Comments on: Macmillan Response to Wylie Exclusive Publishing Deal

By: Literary Agents Are Hanging Wylie and Odyssey Out to Dry « Pens With Cojones

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:09:39 +0000

[...] Sargent, CEO of MacMillian called the exclusive nature of Wylie’s deal with Amazon “appalling.” The Author’s Guild’s believes publishers brought this nuke (my word) upon [...]

By: eBook world rocked. Again. Honestly, it’s like a Rolling Stones reunion tour! | Solelyfictional

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:11:20 +0000

[...] famous for, and why Wylie is called ‘The Jackal’. HarperCollins condemns the move, as does Macmillian, while Penguin Books claim they don’t mind as much (of course, they have less to lose in this [...]

By: j. f.

j. f. — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:16:23 +0000

And here’s another thing. I can’t even find your email address! You keep it hidden from this blog. You don’t put it on your site. Even a Google can’t find it. You’re not interactive. You are out of date, a read-only outlet in a new read-write world. How do you expect to stay relevant?

By: Barbara Smith

Barbara Smith — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:57:35 +0000

“A basic tenet of publishing is that our function is to reach as many readers as we can.”

What a joke. Your agency pricing model established this spring has raised ebook prices to the point that many readers cannot afford them. So you should rephrase that to “A basic tenet of Agency 5 publishing is that our function is to reach as many wealthy readers as we can.”

I’m completely on Wylie’s side here, and happy I can buy these books for $10.

By: armco

armco — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:01:26 +0000

John,

I completely agree with your point about the limitations of exclusivity for the reader as, now more than ever, a consumer wants ubiquitous access and choice as to where to buy it and how to read it (physically or digitally on various devices).

That said, you say in your post:

“A basic tenet of publishing is that our function is to reach as many readers as we can.”

I would encourage you to bring your digital content to a new channel partner/etailer like Zinio, as we have a global ecommerce platform, http://www.zinio.com, with premium magazine and book content across languages, currencies and devices. We will offer up tens of thousands of illustrated books via our popular reading app come this Fall for iPad/iPhone and many of your peers are on board for categories such as cooking, children’s picture books, gardening, travel, house/home, crafts, and much more. What’s more, you can reach incremental distribution via a magazine consumer and utilize our marketing expertise to cross-sell or upsell not to mention make it interactive should you have rich media to include in the eBook.

I look forward to reading your next post.

Best,

Andrew

By: Macmillan CEO Criticizes Andrew Wiley in Blog Post « The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:24:56 +0000

[...] out. Macmillan CEO, John Sargent, posted this rather passive aggresive entry to the company’s blog earlier this week: I said I would write here occasionally, when I felt it was important to do so. [...]

By: Gladiators | Like Fire

Gladiators | Like Fire — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:08:21 +0000

[...] followed up by MacMillan CEO John Sargent, champion of the Big Six version of the little guy, with a public statement on the MacMillan website: I understand why Amazon wants an exclusive deal with Andrew. They have [...]

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 06:36:08 +0000

For the record, the reason indies can’t sell Macmillan e-books (among many other titles) has more to do with a deal being negotiated by the distribution company that we sell them through… it’s a pain for us, but at least one day we’ll EVENTUALLY have them – unlike these at Amazon that we’ll never have access to.

By: Hook

Hook — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:22:10 +0000

“our function is to reach as many readers as we can”

With respect Mr Sargent, no it clearly isn’t! I live in Australia and have consistently found that I am unable to buy ebooks from almost every online retailer that I’ve visited. Most are unwilling to discuss the restriction, but those who are willing say that publishers have forbidden it.

I gather that it comes as a result of existing contracts and the geographical restrictions included in them. I’m sure that’s true, and it’s more frustrating than I suspect you can imagine. However, for you to claim that your interest is to reach as many readers as possible is clearly not the case.

By: Francie

Francie — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:31:39 +0000

I agree completely with Richard Askenase, above. Macmillan couldn’t stop preening over putting Amazon in its place with the agency pricing model for e-books with Apple, and now Amazon has struck back. It doesn’t feel so great being told you’re not needed, does it, Mr. Sargent? I think it’s wonderful that an agent got the best deal for his writers, and if that means publishing with someone outside the Big 6 cabal, then so be it.