Authors Guild Weighs In on Odyssey Editions, Warns Publishers to Raise E-book Royalties

PW: The Authors Guild has now weighed in on the intense debate that flared up last week over the Wylie Agency’s entry into e-book publishing, Odyssey Editions. In a memo posted today on its site, the Guild called the situation “the most important development in electronic publishing since Apple entered the market,” both celebrating the agency for seemingly monetizing e-rights it feels authors control and blasting it for setting up an exclusive deal with Amazon.

The Guild, however, stresses that this showdown was in some ways caused by the publishers themselves. Saying the houses “brought this on themselves” by refusing to raise e-book royalty rates above 25% — a percentage it calls “exceedingly low” — the Guild believes the Wylie Agency found a way to monetize rights publishers were sitting on.

Authors Guild Weighs In on Odyssey Editions, Warns Publishers to Raise E-book Royalties.