Amazon has been trying to get through a dispute with publishing house Hachette for some time now. The two cannot agree on the new terms for sales through the website; their last contract ended back in March, and they have not signed a new one as of now. In large part, the dispute is over how much should be charged for ebooks.
This has been something of an issue for the authors, as Amazon has stopped selling books that Hachette produces, and they have also not allowed pre-orders for upcoming books to continue. According to Amazon, they have been talking to the publisher to try to resolve things, but the two sides have so far not agreed.
Now, Amazon has apparently reached out to some of the authors with a unique proposal. They have not yet made the offer to Hachette, stating that they want to know what a few of the authors think of it before they do. Under the outline they provided, they would simply give the authors 100 percent of the royalties for any ebooks that they sell before the dispute ends. An ebook sold for $9.99 would provide $9.99 directly to that writer.
This is vastly more than what the writers would normally make. Amazon says that Hachette would have to agree to the deal to move forward, and that they hope that putting that plan in place would give authors a solution while pushing both sides to work harder to draft a new contract of their own.
Any authors living in Colorado Springs, Colorado – or anywhere else in the United States, for that matter – should watch the proceedings to see if this proposal is accepted by Hachette, as it would definitely give a unique twist to this contract dispute, preserving authors’ rights and their earnings.
Source: Source: International Business Times, “Amazon Offers 100 Percent Of E-Book Royalties To Hachette Authors In Letter,” Luke Villapaz, July 8, 2014
