a seismic change in the business. I wonder if Locke has an agent or negotiated this himself...

I seem to remember Hocking kept her digital rights too, though I could be misremembering.

ETA: I am misremembering: she did sell the digital rights.

AP7 · Aug 23, 2011

This deal is nothing like Hocking's. She signed essentially a standard deal (although she may have negotiated some concessions). She did not hold on to her erights. Locke's deal still isnt 100% clear. Did he get an advance? I dont think so. I think he is the one paying S&S for the distribution services. He's telling the publisher I dont need your editorial, art or any of that good stuff. I just want you to distribute for me and I'll kick you a piece. And S&S said yes.

Sheryl Nantus · Aug 23, 2011

AP7 said:
This deal is nothing like Hocking's. She signed essentially a standard deal (although she may have negotiated some concessions). She did not hold on to her erights. Locke's deal still isnt 100% clear. Did he get an advance? I dont think so. I think he is the one paying S&S for the distribution services. He's telling the publisher I dont need your editorial, art or any of that good stuff. I just want you to distribute for me and I'll kick you a piece. And S&S said yes.

The real test here is going to be if people are willing to pay more than 99 cents for his work.

There's no way he can keep the price that low and his books will be up against professionally produced, edited and promoted books in the same genre.

Can he compete on the same playing field?

We'll see.

shaldna · Aug 23, 2011

It'll definately be worth watching to see what happens at any rate.

ChaosTitan · Aug 23, 2011

Sheryl Nantus said:
The real test here is going to be if people are willing to pay more than 99 cents for his work.

There's no way he can keep the price that low and his books will be up against professionally produced, edited and promoted books in the same genre.

Can he compete on the same playing field?

We'll see.

The thing is, it's a fixed test. S&S is going to throw this author into the promotion game and promote the hell out of his books. He'll be compared to other big name thriller authors. S&S will do everything in their power to position those books to hit bestseller lists, and regardless of actual consumer interest the books will hit the lists.

More than anything, I'm curious if the books will release as hardcovers or as mass market. The article didn't specify.

DACasey · Aug 23, 2011

Barbara R. said:
I wonder if Locke has an agent or negotiated this himself...

Jane Dystel of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management negotiated the deal.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/ss-publish-e-book-star-john-locke.html

And now how many of the big authors are going to say, "For my next book, I want the same deal as John Locke got," where the publisher distributes and handles sales and returns of the print books, and the author keeps the digital rights for 70% royalties on Amazon.com?

Terie · Aug 23, 2011

DACasey said:
And now how many of the big authors are going to say, "For my next book, I want the same deal as John Locke got," where the publisher distributes and handles sales and returns of the print books, and the author keeps the digital rights for 70% royalties on Amazon.com?

That's not as simple as it sounds. If a publisher doesn't get e-book rights, they're not going to allow the author to use the publisher-edited version of the book or the cover art (not unless the author pays for those rights). How many authors want their e-books to be substantially different from their print books? Might not be that big a deal for those who don't require much editing, but that's a minority of writers.

DACasey · Aug 23, 2011

Terie said:
If a publisher doesn't get e-book rights, they're not going to allow the author to use the publisher-edited version of the book or the cover art (not unless the author pays for those rights). How many authors want their e-books to be substantially different from their print books?

Having the same cover art for both print books and eBooks makes them instantly recognizable by consumers as the same book, and therefore highly desirable for marketing. Yet it's not uncommon to have different cover art for hard covers and MMPBs, so it might not be as much of a show-stopper as it seems at first glance.

OTOH, I can imagine big-name authors commissioning the cover art themselves and licensing it to the print publishers so that covers match on both print and eBooks. I think that's highly unlikely, though.

Torgo · Aug 23, 2011

Terie said:
That's not as simple as it sounds. If a publisher doesn't get e-book rights, they're not going to allow the author to use the publisher-edited version of the book or the cover art (not unless the author pays for those rights). How many authors want their e-books to be substantially different from their print books? Might not be that big a deal for those who don't require much editing, but that's a minority of writers.

This isn't actually what happens at the moment as far as I know, but perhaps it should be. It seems rather unfair if publishers polish and package a manuscript, and then the author can take the results and sell them.

I think it is important that the cover art for ebooks isn't exactly the same as the print edition, just because you generally see ebook cover art at a much smaller size - almost an icon, for design purposes. (Though I guess that's actually true for print books on Amazon, too... Hmm.)

Barbara R. · Aug 24, 2011

DACasey said:
Jane Dystel of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management negotiated the deal.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/ss-publish-e-book-star-john-locke.html

And now how many of the big authors are going to say, "For my next book, I want the same deal as John Locke got," where the publisher distributes and handles sales and returns of the print books, and the author keeps the digital rights for 70% royalties on Amazon.com?

Somewhere between most and all, I'd guess, which is why this is such a seismic shift.

AmsterdamAssassin · Aug 24, 2011

ChaosTitan said:
More than anything, I'm curious if the books will release as hardcovers or as mass market. The article didn't specify.

In the Bookseller article, I found:

"We are very excited that we can now help to expand John's readership to include those millions of readers who still savour the joys of sitting down for a few hours of entertainment with a traditional paperback book. It is a win-win for all concerned."

So I think they're going for MMPB.

AmsterdamAssassin · Aug 24, 2011

Also, it's incomparable to Hocking's deal with St. Martin, since Hocking has a deal for four NEW books, both print and e-book. Locke has a deal with S&S for the print rights of his 'backlist', his eight Creed books and assorted, which up till now were available only on E-book. S&S just wants to print his ebooks. Smart deal.

dondomat · Aug 24, 2011

Just a random chiming in: remember when a paperback selling a half million copies, even two million copies was like yawn, no one would promote it, back until like the early 1980's. Now an author whose combined sales are 2-3 million, like Tamora Pierce or Kim Harrison or Chrisopher Moore are heavy duty stars, the envy of all us lurkers. Pah. Way to go, Locke, make 'em weep!

annetpfeffer · Aug 24, 2011

Shift of power

Only an established author like Locke could get a deal like that. But it's good news for debut authors, too. For us newbies, establishing via self-publishing that our book will sell paves the way for a traditional book deal.

My question is: what's better? Going it on your own or the tradtional book deal?

Cathy C · Aug 24, 2011

Barbara R said:
Locke seems to have retained ebook rights while selling print rights only to S&S. I don't know of any other case in which this has happened...

I only know of one. It was several years ago. My friend Rowena Cherry self-published an ebook SF romance that sold very well. Dorchester picked up just the print rights to the book and issued the mmp version, which also did well enough to get a deal for a second and third in the series. Of course, this was before ereaders, so a lot has changed.

But it doesn't happen often.

ChaosTitan · Aug 24, 2011

AmsterdamAssassin said:
In the Bookseller article, I found:

So I think they're going for MMPB.

Thanks, AA. I must have overlooked that.

E-Book Author Signs Print Deal With Simon & Schuster

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