Amazon Kindle Gets Grabby with Book Rights

Jan 25, 2010

Amazon will now be offering Kindle self-publishers double its usual e-book royalties at 70 percent of the net price , but the rights-heavy deal turns Amazon into the publisher — without the responsibilities of a publisher.

Based on Amazon’s press release , the new option gives Amazon virtually all the major digital rights to the property, or, as Amazon puts it, “The title will be included in a broad set of features in the Kindle Store, such as text-to-speech. This list of features will grow over time as Amazon continues to add more functionality to Kindle and the Kindle Store.” In short, the Amazon contract gives the company the right to do as it sees fit with the work in perpetuity.

The traditional book publishing industry was wise enough to make “digital rights” standard in their contracts years ago, even before digital

Source: BNET

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Audio Book Part 22

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author JK Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard ...

Great American Stories: Ten Unabridged Classics

BBC Audiobooks America

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These ten classic stories from four of America's greatest authors of the 19th and early 20th century were selected for their literary importance as well as their dramatic oral qualities. The stories include Mark Twain’s "The One-Million Pound Bank Note," "A Visit to Niagara," and "A Mysterious Visit;" Stephen Crane’s "The Blue Hotel;" Ambrose Bierce’s "The Eyes of the Panther;" and Jack London’s "The Love of Life" and "To Build a Fire."

Harry Potter 1- 7 Audio Collection

Listening Library (Audio)

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Enjoy the complete Harry Potter series performed by the Grammy-Award winner Jim Dale. This complete, unabridged audiobook collection contains the following:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Poirot Investigates: Eleven Complete Mysteries

BBC Audiobooks America

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Two things bind this sampler of thrillers: the diminutive Poirot's deductive brilliance and his partner Hastings's obtuseness. The eleven cases here involve film stars, valuable jewels, and abductions as Poirot stylishly uncovers the truth. This is a thrilling short story collection by the master of mystery and the most popular author of all time.

The Patricia Cornwell CD Audio Treasury Low Price: Contains All That Remains and Cruel and Unusual (Kay Scarpetta)

HarperAudio

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Two great Patricia Cornwell audio titles for the price of one. All that Remains and Cruel and Unusual.

All that Remains:

A serial killer is loose in Richmond, specializing in attractive young couples whose bodies are invariably found in the woods months later –– minus their shoes and socks. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds herself tracking a killer who scrupulously eliminates every clue, rendering all her

forensic skills useless. This time it's her courage and intuition on the line in a race against time.

Cruel and Unusual:

When convicted killer Ronnie Joe Waddell is executed in Virginia's electric chair, he becomes what should be a routine case for Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta. But after Waddell's execution, everyone connected to him begins to die – including a member of Scarpetta's staff. When crucial records disappear from her files, Scarpetta comes under fire for incomeptence. Caught in a web of political intrigue, she must fight to free herself from murderous insinuations and threats to her own life. She soon finds herself retracing Waddell's bloody footprints, following a trail that might lead to long–hidden secrets deep within the state government. Either the truth will set her free – or unleash upon her a punishment both cruel and unusual.

Mark Twain Audio CD Collection

Caedmon

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"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." -- Mark Twain

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was the first American writer to capture the unique and colorful vernacular of his country's populace. Instead of striving to perfect any particular literary form, Twain strove to precisely imprint on paper the colloquial speech, mannerisms and experiences of the American people.

Twain's books earned him an enduring reputation as a satirist and humorist, but he also wrote great short stories. These stories, with their wonderful characters and witty turns-of-phrase, have defined in Americans' minds what it means to have been at a time in our country which was at once optimistic, exploratory and recklessly exploitative.

Listeners can still benefit today from hearing Mark Twain's stories and selections from his novels as they become again what they originally were: the oral history of our uniquely American consciousness.

Includes selections from Life on the Mississippi, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Roughing It, and The Autobiography of Mark Twain, and the short stories The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, The £1,000,000 Bank-Note, The Joke That Made Ed's Fortune, A Dog's Tale, A Story Without an End and many more.

Performed by Ed Begley, Sr., Walter Brennan, Brandon de Wilde, Will Geer, and David Wayne