Business

Superagent Wylie begins an e-book Odyssey

THE Jackal has struck — and Random House has struck back.

Superagent Andrew Wylie long ago earned the nickname “The Jackal” for his stealth missions to swipe authors from other agents with the promise of sweet riches he would extract from publishers.

Now he is stirring up a new revolution — by bypassing publishers and selling e-book rights directly to Amazon. His target: authors who have back-list lure. His vehicle: a new publishing line to be called Odyssey Edition.

Random House says the agent has now turned into a rival publisher — and it is severing all its ties with him worldwide.

Wylie told the New York Times yesterday that he planned to publish about 20 titles that had not been available in e-book format previously. The list includes Ralph Ellison’s “The Invisible Man,” Norman Mailer’s “The Naked and the Dead,” Salman Rushdie‘s “Midnight’s Children,” Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” and Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”

“The Wylie Agency’s decision to sell e-books exclusively to Amazon for titles which are subject to active Random House agreements undermines our longstanding commitments to and investments in our authors, and establishes this agency as our direct competitor,” said Stuart Applebaum, a spokesman for Random House Inc.

“Therefore, regrettably, Random House on a worldwide basis will not be entering into any new English-language business agreements with the Wylie Agency until this situation is resolved,” Applebaum added.

Random House does have a back list of some 15,000 titles that it offers via Kindle.

It has to be particularly galling to Random House to be drawn into a public feud involving Amazon.

When Apple debuted its iPad apps with major book publishers, Random House was conspicuous by its absence. At that time, it was seen as a sign that Random House did not want to upset its relationship with Amazon and its popular e-book reader Kindle.

It has been mutually beneficial. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” by Stieg Larsson, is No. 1 on the hardcover bestseller list as well as being near the top in Kindle sales.

Despite the growing success, e-books have been the subject of some behind-the-scenes tugging and tearing lately.

Paul Aiken, head of the Authors Guild, was complaining at the recent Book Expo America that publishers were being too stingy with e-book rights. When many authors signed contracts, e-book rights were an afterthought, if they were thought about at all.

Now, e-books are the rave and are expected to eclipse hardcover book sales.

Authors and their agents have been pushing to get a bigger slice of the revenue, arguing that since publishers are not saddled with expensive manufacturing costs, the profit percentage to the writers should be drastically increased.

Amazon has done e-book-only deals with a few original authors and a few limited authors in the past, but none has taken backlist sellers and gone directly to e-books.

Among the current Random House authors represented by Wylie are Martin Amis, Orhan Pamuk, Rushdie and the estate of John Updike. Wylie had skipped town and could not be reached. “He is out of town on vacation for the rest of the month, and therefore will not be able to get back to you before his return to New York,” said his office assistant.

Amazon did not return calls by press time.

Paper cuts

There’s been no word on when Boston Herald outgoing Editor-in-Chief Kevin Convey will arrive to take over the Daily News from the exiting editor, Martin Dunn, but already there are worries among the rank and file, especially among the Dunn loyalists.

The Herald has been under enormous financial strain for the past five years as its circulation dropped to 160,000 from more than 230,000, and advertising eroded. The paper was forced to do a series of forced and voluntary buyouts over the past five years.

Estimates on the scope of the newsroom cuts put the figure at anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent smaller today than it was in 2005. One source said Convey was known as “a slasher.”

The worry among some is that Convey’s ability to execute cuts and make do with less — rather than his news judgment — may have been the key attraction for publisher Mort Zuckerman.

Ken Chandler, head of Chandler Regan Media Strategies, a crisis management firm, the former editor-in-chief of the New York Post and the onetime editorial director at the Herald, said Convey was his No. 2 man as managing editor.

“He’s a very affable guy and easy to get along with,” said Chandler. At the same time, he said he is used to operating with a lean staff. The current Herald staff is just over 100 reporters, while the News, even after its latest round of buyouts, is still at around 300 people.kkelly@nypost.com