According to the Bookseller, French publishers have released an open letter that objects to Andrew Wylie’s move into digital publishing as “unacceptable”.
The SNE letter explicitly warns against putting digital rights in the control of “outside parties”, including “agents”, who it said were “liable to endanger the equilibrium within the profession”. The “commercialisation” of electronic rights was “the natural responsibility of the publisher”, the letter states. …
The Bookseller Daily understands that at least four French publishers have suspended negotiations with Wylie since July. Gallimard told The Bookseller: “We are one of them, and I know several of my colleagues have done the same.” Gallimard said e-books did not have a sufficient presence to justify separating digital from print rights. And he added: “We were shocked that Wylie gave exclusivity to Amazon and consider that it is a conflict of interest for agents to create companies that compete with their customers . . . this is totally unacceptable.” According to sources, Gallimard represents about 50% of Wylie’s rights business in the country.
That letter is one of the most comedic and entertaining pieces I have read on Teleread. Thank-you for posting that.
If the publishers can split the hardcover and paperback book rights, then ebook rights should be splittable as well. If the authors don’t think the publishers are going to maximize the ebook sales/revenue (and author royalties), then they should be free to sell those rights to someone who will.