First announced in the fall of 2009, a settlement is expected early in 2010 for the lawsuit between Google and the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild. A final settlement will pave the way for Google to fully enter the e-book marketplace. As I've writen previously, this will be game changing, particularly as Google-friendly Android smart phones and tablet devices begin to take hold. Suddenly the landscape will include more than just Kindles, Nooks, and e-Readers and their accompanying proprietary e-book-selling solutions.
A recent Publishers Weekly article about the filing of the amended settlement noted that the overall financial terms specified in the agreement call for rights holders to receive 63% of revenue generated from their works, with Google receiving 37%.
Compare this to the recent New York Times interview with Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos in which he states that Amazon's e-book publishing platform for small publishers and self-published authors gives 35% of revenues to the rights holders with the remaining 65% going to Amazon.
Look for the already wacky dynamics of the e-book trade to evolve further in 2010.
And speaking of "Behemoths" -- that reminds me of one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite books, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Behemoth is the enormous wise-cracking, vodka-drinking, gun-toting black cat who is part of the Devil's retinue when the Evil One makes a visit to Moscow in the 1920s. (And if that's not enough to whet your appetite, the cast also features Jesus and Pontius Pilate.) We just released a stellar new version from Naxos Audiobooks, narrated by the talented Englishman Julian Rhind-Tutt.
Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Sr. Manager for Content Strategy
