Ray Bradbury Gives In, ‘Fahrenheit 451′ To Be Released As An Ebook

You’d think a science fiction author would be one of the first to embrace emerging technology, like ebooks, for example. But there are some holdouts. One of them has been famed Sci-Fi author Ray Bradbury.

I wrote about him back in 2009, mostly about how much he loathed the internet. Well finally, Bradbury fans can read his classic Fahrenheit 451 (aff link) as an ebook.

This article from the Guardian explains his US publisher finally talked to since into the author:

But the author has now been convinced otherwise, with his American publisher Simon & Schuster announcing on Tuesday that it was releasing the first ever ebook of Fahrenheit 451, a novel which has sold more than 10m copies since it was first published in 1953 and in which Bradbury predicts a dystopian future where books are burned and reading banned.

Read a little further and you’ll discover that Bradbury had no choice but to allow Fahrenheit 451 be released as an ebook:

The author’s agent Michael Congdon told the Associated Press that “we explained the situation to him (Bradbury) that a new contract wouldn’t be possible without ebook rights. He understood and gave us the right to go ahead.” With ebooks now accounting for 20% or more of sales, Congdon said, the digital deal was inevitable.

I’m guessing now that ebooks have gone mainstream it’s going to get really hard for authors to refuse to agree to ebook rights with their publisher.

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