A month after jolting the book industry with a deal to give Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +0.37% Amazon.com Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq $317.24 +1.16 +0.37% April 16, 2014 1:19 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2.32M P/E Ratio 536.63 Market Cap $145.44 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $634,714 04/16/14 Starbucks to Move European Hea... 04/16/14 Alibaba Has Questions to Answe... 04/16/14 Why Alibaba Is a Big Deal More quote details and news » exclusive digital access to some of the country's best-known literary works, literary agent Andrew Wylie is largely abandoning the agreement.

The Amazon deal was struck after Mr. Wylie failed to agree to terms with publishers for electronic rights to his authors' existing titles. It was a notable step in the battle between Amazon and its two main rivals in e-books, Apple Inc. AAPL +0.06% Apple Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq $518.27 +0.31 +0.06% April 16, 2014 1:19 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4.90M P/E Ratio 12.77 Market Cap $462.31 Billion Dividend Yield 2.35% Rev. per Employee $2,163,820 04/16/14 Google Glass, Not Yet on Shelv... 04/16/14 Burberry Expects Currency Move... 04/15/14 Samsung Mulled Using Google to... More quote details and news » and Barnes & Noble Inc. BKS +1.82% Barnes & Noble Inc. U.S.: NYSE $18.51 +0.33 +1.82% April 16, 2014 1:19 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 497,633 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $1.09 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $186,367 04/03/14 U.S. Stocks End Lower 04/03/14 Liberty Media to Reduce Barnes... 03/19/14 Time to Move on: Sony Shuts Do... More quote details and news »

But Bertelsmann AG's Random House, which published 13 of the 20 titles at issue, had disputed Amazon's right to sell the titles in digital form. It boycotted new offerings by all of Mr. Wylie's clients, putting some of the New York agent's famous authors, including V.S. Naipaul and Dave Eggers, at a disadvantage.

The digital rights to John Updike's books will return to Random House. Globe Photos/Zuma Press

Random House will now distribute the electronic versions of the works to all retailers after Mr. Wylie reached a truce with the publisher and agreed to terms for the titles.

As digital books have become a larger part of book-selling revenue, the issue of who owns the digital rights to older titles has become increasingly contentious because many older publishing contracts don't specify them.

Amazon on Tuesday began removing 13 e-books covered by the Wylie pact. The titles, which will return to Amazon under Random House's control, include some of the most important works of 20th century American fiction by such writers as John Updike and Ralph Ellison.

Amazon and Mr. Wylie declined to comment.

The Amazon deal also included seven titles from other publishing houses. David Shanks, chief executive of Pearson PSO +1.05% Pearson PLC ADS U.S.: NYSE $17.80 +0.18 +1.05% April 16, 2014 1:17 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 798,337 P/E Ratio 16.73 Market Cap $14.32 Billion Dividend Yield 6.00% Rev. per Employee $188,508 More quote details and news » PLC's Penguin Group (USA), which originally published two of those titles, including "Junkie" by William S. Burroughs, said the publisher is in negotiations with Mr. Wylie, but declined to comment further.

It couldn't be learned how much Random House agreed to pay for a royalty on the digital books. "The deal points are confidential but it is essentially consistent with the agreements we have with other authors and literary agencies for their back-list e-book rights," said Stuart Applebaum, a spokesman for Random House.

Mr. Applebaum said that five of the digital titles, including "Lolita," are currently being sent to retailers, and that it is likely the other e-titles will be available for sale within a week.

It has become common for big publishers to pay authors 25% of net receipts on their digital book sales. The Authors Guild, among others, has championed a royalty rate of 50%, which many publishers are resisting.

Mr. Wylie's deal with Amazon in July sparked outrage in the publishing industry that the digital editions of such famous books would be restricted to Amazon for a two-year window.

Publishers have resisted filing legal challenges to authors or new publishing ventures that claimed digital ownership of older titles, preferring instead to negotiate in private. Mr. Applebaum said Mr. Wylie had several face-to-face meetings with Markus Dohle, Random House's CEO, and that the pair were then able to strike an agreement.

Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com
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