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Authors, Agents and Publishers Seek to Carve Out Their Rights in Electronic-Book Formats

The rapid growth in e-book sales and the increasing number of options available to authors for digital distribution of their works are altering the traditional business model of print publishers. The size of the authors' shares and traditional publishers' shares (if any) of e-book sales revenues may depend on where the Digital Distributors obtain their rights to sell e-books: from traditional print publishers, which of necessity are becoming increasingly focused on e-book sales, from new publishers specializing in e-books, or even from the authors themselves.

36 minute read October 27, 2010 at 03:28 PM
By
Michael I. Rudell and Neil J. Rosini
Authors, Agents and Publishers Seek to Carve Out Their Rights in Electronic-Book Formats

Three recent announcements involving electronic publishing sent ripples through the publishing industry. The first was Amazon's announcement that its sales of e-book units exceeded its sales of hardcovers by the second quarter of 2010, a trend that has reportedly continued.

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