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Ebook Publishers
Jul. 17th, 2006 06:51 amThe Good
Baen Oh, please don't let Jim's death impact anything! I respect the attitude that sparked the free library. Further, that philosophy has worked on me. I have tried out several authors on the free library that I would never have simply bought. But now that I'm convinced that both the author and the books are to be respected, I can and have bought the books. In fact, I am so convinced that I pretty often download (or buy) the ebook, and then buy a paper copy later. Early unfinished ebooks are especially tempting to me, since I often have serious trouble waiting for a favorite author to have a book come out. I'll even pay the exorbitant prices for the early copy. And then pay again later for the paper copy. And the first few chapters up for free on the website? Very addictive. I bought an ebook copy of The Paladin just last week by getting into the book from the first few free chapters. This approach is clearly working well on me!
The Bad and the Ugly
FictionWise. Sadly, Baen only publishes scifi and fantasy. My tastes are broader than that, and I went looking for ebooks elsewhere. My experiences were not the same. The ebook websites were, broadly, harder to navigate than Baen. For another thing, ebooks seem to come mostly in "locked" versions. These involve copious amounts of logging in and registering and getting codes. And if I change my mind later about what format I want my ebook in... too bad! I am dubious,and worried that at some point, the books will decide to lock me out of files for which I have paid. And the prices are exactly the same for ebooks as for paper copies! That was not true with Baen... what is wrong with these people?!
But I broke down and gave them my credit card... and they said that they could not give me the books. Something about security. Now, I'm in favor of security, but I strongly suspect that their "concern" is the fact that I gave them my full first name for use with the credit card, but my shortened (nickname) first name for use on the account name. I tried to buy the book on Sunday afternoon. They claim that they will get back to me (calculating the time difference...)earliest by really late Monday night, and very latest by late Tuesday night. I wanted to read the book last night. I am uninterested in potential books that might or might not reach me in three days. I told them to cancel the order in disgust. We'll see in several days how they react. If they try to charge my credit card, I will tell my credit card to cancel it, and sic my credit card company on them with copies of my transmissions. Bleh.
Baen Oh, please don't let Jim's death impact anything! I respect the attitude that sparked the free library. Further, that philosophy has worked on me. I have tried out several authors on the free library that I would never have simply bought. But now that I'm convinced that both the author and the books are to be respected, I can and have bought the books. In fact, I am so convinced that I pretty often download (or buy) the ebook, and then buy a paper copy later. Early unfinished ebooks are especially tempting to me, since I often have serious trouble waiting for a favorite author to have a book come out. I'll even pay the exorbitant prices for the early copy. And then pay again later for the paper copy. And the first few chapters up for free on the website? Very addictive. I bought an ebook copy of The Paladin just last week by getting into the book from the first few free chapters. This approach is clearly working well on me!
The Bad and the Ugly
FictionWise. Sadly, Baen only publishes scifi and fantasy. My tastes are broader than that, and I went looking for ebooks elsewhere. My experiences were not the same. The ebook websites were, broadly, harder to navigate than Baen. For another thing, ebooks seem to come mostly in "locked" versions. These involve copious amounts of logging in and registering and getting codes. And if I change my mind later about what format I want my ebook in... too bad! I am dubious,and worried that at some point, the books will decide to lock me out of files for which I have paid. And the prices are exactly the same for ebooks as for paper copies! That was not true with Baen... what is wrong with these people?!
But I broke down and gave them my credit card... and they said that they could not give me the books. Something about security. Now, I'm in favor of security, but I strongly suspect that their "concern" is the fact that I gave them my full first name for use with the credit card, but my shortened (nickname) first name for use on the account name. I tried to buy the book on Sunday afternoon. They claim that they will get back to me (calculating the time difference...)earliest by really late Monday night, and very latest by late Tuesday night. I wanted to read the book last night. I am uninterested in potential books that might or might not reach me in three days. I told them to cancel the order in disgust. We'll see in several days how they react. If they try to charge my credit card, I will tell my credit card to cancel it, and sic my credit card company on them with copies of my transmissions. Bleh.
