While the ink isn't yet dry on the contract, I'm happy to say that it looks like I'll be able to keep my ebook rights and yet still have professional, traditional distribution for the audio book (selling the rights to Recorded books) and print distribution (will say more about the publisher once the contract is signed). As far as I know this type of thing has pretty much only been done by the superstars: Bella, Colleen, Hugh, and 2 novellas by Brandon Sanderson). I'm sure there are some really small presses that might let the author keep the eboook rights, but I'm not sure they will really move any significant volume.
I see this as a huge development for self-published authors. After all, traditional publishers are still amazingly good at getting books into bookstores, and libraries so being able to have them do what they do best, while still keeping your 70% ebook royalties really is having the best of both worlds. Here's to hoping that this will provide just one more chink in the wall that will allow other publishers to see the advantages of offering this kind of arrangement. It's good for them and the author...I love win-win situations.
