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| Hearsay: |
The NYT has an Op-Ed piece by the Authors Guild president who’s saying the text to speech capability of the Kindle yadda yadda yadda. That tail is forever just out of reach, isn’t my puppies?
The Kindle 2 is a portable, wireless, paperback-size device onto which people can download a virtual library of digitalized titles. Amazon sells these downloads, and where the books are under copyright, it pays royalties to the authors and publishers.
Serves readers, pays writers: so far, so good. But there’s another thing about Kindle 2 — its heavily marketed text-to-speech function. Kindle 2 can read books aloud. And Kindle 2 is not paying anyone for audio rights.
True, you can already get software that will read aloud whatever is on your computer. But Kindle 2 is being sold specifically as a new, improved, multimedia version of books — every title is an e-book and an audio book rolled into one. And whereas e-books have yet to win mainstream enthusiasm, audio books are a billion-dollar market, and growing. Audio rights are not generally packaged with e-book rights. They are more valuable than e-book rights. Income from audio books helps not inconsiderably to keep authors, and publishers, afloat.
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February 25th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Yikes. One of these days I’d like to hear good news like “culture valued, federal government supports the arts with stimulus package and grants for international travel” and “new technology provides additional income to writers” and “Canada known world-wide as a leader in literature.” Keep your fingers crossed, eh?
February 25th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I didn’t even think about audio rights! I always think of the Kindle as just a device to use to read books, not something to use for audio books. You would think with the steep price, they would be able to pay some royalties? I didn’t know it was so expensive, because the urge to buy one hasn’t even crossed my mind, but watching this video talking about the costs/benefits made me not want to buy one at all. [see link above]
February 25th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
One suspects Amazon knows exactly what it’s doing, and has a plan in place for getting away with it, just like Books in Canada when they posted my reviews on Amazon.ca (and presumably got paid for them) without paying me for them, before going tits up.
Everyone’s an expert at not paying the writer these days.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I’ve read the NYTimes piece referred to above and concluded that Mr. Blount truly needs to get himself into the current century. IMy wife just received a Kindle 2 and I have listened to the “voice” read a brief passage of one of the books she downloaded. It is not bad, but it is in now way any kind of competition for an audiobook version of the book. At best, it is tolerable for those brief times when one needs to set down their book and would like to keep the story going. It is in no way competition for a true audiobook, which uses professional actors to bring the work to life.
If I were an author and Mr. Blount were representing my interests, I would want him to embrace this new technology as an opportunity to expan my reach, get my material in the hands of willing readers (buyers) faster and far more economically than the traditional print route. It also provides a model whereby an author potentially stands to gain a greater $ amount per book sold.
In short, his intentions appear to be good, but he has a server lack of insight into the technology and what it can do for those he represents
February 26th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Mr. Blount needs to get a new job. It seems to me like he’s trying to find a new way to fleece the consumer. As a consumer, I’m tired of getting ripped off by the publishing industry. $30 for a new book? Give me a break. I can’t afford that kind of hobby…it would cost me $900 a year if it wasn’t for the public library. Everyone wants to be a millionaire overnight, especially at the cost of the working slobs and the consumers. Give me a break Mr. Blount.