eBook availability - modern fiction

[Lordy]

Originally Posted by Lordy

I was in exactly the same position as vaseline (I posted a few months ago) and in the end didnt buy anything because, having sort of made a decision on the hardware, I started looking at the books available and gave up. I'm a current fiction paperback consumer, one or two a week, £4-8 a time, and while I could happily entertain myself for a while rereading the classics for free on my reader, if I want to read a new book (1) I have to pay something approaching (or exceeding) the hardback price and (2) there's naff all available. What's the point? I'm trying to save space and paper but not at the cost of price and choice. (Bear in mind I'm in the Uk so Kindle not an option tho I dont know if Amazon is any better/cheaper). I've read all the "where to get books" posts in all formats and I'm in shock. Its like having an Ipod but only being able to listen to stuff from before the 70s and maybe 1 song in 1000 from now, but not one you'd ever want to listen to, and at 10 times the price. Am I missing something?

I posted the above in a different forum on device choices and got a telling off for changing the subject and having the temerity to question the joy that is ebooks. But it's a serious post and I'm keen for an answer. Regardless of the issue of DRM and formats and the like, actually there doesnt seem to be that much out there for me to read on any electronic device. I'm not one for blockbusters and chick lit, more the day to day modern fiction that you selectively find within the 3 for 2 new releases section of Waterstones and the like. I'm female, bright and british. That gives me a certain market segment when it comes to books that most of the dead tree book stores seem happy to cater for. I'm not a romance reader and I'm not a sci fi reader and I'm not american. I'm not making judgements here, I'm just trying to clarify my segment - the most comprehensive ebook sites are US and there's seems to be quite a lot of sci fi and romance ebooks around, tho maybe that's only because I dont know enough about them to make a judgement on the quality of what's available.
I read a book a week and have done for over 20 years. I've read the classics (some many times) and I read most of the modern fiction of the last twenty years that I wanted to read at the time it came out. Yes, I'm sure there's lots more out there that I've missed but really what I'm looking for is something that keeps pace with the general release of modern fiction in the Uk at a similar price to what I'd pay in a store/online, and at the same time. I did a quick comparison of my last Amazon order with Fictionwise as suggested by Harry - 4 out of the 8 books not available (and I couldnt find them on any of the other sites I tried, in any format) and the other 4 available at roughly the same price as I'd bought them (£25 in total, marginally less than RRP) provided I signed up to every discount opportunity going (club, micropay etc etc) so actually they were more expensive than a trip to Waterstones on 3 for 2 (tho obviously I'd have needed to buy 9 to max my discounts!). Certainly they werent the £3-4 Harry suggested.
A number of publishing houses are beginning to sell their own ebooks which is a good start but sadly they're RRP too. I can go to the supermarket and kill a tree buying the same book for £3.99, and I can then lend it to friends, and I dont have to worry about obsolete formats (tho I do occasionally find my friends keep them).
So, two issues - one, the availability of ebooks similar to those I can buy on the high street and two, the availabilty of those books at the same price (or lower) than I'd pay on the high st. Is there anyone out there that thinks they have the same sort of reading profile that's found a reliable place to get up to date ebooks at a good price ? (For the avoidance of doubt, sci fi and romance readers need not respond).
I really want to join the ebook club, I'm just not sure I'll have enough to read!

[Format C:]

Being honest and respectful for the law, we won't read what we want.
Our pirate friends, OTOH..................

It's unfair, but we'll get it when the "media industries" will be in 21st century (around year 2300, I mean).
Until then, let's keep killing trees or re-reading classics...

[garygibsonsf]

I'm a fan of ebook readers, but with lots and lots of caveats, the same ones you state and that others state. They're great, if you're into genre fiction, if you like a lot of American fiction, and if you don't mind screwing around with DRM-disabling software gizmos. I don't think they're anywhere near really becoming mainstream because they're deeply hobbled in what you can and can't do. What I say to people is: they're great, as long as you're a gadget-obsessed genre fan who doesn't mind going to an extra length to crack DRM or you're someone who's only really interested in out of copyright classics.

Otherwise, I very candidly tell people to avoid ebook readers like the plague until the industry smartens up. Right now for the average consumer - and I don't think either myself or most of the people who visit Mobileread are 'average' readers by any means - the machines are too expensive, only offer you a thin slice of the ebooks available (ie the ones your machine can read as opposed to the ones it can't because of DRM), and also only offer those books available that happen to so far be available as e-editions. Not only that, after a few days of browsing about and trying to buy books from various sites, you'll wind up either feeling like a criminal - because DRM is set up to make life as hard for the paying customer as possible - or you'll wind up feeling ripped off, when you realise many of the books you want to buy are priced higher than the hardback even when the paperback's been out for five years and costs a third of the ebook price.

In other words, the whole thing is a giant sodding mess. And although the Kindle is relatively very smooth in the US, I can't say for certain how a lot of owners in the States are going to feel in a couple of years time when they decide to get a different kind of machine and discover it won't read Kindle files.

If you read the previous paragraphs and still want an ebook reader, good on you. I really like my ebook reader; it's the best gadget I ever bought, I swear by it, but I've spent a lot of time on these forums learning by blood, sweat and tears how to get the most out of it.

If like most people it puts you right off, I don't blame you. I only bought one when I knew I could strip the DRM out of mobipocket books I legally bought in order to be able to read them on my Sony Reader. But mine is an older Sony Reader, so it won't read the DRM-ed epub files only available from the Waterstones ebook site in the UK. See what I mean? A fat sodding mess.

There is some hope - the UK publisher, Pan Macmillan, are selling their ebooks in a multitude of formats with NO DRM. And they're certainly in the habit of selling modern non-genre oriented fiction. Perhaps other publishers will learn from their example.