Roy Blount, President of the Author’s Guild has an opinion article, The Kindle Swindle, in today’s New York Times.
True, you can already get software that will read aloud whatever is on your computer. But Kindle 2 is being sold specifically as a new, improved, multimedia version of books — every title is an e-book and an audio book rolled into one. And whereas e-books have yet to win mainstream enthusiasm, audio books are a billion-dollar market, and growing. Audio rights are not generally packaged with e-book rights. They are more valuable than e-book rights. Income from audio books helps not inconsiderably to keep authors, and publishers, afloat.
Some people have protested that the Kindle is perfect for blind persons who want to hear a story and the Author’s Guild is trying to prevent access. But almost every book contract today includes provision for free Braille or audio versions of books for the blind. Everyone is trying to make printed material available to the blind. What’s at stake here is the author’s copyright and control of their material.
What the guild is asserting is that authors have a right to a fair share of the value that audio adds to Kindle 2’s version of books.
Read the article!
Related posts:
- Kindle on PC and iPhone
- Kindle2
- S&S Reacts to Objections
- Author’s Guild v. S&S
- Why Are Publishers Failing?
 | How to Write a Picture Book. Ebook, immediate download. $10. |
I certainly see the point legally, but at the same time I don’t think an automated computer-voice can ever really substitute for (or compete with) a nuanced reading by a professional performer.