|
At the time of the Kindle launch, Harry, Amazon offered an ebook option to all of around 100 titles we had up and running. Our ebooks (and those of countless other publishers, large and small) were withdrawn without warning, explanation or option to coincide with the arrival of Kindle.
Although our paperbacks are still on sale at Amazon, our digital versions are not, and Amazon still excludes ebooks from houses without a US base.
The Mobi system was a loophole a few publishers and self-publishing authors managed to slip through and was -- as you so rightly say -- plugged by Amazon in September. We, like others, were unaware of the 'secret' back door (thanks for your tip, by the way) and missed the boat.
Letters to Amazon asking how and when houses with no US presence can get their titles into the Kindle store are met with the 'there are no plans' response from the company.
Cheers. Neil
PS: A similar situation arose some time ago when Amazon -- spotting the financial potential of large-scale PoD printing -- bought and developed Booksurge. It then told all clients that any PoD titles would be withdrawn unless the publishers turned to Booksurge for printing. While the battle was on, the major players pulled out. Amazon then turned a blind eye to small fry like my own house. Again, the comany remained tight-lipped about the whole thing. N
|