Amazon's DTP: A new self-publishing option for e-books
Details here. Full details here, including FAQ and some forums that are getting lively. This is a new site that will allow self-publishers to publish their books in the AZW format that is used only at Amazon for its Kindle e-books. Until now, only e-books in the Mobipocket format could be sold at Amazon. There are rumors around the blogosphere that Amazon will shut down Mobipocket, because Kindle e-books are clearly intended as an alternative to Mobipocket. Since self-publishers could already work with Mobipocket, the only practical difference this change makes is that Amazon's new Digital Text Platform (that's its awkward name for self-publishing e-books at its Kindle store) is clearly modelled after Lulu.com. It's user-friendly and is aimed at self-publishers, though it could certainly be used by small presses. Amazon keep 65% of the profit. By contrast, Lulu asks for 20% of the profit for e-books. There are no set-up fees at either service. As with Mobipocket and Amazon's POD self-publishing service CreateSpace, you don't need an ISBN; Amazon will assign you an Amazon-only reference number. One nice thing I notice about the Support section is that Amazon provides detailed suggestions on formatting your e-book, prior to uploading. Potential nastiness in the fine print: 1) You have to have a valid US bank account, and Amazon withholds taxes from your profit. 2) You can't sell the e-book for a different price elsewhere than the list price you set at Amazon. 3) They say they can sell the book at any price they want; however, they emphasize that you'll still get 35% of the list price you set. 4) They can make chapters available free online for readers to browse. 5) They say that you give them a nonexclusive *irrevocable* license to sell the book; however, the next clause implies that this can be terminated. Except: "All rights to Digital Books acquired by customers prior to termination shall survive termination, and Amazon shall be entitled to retain archival copies of the Licensed Digital Content after termination in order to provide re-downloads to customers who have purchase Digital Books prior to termination." Fair enough. 6) "You acknowledge that we will be entitled to utilize DRM technology in connection with the distribution of Digital Books but are not obligated to do so." In actual fact, Kindle's AZW format is DRM-protected. 7) There's no specific mention of erotic content or other controversial content in the terms of conditions (just the usual don't-upload-anything-illegal clause), but this FAQ leaves that issue open.

Dusk can I steal this post for POD People, please?

Amazon sucks. That's what I have to say about their fine print. Won't be doing any publishing with them so long as the license agreement has any provisos that take away any of my ownership/decision/power/choices with regards to any book of mine.

"Dusk can I steal this post for POD People, please?" The ultimate flattery. :) Just credit me, please (and you might as well credit ERWF too, if you want to get people to visit here). "Won't be doing any publishing with them so long as the license agreement has any provisos that take away any of my ownership/decision/power/choices with regards to any book of mine." Say more about this?

Full name, please, Em. :)

Am I right in recalling that, in the past at Amazon, the paper editions of books did not link to the e-book editions? Now they do.

I wrote earlier, "As with Mobipocket, Amazon keep 35% of the profit." Whoops, big correction: Amazon gets 65%, you get 35%.

If that's the case, then Amazon increased the suck factor by a... Well, I guess Amazon just can't suck any worse.

(Looks at the royalties Freya's Bower offers, and smiles.) Well, let's put this into context: I earlier compared Amazon to Lulu, which isn't really fair, because Lulu's distribution of e-books is confined to its tiny little Website, so it doesn't charge industry prices for distribution. Normally, distribution percentages range from 25% to 55%. I think Amazon is still stiffing authors, but then, I don't know of any online bookstore that works with self-published authors, other than self-publishing services. Amazon has the monopoly on e-book distribution where mass distribution is concerned, so I guess it feels it can charge an arm-and-a-leg. What I'm curious about is whether it's gouging the presses it works with. Anyone know, whose e-book is appearing in the Kindle Store? Also, I'm still curious as to what your earlier objections were, Karen.

Violet Blue's experience with DTP. She says it's easy to upload books, and she agrees that the price is a rip-off.

9. Term and Termination. This Agreement will remain in effect unless and until terminated by either party in accordance with this Section. Amazon shall have the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate this Agreement without cause upon not less than sixty (60) days’ advance notice to you. All rights to Digital Books acquired by customers prior to termination shall survive termination, and Amazon shall be entitled to retain archival copies of the Licensed Digital Content after termination in order to provide re-downloads to customers who have purchase Digital Books prior to termination. The following provisions of this Agreement will survive termination: Section 4, Sections 5-7 (but only to the extent of any payments that are accrued but unpaid at termination), Sections 9-15, and any provisions that define capitalized terms in the foregoing sections. From what I'm reading there, the "in accordance with" means only Amazon can revoke the license, just Amazon, because that's all that was mentioned in the section. Nowhere does it say, after the in accordance part, how the author can terminate, therefore author cannot. So once you put that ebook up with Amazon, it stays up until Amazon decideds it's objectionable. That's how I'm reading it. How about you?

The royalties Amazon is charging, btw, is comparable to what you expect an e-publisher to dock. Are they implying by this that they are the publisher of the "self"-published books?

I presume my books there are via mobi and so at 50%.

"This Agreement will remain in effect unless and until terminated by either party" I take "either party" to mean either Amazon or the other party signing the contract, namely the author. Doing a Web search, I see that "terminated by either party" is standard contract language for "either of us can end this contract." At any rate, this page makes clear that you can "unpublish" your content. "The royalties Amazon is charging, btw, is comparable to what you expect an e-publisher to dock. Are they implying by this that they are the publisher of the 'self'-published books?" No, though the word "royalties" set off all my alarms, because that's the word Lulu uses when it's legally the publisher. The entry for Violet Blue's book, though, lists her own publishing company as the publisher, with Amazon as the distributor. I was just ribbing you about Freya's Bower; sorry that I didn't use a smiley face. What Amazon is actually doing is hiking the distributors' price. I just learned from an e-mail list, for example, that Fictionwise charges 50% for the books it distributes. So 65%, while still too high to my mind, is not totally out in left field, as far as industry standards are concerned. (Puts in a grumble here about how e-book distributors in general are totally out in left field.) Emily Veinglory wrote: "I presume my books there are via mobi and so at 50%." Yes, over at the aforementioned list, the authors are speculating about whether an easy way to get around the 65% charge would be to go with Mobipocket, whose books are being translated into Kindle formats. Someone on that list mentioned 50% as the discount for Mobipocket; I'm reading the contract to say it's 45% if you want the contract to be non-exclusive. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure whether 15-20% is worth the bother, since it appears that the DTP interface gives you a lot more control over the product. But then, I haven't gone through the Mobipocket process, so perhaps that's just as easy. At any rate, as I've said above, I'm uncertain about the future of Mobipocket, now that Amazon is putting so much energy into the Kindle. Incidentally, opinion is divided on that other list as to whether Amazon is ripping off publishers or not. I think a lot depends on whether the people posting about this have dealt only with POD books (in which case, they can opt for a 20-25% discount from Amazon, so 65% looks way unfair), or whether they've been dealing in the past with Amazon's e-book program (in which case, this isn't much different from Mobipocket).

You can't just take into account the first half of that sentence. The last part of it is what leads to the remainder of the section. Maybe the wording of that first sentence is standard, but the remainder of the section only speaks of how Amazon may terminate, not how the author/publisher may terminate. Therefore "in accordance with" has only covered Amazon's right to terminate. I still see this to mean the author has not been given the right to terminate.