Welcome to Wylie World: An Agent’s Bold Move Makes Sense
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When I originally heard about Andrew Wylie’s announcement last week that he was partnering with Amazon to create “Odyssey Editions” — 20 special e-book versions of modern classics by writers whom he represents that will only be available for Kindle and devices that support Kindle software such as the iPad, I thought:
This is bad news.
After all, at its face it seems to be exclusive deal with one retail outlet.
Here’s the thing, though.
As I like to point out, Kindle’s not just a device, it’s software that works on many devices.
What Wylie has done is take 20 great books that have not been available electronically and made them available to a pretty large audience.
Sure there are some people who are upset.
For instance, I suspect Wylie won’t be getting any holiday cards from Random House this year. And there’s a book store in Mississippi that’s making a big deal of this.
The only ones who seem to be taking a balanced, sensical approach to the whole kerfuffle is The Author’s Guild.
Is there any real difference between what Wylie has done and say, special editions for The Franklin Library or the Library of America?
Well, yes.
Wylie has created a series of affordable editions for a very wide audience.
Good for him.
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I have a Kindle and was disappointed not to be able to buy several of these books; good news for me. I don’t know why any Nook owner would stay up at night troubled by the need to buy a paperback for the same price. There are enough notable books from this era that are out of print and still protected by copyright; possibly a better target for anger.