Amazon offers publishers a better Kindle deal in anticipation of Apple tablet

 

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Posted on 20 Jan 2010 at 14:52

Amazon has announced that publishers will be eligible for a 70 per cent royalty from books sold via the Kindle ereader, after delivery costs have been deducted. Authors currently receive about 25 per cent of the cost of an e-book, and much less for printed copies.

However, to qualify for this royalty, writers must make sure the price of the e-book is 20 per cent lower than the cheapest printed alternative, and it must cost between $2.99 and $9.99 (approx. £1.84 and £6.14). It must also work with some of the Kindle's more advanced features, such as text-to-speech, and be available "in all geographies for which the author or publisher has rights".

The announcement is far in advance of the date that authors can benefit from it, on June 30th, and it looks very much as though Amazon has made the announcement to head off a mass defection of publishers to Apple's rumoured tablet device. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is in talks with HarperCollins regarding an e-book distribution deal and has already spoken to a number of other publishing houses.

Analysts are split on whether Apple's tablet - if it actually exists - will be geared towards video or text, as video use requires a screen with a strong backlight while e-book readers generally have electrophoretic screens that don't use a backlight. The firm could, of course, use a dual-purpose screen with both front and back lighting so that it serves both needs, but that will likely drive the price up.

All will become clear at Apple's upcoming "special event" in San Francisco on the 27th, when the company promises to reveal its "latest creation". Also rumoured to launch at the event are a new version of the iLife application suite and the new iPhone OS 4.0.

Author: Barry de la Rosa