I am interested in getting into the eBook industry, but do not
completely understand how it works.  From what I can tell, electronic
rights are subsidiary rights and all the major eBook sites
(eBooks.com, Fictionwise.com) only work through the original
publisher, rather than directly contacting authors.  If I?m to start a
new site, I would like to both a) contact new publishers and produce
their titles as eBooks and b) contact current eBook vendors to sell
some of their titles (get redistribution permission of publishers
already selling eBooks).  To do this I need to know what the industry
standards are.  What would my typical contract look like when dealing
with publishers and other eBook vendors?  What sort of royalties and
time agreements are standard?

As a note, I thought exclusive rights would be in order, but eBook.com
has this to say:
 ?Internet Right means the non-exclusive right, in relation to each
Book, to market and sell the Book by way of the eBooks Service??  So
does this mean every publisher can have a different arrangement with
the eBook distributors?

http://usa2.ebooks.com/information/authors.asp

Any information would be great.

Thanks!

Hi

To know all about e-books industry please visit: http://www.openebook.org
The Open eBook Forum (OeBF) is a trade and standards organization
dedicated to the development and promotion of electronic publishing.

All About eBooks: http://aalbc.com/writers/ebooks/Allaboutebooks.htm 


http://www.prenhall.com/electronic_publishing/html/controlbar.html 
http://www.prenhall.com/electronic_publishing/html/toc.html

This book is a complete birdseye view of the World Wide Web, Internet,
and the technologies involved in creating electronic publications from
them. This book provides you with background information and practical
guidance on how to surf, view, and publish material for the Web, as
well as on paper. The explosion of activity surrounding the Internet
and the World Wide Web requires a sane, non-hyped guide to help you
navigate the sometimes treacherous waters.
eBook Sellers Directory: http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/ebook-sellers.html 

Seven Steps To Publishing Success:
http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/publishing-success.html

ePublishing Resource Center: http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/epublishing.html

Internet Sources/Vendors for Ebooks:
http://buildelibrary.homestead.com/Ebook_Sources.html

Regards
hnr

Hello,

It appears that ebooks.com, which I'll use as the example, works in
two segments: 1) selling ebooks and 2) publishing ebooks.

Regardig the selling of ebooks, ebooks.com is simply a bookstore, just
like Barnes & Noble. For the titles that ebooks.com sells, the site
has a nonexclusive agreement with the publisher of the ebook,
"Lolita," for example. This means that the ebook version of "Lolita"
can be sold by any ebook store.

Regarding the publishing of ebooks, this is a different field entirely
and I, as a book publisher myself, would be reluctant to enter this
business segment. Publishing ebooks involves negotiating with the
publisher of the physical edition of the book, "Lolita" for argument's
sake. You would have to contact the "subsidiary rights" department of
the publisher of "Lolita" and negotiate to buy the "electronic rights"
of the title. Electronic rights are just like any other rights a
publisher sells, such as paperback rights, merchandising rights or
movie rights (e.g. Houghton Mifflin, the publisher of "Lord of the
Rings," sold New Line cinema the movie rights of that trilogy.).

After purchasing the electronic rights, you would have to "produce"
the ebook. This involves editing, flowing the text into book pages,
designing the cover, encrypting the ebook against piracy, among other
laborious tasks. Assuming this is all done, you would then have to set
up an accounting system that pays royalties to the publisher and
author for each unit sold. You would in effect become a manufacturer
in addition to a retailer.

Considering how much is involved in becoming an ebook publisher, I
caution you to begin with just selling ebooks as a retailer, then
possibly moving on to publishing down the road.

Hope this helps.