Author name: Kassia Krozser

Random House Resets eBook Royalties, Misses The Point

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So, last week there were two big announcements in publishing. The first, of course, was the Google Book Search settlement, which received a huge amount of attention (a trend continuing to this week — it’s that big!). The second was an(other) announcement from Random House that they’re messing around with ebook and digital content royalties. Let’s put this another way: the week that Google effectively sets the royalty to content owners at 60-something percent (there’s a bit of math involved, so, for today, I’m rounding), Random House decides that 25% of net amounts received by the publisher should be the […]

Non-Traditional Publishing

Google, Publishers, Authors Guild Settle

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After years of to-ing and fro-ing, Google and the Authors Guild/Association of American Publishers have reached a settlement regarding Google’s BookSearch program. Yes. It’s true. For a mere $125 million (pocket change, really, for Google), the program is back on track and the publishing industry is ready to play nice with the world’s largest search engine. Whoo-hoo! Sorry, feeling a bit sarcastic here. First glance, it looks like a big win for Google. Yes, there is that $125 million, which is parsed into various buckets, including a good sum earmarked for the creation of a “Book Rights Registry” — something

The Future of Publishing

The World Without Borders

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Once upon a time, we lived in this lovely world where countries were separated by vast oceans and passports were needed to cross into new regions. Children like me imagined that countries were carefully cordoned off, fences or laser beams or something (land sharks?) protecting territorial rights. Now that I know it’s not true, I wonder how it is that we weren’t invaded by the Communists — it turns out they could have simply walked across the border and taken away our freedom. Territorial rights are these fun, interesting things coveted and nurtured by entertainment media. In some ways, it’s

The Future of Publishing

On The Dangers of Literature

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One man stares in the dark abyss of literary example and wonders if great stories truly lift us, or if they might lead us down the wrong path: I hope you are at least partly convinced by the power of my examples. Somehow, we’ve been sold a bill of goods about how literature empowers us. But the idea that great literature can improve our lives in any way is a con as old as culture itself. The University of Chicago’s Great Books course? Think Tammany Hall. “Willing suspension of disbelief”? Code for: distract him while I lift his wallet. The

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