J.K. Rowling Wants No Part of E-Books (At Least for Now)

Have you wondered why certain books, many of them classics and huge bestsellers, are not available in e-book format? There are lots of reasons, actually, and not all of them have something to do with the bottom lines of the authors and publishers. The same thing happens in the music business, as Beatles fans who have searched for Beatles music online know well, but I was a bit surprised that so many writers are resistant to the idea of their work being published electronically.

Yahoo News discusses the situation in this article by Hillel Italie.

Many authors complain that the common 25% of net receipts royalty rate is simply too little for a product whose production cost is so minimal (the rate varies slightly from publisher to publisher). They would like to see that rate changed to 50% of net proceeds, doubling the royalty rate that was set eight years ago.

Big holdouts include J.K. Rowling who does not believe in e-books and prefers to see her work remain in paper format only. Other, now classic works, are also missing from the various electronic bookstores: Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Catch-22 and even Atlas Shrugged, among them.

The folks in charge of Ayn Rand's publishing rights might want to rethink that limitation considering the renewed interest in her work that the Great Recession of 2009 has created.

Read the article - it's interesting.