From the press release:
… bestselling author David Morrell is releasing a new, never-before-published, full-length thriller, “The Naked Edge,” along with nine of his previously published books, in electronic book format exclusively in the Kindle Store. This is the first time any of these titles have been available electronically. These Kindle editions will offer additional content for many of the books, including new introductions and photographs that reveal insights into the making of these modern classics. All 10 of these Morrell books are available starting today for download exclusively from the Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore).
“Available at $9.99 or less, I hope that my fans will be able to rediscover their favorite titles, and that new readers will have the chance to enjoy my books on their Kindles. I’m especially excited about publishing my new thriller, ‘The Naked Edge’ in digital format, exclusively for Kindle.”
“Publishing these 10 books in the Kindle Store is a great opportunity to explore how electronic publishing enables me to give my readers additional, unique content,” said Morrell. “Available at $9.99 or less, I hope that my fans will be able to rediscover their favorite titles, and that new readers will have the chance to enjoy my books on their Kindles. I’m especially excited about publishing my new thriller, ‘The Naked Edge’ in digital format, exclusively for Kindle.”
The books will be exclusive to the Kindle Store for one year. Here’s the list:
* “The Naked Edge” (a new, never published, high-action thriller with numerous photo inserts)
* “First Blood”
* “Blood Oath” (with a new Introduction)
* “The Brotherhood of the Rose”
* “The Fraternity of the Stone”
* “The Covenant of the Flame” (with a new Introduction and photo inserts)
* “The Totem” ” (both the markedly different U.S. and U.K. versions available together for the first time)
* “The Protector”
* “Last Reveille”
* “Fireflies”
But not, unfortunately, to those fans that exist outside of the US
Unfortunately as usual not for us non-US customers. 🙁
“This title is not available for customers from your location in: Europe”
Not good. One of Amazon’s more disturbing practices are these “Kindle exclusives.” It’s bad enough if a book that’s also available in print from many sources is only available in digital format from Amazon. But in this case, the book has never been published before and Amazon’s talk of exclusivity suggests there’s a contract, whose details may be secret, that prevents the author from distributing his book any other way. That is very disturbing.
Every field of human activity, including publishing, has a code of ethics (often unspoken) that guides those in that field. The code is built upon long experience about what does or does not work. Breaking that code made bring advantages in the short-term, especially financial, but it has long-term consequences. In the Hippocratic Oath, for instance, physicians were prohibited from practicing abortion and euthanasia, because failing to protect the two most vulnerable of their patients created doubt about their willingness to look out for the interests of the rest. The result of abandoning that Oath is history: rising malpractice lawsuits as public distrust rose and increased government meddling in health care as the government moved into a vacuum created by that lack of trust. Actions have consequences that we may not expect.
It’s also true that in a time of rapid change, some can get very rich by ignoring that code. The Robber Barons of oil, rail and steel in late 19th century America are a good example of that. They sought to control the market in a particular item, often by temporarily underselling competitors to get exclusivity (aka a monopoly). The long-term results were anti-trust laws that sometimes unnecessarily limit the behavior honest businesses. The bad behavior of some hurt everyone.
Over and over again, Amazon’s executives seem to demonstrate that same indifference to the basic code of ethics that ungirds publishing. They make threats against print-on-demand publishers who don’t use Amazon’s own print business. They attempt to dictate to UK publishers what price a publisher’s own books can be sold for on a publishers own website. And they work through exclusive agreements to make Amazon alone the only place where a certain book can be published.
Historically, in the U.S. the publishing industry has been remarkably free of government regulation and control, unlike Europe where the state once dictated what books could or could not be printed. Our American Revolution was, in part, about a stamp tax on written materials that could become a means to control what could be published. The power to tax is the power to control.
My fear is that in the long run Amazon’s misbehaviors will offer those in politics, many of who have never been very excited about free speech, a rationale for government intervention that will claim to be acting in the public interest but will, in the long run, harm the freedom of the press.
That’s the real story behind what is otherwise nor more than a passing mention about book exclusivity.
I agree that exclusive deals are not consumer friendly and bad for the industry but so is price fixing. Before the big 5 price fixing, exclusive deals were just one lever that Amazon could pull to compete with other online sites but the primary lever was always price. Now it’s basically the only option that remains to them. I don’t like it either but I blame the “agency” pricing.