• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login
  • Register

Publishers Lunch

The Publishing Industry's Daily Essential Read

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

Standoff Ends: IPG and Amazon Agree to Terms on eBooks and Titles Are Restored

May 25, 2012
By Michael Cader

Three months after Publishers Lunch first broke the story that independent distributor IPG and Amazon had not renewed their contract for the sale of ebooks and IPG-client titles were removed from sale on the leading ebookstore platform, we can report exclusively again that the contractual standoff is over.

IPG president Mark Suchomel confirms to PL “we have come to terms” and IPG-distributed ebooks have been restored to the Kindle store on Friday, May 25. Any titles that are not restored today should be available “in the next day or two.”

Suchomel declined to discuss what broke the stalemate, and said “we’ve been talking with clients throughout” the negotiations and “I think overall people are happy that their titles are up there again.” Suchomel told us the impact of the lost three months of Kindle sales was felt differently across IPG’s client base, in part dependent on the nature of the individual lists, even with some focused support from other etailers. In a letter to clients he notes, “I only regret that we weren’t able to make up for all of the lost revenue when your Kindle titles were not available. We will continue to work hard for every last sale so that all of our publishers stay healthy moving forward.” To that end, IPG is waiving its distribution fee on the next three months of Kindle sales.

In February, Suchomel indicated their position was a considered one “that we need to hold firm with the terms we now offer.” In speaking to the press, he said, “We’re not going to go back to them and say we changed our mind.” Since the original standoff, however, a number of other major distributors and large publishers like have agreed to revised terms with Amazon for ebooks, with at least some conceding an allocation of approximately 3 to 4 percent coop on ebooks, as previously reported in PL. At the time, Suchomel had wondered, “The big question is going to be, ‘are we the only, or are we the first?'”

IPG ceo Curt Matthews has written about the issues a number of times on the company’s blog. In April, for example, he wrote about how coop has “evolved into something entirely different : ‘Give us 4% of your last-year sales with us for co-op and we will do wonderful but unspecified marketing things for you. Otherwise we will take down all of your eBooks.'”

He’s also blogged about how difficult terms negotiations have become: “Now the agreements that certain eBook retailers insist on are draconian, multi-year, intricate; they have to be negotiated from scratch one by one; and all the parties to these agreements are rendered mute by non-disclosure or confidentiality provisions.” To illustrate the difficulty of such negotiations, he wrote in March: “Try this thought experiment. Your company has signed an agreement with an eBook reseller that specifies particular discounts and maybe also gives up some points for more discounts by another name, such as a co-op or an advertising allowance. You have committed to a non-disclosure or confidentially provision. You also have agreed to not give any competitor a better deal. Now you want to sign on with an additional reseller. This new customer wants to know the terms of your other deal, but you are contractually prevented from saying what these terms are.:

Suchomel said of the negotiation process, “I think it has made us better distributors, and better partners for our pubishers.” He wrote to clients, “I feel that the experience has clarified some things for us and our clients, and that now we are all even better equipped to navigate through this rapidly changing industry.”

Here are our main previous stories of note:
Amazon Removes Kindle Versions of IPG Books After Distributor Declines to Change Selling Terms
A Little More On IPG and Amazon
Two Distributors Do Sign with Kindle–And Pay eBook Coop

 

Filed Under: eNews, Free

sidebar

Primary Free Sidebar

Login


Forgot password
Quick Pass users click here to log in
Get Full Access
The publishing industry's essential daily read

Each Publishers Lunch Deluxe subscription includes full access to our searchable multi-year archive of industry news, a nightly email reporting 10 to 50 deal transactions, and our database of industry contacts, scripts, and posting privileges.

Learn More

RSS Automat

  • Hollywood Studios Are Using Force Majeure Clauses to Extend Book Options for Free During Writers' Strike May 30, 2023 WSJ
  • On the Staying Power of Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" May 26, 2023 NYT
  • Another Postponement: Publishers and Internet Archive Still Negotiating Judgement, Will Try Again for June 9 May 26, 2023 PL court document
  • Martin Amis, 73, Dies of Esophogeal Cancer May 21, 2023 BBC
  • Britney Spears Concedes Delay On Her Book: "It may take me a year, maybe longer who knows ... to share my story" May 20, 2023 Instagram
  • Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson Announced for Publication September 12 May 18, 2023 Press release
  • Penguin Random House and PEN America Sue a Florida School District, Alleging Removal of Books about Race and LGBTQ+ Identify Violates First Amendment May 17, 2023 AP
  • Thomas Coesfeld to Become CEO of BMG On July 1, Ahead of Previous Schedule May 17, 2023 Press Release
  • Hammesly Posts "Statement on My Departure From New Leaf Literary": "It was not my choice to leave, and I am heartbroken to learn that the publishing journeys of so many of my clients have been disrupted." May 16, 2023 Twitter post
  • Storytel's StorySide Buys Publishing Rights to Finnish Crime Author Seppo Jokinen's Catalog May 15, 2023 Press Release
© 2023 Publishers Lunch. All Rights Reserved.