Behind the Scenes
Jeez, Jackal, You Sure are a Jackal!
I feel loathe to spread attention about a dude who goes by the goober moniker “The Jackal,” but the story is moderately interesting enough to bring up: supposedly notorious literary agent Andrew Wylie makes a supposed splash by selling e-book rights for books that had not supposedly had previous e-rights contracted, including Updike, Nabokov, and etc., in an exclusive contract to Amazon via his newly established Odyssey Editions, formed entirely for ebook handling. Now there’s a big legal kerfuffle over who gets to do what with what and why to who and for how much and why not me and what are you doing motherfucker that’s my vacation house #2 fund we’re talkin’ bout. Moby Lives has the full scoop.
Agents. I mean look at this guy!
Props to MHP for the 'shitforbrains' image filename
Now look at him again, in 1972!
All the LeatherJacketed Young-Once Not-Really-Literary Men
If you’d like to buy a copy of that picture to hang over your bed, the pricing & information has been included in the image like a good salesboy.
I wish George Bush era brains had popularized Styrofoam-books instead. That seems more fun.
Tags: Andrew Wylie, Odyssey Editions
Historical douche bag (which should be a book, the hx of)
Anyone who looks like that much of a pussy and has a name like ‘The Jackal’ definitely gave it to himself.
Strangely enough, this looks like the kind of guy I would trust. He has that pen in his hand for me to sign the contract.
The Day of the Jackal is one of my favourite films.
The Roth book under the lamp? Indignation.
A serious question though: Did Random House and the others actually have e-book rights, or exclusive digital rights? It seems that they didn’t. Probably an oversight in not making a new contract as soon as e-books became a reality, and a possible assumption that they had them even though it wasn’t written in the contract. I don’t know. That part doesn’t seem clear to me.
Brian Eno was a literary agent in the ’70s?
Wasn’t there a similar legal hiccup when Columbia started releasing all those Seinfeld DVD sets without planning to compensate the actors? I recall their (Columbia’s) reasoning was that neither the actors nor anyone else involved had DVD royalties built into their contracts, and their hope was that in the event of a suit, a judge would read the contract as literally as they had. That was an issue of extrasyndication distribution (made that up), but it hinged on a new demand for recent technology over what syndicated reruns used to supply–here, it seems the authors or their estates are exploiting publisher lethargy in acquiring e-book rights so they don’t miss out. Random House’s disavowal has a “well…shit” vibe to it.
From my understand though, the problem here is not that the Jackal is trying to cheat the actual legal copyright holders, but that he is selling the rights exclusively to Amazon. Which makes me wonder why Random House etc. didn’t buy the digital rights before. Obviously it is wrong that Amazon has exclusive rights, but I wonder why these big publishers didn’t secure the rights themselves before hand.
Right, I didn’t mean he was cheating them–what’s similar is the big company’s assuming everybody is cool with what it’s doing–in this case, nothing–because it has a contract that covers certain formats but not others. (This is all speculation.) Whether Amazon should have exclusive rights is another thing entirely, and whether anyone will try to take those rights away regardless is a third thing.
So, at least three things.
It is interesting that Random House etc. don’t choose to pick a fight with Amazon. I mean, I wonder what sort of offer Amazon made The Jackal, or if it was the Jackal who approached Amazon first. The former would not actually surprise me as Amazon has a pattern of trying to lock people into buying books from them.
Historical douche bag (which should be a book, the hx of)
Anyone who looks like that much of a pussy and has a name like ‘The Jackal’ definitely gave it to himself.
Strangely enough, this looks like the kind of guy I would trust. He has that pen in his hand for me to sign the contract.
The Day of the Jackal is one of my favourite films.
The Roth book under the lamp? Indignation.
A serious question though: Did Random House and the others actually have e-book rights, or exclusive digital rights? It seems that they didn’t. Probably an oversight in not making a new contract as soon as e-books became a reality, and a possible assumption that they had them even though it wasn’t written in the contract. I don’t know. That part doesn’t seem clear to me.
Brian Eno was a literary agent in the ’70s?
Wasn’t there a similar legal hiccup when Columbia started releasing all those Seinfeld DVD sets without planning to compensate the actors? I recall their (Columbia’s) reasoning was that neither the actors nor anyone else involved had DVD royalties built into their contracts, and their hope was that in the event of a suit, a judge would read the contract as literally as they had. That was an issue of extrasyndication distribution (made that up), but it hinged on a new demand for recent technology over what syndicated reruns used to supply–here, it seems the authors or their estates are exploiting publisher lethargy in acquiring e-book rights so they don’t miss out. Random House’s disavowal has a “well…shit” vibe to it.
From my understand though, the problem here is not that the Jackal is trying to cheat the actual legal copyright holders, but that he is selling the rights exclusively to Amazon. Which makes me wonder why Random House etc. didn’t buy the digital rights before. Obviously it is wrong that Amazon has exclusive rights, but I wonder why these big publishers didn’t secure the rights themselves before hand.
Right, I didn’t mean he was cheating them–what’s similar is the big company’s assuming everybody is cool with what it’s doing–in this case, nothing–because it has a contract that covers certain formats but not others. (This is all speculation.) Whether Amazon should have exclusive rights is another thing entirely, and whether anyone will try to take those rights away regardless is a third thing.
So, at least three things.
It is interesting that Random House etc. don’t choose to pick a fight with Amazon. I mean, I wonder what sort of offer Amazon made The Jackal, or if it was the Jackal who approached Amazon first. The former would not actually surprise me as Amazon has a pattern of trying to lock people into buying books from them.
What is your opinion on the matter, Blake?
that wylie has founded his own publishing company is also relevant. he has distribution, via amazon, and can bypass the majors now. think about it: why should roth, etc. take just 10, 12.5, 15% of sale price when he can have more. publishers can barely market anymore anyway. and while electronic rights go through amazon, print can still be distributed in traditional way via publisher’s group west or someone like that. if e-books are already out-performing new hardcover trade, which I have heard, then traditional publishers are much less important to authors of the level wylie represents.
What is your opinion on the matter, Blake?
that wylie has founded his own publishing company is also relevant. he has distribution, via amazon, and can bypass the majors now. think about it: why should roth, etc. take just 10, 12.5, 15% of sale price when he can have more. publishers can barely market anymore anyway. and while electronic rights go through amazon, print can still be distributed in traditional way via publisher’s group west or someone like that. if e-books are already out-performing new hardcover trade, which I have heard, then traditional publishers are much less important to authors of the level wylie represents.
The last I heard was that hardcover sales increased dramatically in April: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/bookselling/adult_hardcover_sales_rose_49_percent_in_april_164848.asp
Ebooks still make up a small portion of book sales. Where did you read that ebooks outsell (which is what I assume you mean by out-perform) hardcover trade?
In April, ebook sales were at $27.4 million, compared to $142.9 million for adult hardcover. It’s not even close.
And adult trade paperback sales rose to $128.2 million.
Ebooks sales are about 1/10 of combined adult trade paperback and hardcover sales. Their share is even smaller when you include mass market pb and YA/children’s books.
Print is not dead. The apocalypse of book sales just hasn’t happened. The publishing industry is not mirroring the music industry at all.
I poked around a bit, and it looks like ebooks are outselling hardcover books on Amazon.com. Amazon sells the most popular ebook reader and marked down ebooks to corner that market, so that’s not surprising. This is not a trend that can be generalized and is definitely not indicative of the entire book industry.
Amazon also makes a killing off of ebook erotica, since there is considerable benefit to simply downloading erotica instead of buying it at a store. . .
Speaking of which, I think I read a story by our own R. Gay the other day. . .
Amazon’s sales rankings also go by quantity, not price. They force the prices of ther ebooks down, to try and get people aligned to their kindle. So many people pick up ebooks and just read the first pages, because they feel they can take the risk. I would be surprised if Amazon were actually selling more dollars in ebooks.
Amazon sucks by the way.
For whatever it’s worth, I recall Wylie from the ’70s in Cambridge, mostly from poetry events at the Grolier, well-nigh unnavigable get-togethers among stacks of paperbacks. He seemed okay, really; he cared about writers who mattered. He had very-small-press poetry of his own at the Grolier, & there were rumors about him, the usual rhubarb. Later on when he signed Ginsberg as a client, when for the first time the author of HOWL made real money — well, I had a lot of good feelings.
Yes, it’s definitely less in dollar amounts. Hardcovers are $16-$20, and Ebooks are $9.99.
Yes, I am not sure the publishers are not just trying to demonize him. If there is a culprit in all this, it seems more like Amazon.
The last I heard was that hardcover sales increased dramatically in April: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/bookselling/adult_hardcover_sales_rose_49_percent_in_april_164848.asp
Ebooks still make up a small portion of book sales. Where did you read that ebooks outsell (which is what I assume you mean by out-perform) hardcover trade?
In April, ebook sales were at $27.4 million, compared to $142.9 million for adult hardcover. It’s not even close.
And adult trade paperback sales rose to $128.2 million.
Ebooks sales are about 1/10 of combined adult trade paperback and hardcover sales. Their share is even smaller when you include mass market pb and YA/children’s books.
Print is not dead. The apocalypse of book sales just hasn’t happened. The publishing industry is not mirroring the music industry at all.
I poked around a bit, and it looks like ebooks are outselling hardcover books on Amazon.com. Amazon sells the most popular ebook reader and marked down ebooks to corner that market, so that’s not surprising. This is not a trend that can be generalized and is definitely not indicative of the entire book industry.
In guess I’m saying, insofar as I know what I’m saying, is that Blake’s right to be skeptical about man in those pics. He’s just a scenester, obviously. Now he’s playing a Warhol Factory boy, now a Wall Street Master of the Universe. But if his scene includes cutting sharp deals for the genuine article, for artists unclear on the concept of the bottom line — not so bad.
Amazon also makes a killing off of ebook erotica, since there is considerable benefit to simply downloading erotica instead of buying it at a store. . .
Speaking of which, I think I read a story by our own R. Gay the other day. . .
*Loath to…
Amazon’s sales rankings also go by quantity, not price. They force the prices of ther ebooks down, to try and get people aligned to their kindle. So many people pick up ebooks and just read the first pages, because they feel they can take the risk. I would be surprised if Amazon were actually selling more dollars in ebooks.
Amazon sucks by the way.
For whatever it’s worth, I recall Wylie from the ’70s in Cambridge, mostly from poetry events at the Grolier, well-nigh unnavigable get-togethers among stacks of paperbacks. He seemed okay, really; he cared about writers who mattered. He had very-small-press poetry of his own at the Grolier, & there were rumors about him, the usual rhubarb. Later on when he signed Ginsberg as a client, when for the first time the author of HOWL made real money — well, I had a lot of good feelings.
Yes, it’s definitely less in dollar amounts. Hardcovers are $16-$20, and Ebooks are $9.99.
Yes, I am not sure the publishers are not just trying to demonize him. If there is a culprit in all this, it seems more like Amazon.
He’s a bully.
In guess I’m saying, insofar as I know what I’m saying, is that Blake’s right to be skeptical about man in those pics. He’s just a scenester, obviously. Now he’s playing a Warhol Factory boy, now a Wall Street Master of the Universe. But if his scene includes cutting sharp deals for the genuine article, for artists unclear on the concept of the bottom line — not so bad.
*Loath to…
like
The Jackal is a bad B Willis flick.
He’s a bully.
like
The Jackal is a bad B Willis flick.
The old photo was taken by Gerard Malanga, poet & Warhol’s house photographer.
The old photo was taken by Gerard Malanga, poet & Warhol’s house photographer.