random house

After entering into a landmark deal with Amazon.com last month, a well-known literary agent has backed off its agreement with the online retailer.

The Wylie Agency had inked a deal with Amazon that made digital versions of some of its clients' titles, including Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead" and Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man," available exclusively to Amazon's Kindle e-reader platform for two years.

The agreement was considered a landmark because it skirted the publishers of the books' paper editions and effectively offered more revenue to the authors or their estates.… Read more

Amazon.com's Kindle may be the most-popular e-reader on the market, but that doesn't mean everyone is happy with it.

Amazon announced earlier this week that it will, in fact, sell a Kindle version of "Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown's latest novel, "The Lost Symbol." The book is slated for release on September 15.

The Kindle version of "The Lost Symbol" was in limbo since Amazon first placed the hardcover version on its site for preorder. Its publisher, Random House, was concerned with releasing a Kindle version on the same day as the hardcover version. The company reasoned that with such a low price ($9.99 on the Kindle) compared with the hardcover version, which Amazon is currently offering for $16.17, that Kindle sales would cannibalize hardcover sales.

Random House's issues set the stage for what could have been a major battle between Amazon and publishers. Dan Brown's book promises to be a bestseller the day it's released. Random House might have had some leverage.

But after entering into discussions with Amazon, Random House announced last week that it had approved a Kindle version.

"Now that all of our security and logistical issues surrounding the e-book of 'The Lost Symbol' have been resolved, the e-book will be released simultaneously with the hardcover on September 15," the publisher announced. It didn't elaborate on what those issues were.… Read more