3 ms·

> I agree that these exclusivity deals are bad news for most of us but to be completely frank this is largely on the authors. They are the ones agreeing, ultima

> I agree that these exclusivity deals are bad news for most of us but to be completely frank this is largely on the authors. They are the ones agreeing, ultimately, to these deals to line their own pockets at the expense of readers and potential readers. Yeah Amazon is evil but no one forces the authors into this. No individual author has the ability to impact something like this from happening on their own. Why would it be "largely the author's fault" when they have no say over the ecosystem?

ars 6y ago
> No individual author has the ability to impact something like this from happening on their own. Yes they do, they just .... don't enter into an exclusive contract, and pick instead a contract that allows them to market in other places as well. Or are you implying that Audible requires only Exclusive contacts? Because I don't believe that's true.
- naravara 6y ago
  > don't enter into an exclusive contract, and pick instead a contract that allows them to market in other places as well. It's not like you get to tick off a feature list in your contracts to get all the stuff you want. Audible is likely paying them for exclusivity and they're getting read and promotion out of it that other publishers aren't able to get them. The author's goal is to get their work to where people who want to read it are. It a weird sift of responsibility to expect the author to concern themselves with how the overall audiobook market shakes out for consumers or even other authors. They have no leverage in the negotiation to make those decisions unless they're like Stephen King.
  - ars 6y ago
    > It's not like you get to tick off a feature list in your contracts to get all the stuff you want. Yes, actually that's exactly how it is. The author can choose if they want it exclusive or not, and Audible will offer them some money to go exclusive. And they are not required to take that money.
dhosek 6y ago
Many of the Audible exclusives, especially for shorter works, have Audible acting as publisher and the deal is between Audible and the author (presumably with the agent acting as intermediary). I suspect also that with some of the older titles, like Handmaid's Tale, the original publication deal didn't include audiobook rights.
ianai 6y ago
Uh because anyone can actually read their own book and sell it as an audio book. There’s actually very little overhead there - if you’ve got an audience. If you don’t have an audience then typically authors start out in situations like this or grow their market through their own means. There’s not a constitutional right to plaster the media with your book ads.

ars 6y ago

> No individual author has the ability to impact something like this from happening on their own. Yes they do, they just .... don't enter into an exclusive contract, and pick instead a contract that allows them to market in other places as well. Or are you implying that Audible requires only Exclusive contacts? Because I don't believe that's true.

naravara 6y ago
> don't enter into an exclusive contract, and pick instead a contract that allows them to market in other places as well. It's not like you get to tick off a feature list in your contracts to get all the stuff you want. Audible is likely paying them for exclusivity and they're getting read and promotion out of it that other publishers aren't able to get them. The author's goal is to get their work to where people who want to read it are. It a weird sift of responsibility to expect the author to concern themselves with how the overall audiobook market shakes out for consumers or even other authors. They have no leverage in the negotiation to make those decisions unless they're like Stephen King.
- ars 6y ago
  > It's not like you get to tick off a feature list in your contracts to get all the stuff you want. Yes, actually that's exactly how it is. The author can choose if they want it exclusive or not, and Audible will offer them some money to go exclusive. And they are not required to take that money.

dhosek 6y ago

Many of the Audible exclusives, especially for shorter works, have Audible acting as publisher and the deal is between Audible and the author (presumably with the agent acting as intermediary). I suspect also that with some of the older titles, like Handmaid's Tale, the original publication deal didn't include audiobook rights.

ianai 6y ago

Uh because anyone can actually read their own book and sell it as an audio book. There’s actually very little overhead there - if you’ve got an audience. If you don’t have an audience then typically authors start out in situations like this or grow their market through their own means. There’s not a constitutional right to plaster the media with your book ads.