No Roger Zelazny ebooks? - Page 3

jgaiser · 07-12-2013, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teh603

Trust me, you don't know what its like having to cut off half the family, especially when a money dispute is involved.

Oh yeah.. My Dad ended up estranged from a brother and sister after my Grandfather died when they decided they weren't getting their fair share. Never spoke to his brother again.

kennyc · 07-12-2013, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Oh yeah.. My Dad ended up estranged from a brother and sister after my Grandfather died when they decided they weren't getting their fair share. Never spoke to his brother again.

And I have a similar issue with my sister, not about money particularly but the events around my fathers 'estate' was the trigger.

DrNefario · 07-12-2013, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John F

But the editing wouldn't be much work? You just need to OCR and compare the original (paper) to the new digital for OCR errors, and have them mark up things like chapters, bold, ... (I'm assuming this could be cheaply outsourced). Then you need to package it into an ebook (I'm guessing this would be a minimal effort). Sounds simple to me.

How much is your time worth? How many copies will you need to sell to cover that cost? (And will they sell quickly enough to cover it before you starve?)

Backlist books don't tend to get a big promotional boost on launch. They just sell in small numbers consistently. If it costs more than a little bit to produce them then it's just not commercially viable. It might be viable for a part-timer or hobbyist, or a crowd-sourcing pirate, but a regular publisher needs to keep the costs very low. Which is how we end up with the slightly shoddy stuff we often get given.

I am honestly in two minds about ventures like Gollancz's SF Gateway (which ought to be a perfect fit for Zelazny. I imagine they have at least tried. Gollancz do the SF Masterwork edition of Lord of Light, after all.) I've had some fairly poor books from them. Is it better to have a poor version of a book than to have no book at all?

I have considered the idea of setting up a crowd-editing website. A large number of people edit one page each, in exchange for, say, store credit. It might be possible to keep prices low, and generally improve the standard of OCRed books. I don't know.

Apache · 07-12-2013, 12:17 PM

My wife and her sister are estranged after the death of their parents. My wife was the executer of the estate and her sister attempted to sue even though the estate was being equally divided. The only thing that kept her from following through with the law suit was a clause her parent s had added to the will. Anyone who sued would automatically be excluded from inheriting and get nothing.
I think the reason that most estrangements, between family members, are so bitter is because of the feelings of betrayal.
Apache

HarryT · 07-12-2013, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

There are some out there including "Lord of Light". Just Google.

Would you be kind enough to post a link to a legal ebook edition of "Lord of Light", please, Ken? I've been unable to find one.

Thanks,

gbm · 07-12-2013, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

And regardless of that even, the fact that he put the "Please do not contact me..." on his facebook is reason enough to respect his wishes.

bernie

kennyc · 07-12-2013, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Would you be kind enough to post a link to a legal ebook edition of "Lord of Light", please, Ken? I've been unable to find one.

Thanks,

I don't think there is one. I've been hoping for ebook versions of Zelazny forever.

I've particularly been hoping to get The Great Book of Amber as an ebook, but no luck...

John F · 07-12-2013, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrNefario

How much is your time worth? How many copies will you need to sell to cover that cost? (And will they sell quickly enough to cover it before you starve?)

Backlist books don't tend to get a big promotional boost on launch. They just sell in small numbers consistently. If it costs more than a little bit to produce them then it's just not commercially viable. It might be viable for a part-timer or hobbyist, or a crowd-sourcing pirate, but a regular publisher needs to keep the costs very low. Which is how we end up with the slightly shoddy stuff we often get given.

I am honestly in two minds about ventures like Gollancz's SF Gateway (which ought to be a perfect fit for Zelazny. I imagine they have at least tried. Gollancz do the SF Masterwork edition of Lord of Light, after all.) I've had some fairly poor books from them. Is it better to have a poor version of a book than to have no book at all?

I have considered the idea of setting up a crowd-editing website. A large number of people edit one page each, in exchange for, say, store credit. It might be possible to keep prices low, and generally improve the standard of OCRed books. I don't know.

I can understand this. But I think the publishers should "S* or get off the pot". If they don't think it is viable, release it to the public domain, or do crowd sourcing, or something.

HarryT · 07-12-2013, 12:46 PM

In fairness to SF Gateway, they do actively encourage feedback of errors in their books, and they do fix them and re-issue the corrected books. Their current books are hugely better than their early releases.

I'd much rather have readable back catalogue issues from imprints like SF Gateway than no ebooks at all.

Calenorn · 07-12-2013, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John F

But the editing wouldn't be much work? You just need to OCR and compare the original (paper) to the new digital for OCR errors, and have them mark up things like chapters, bold, ... (I'm assuming this could be cheaply outsourced). Then you need to package it into an ebook (I'm guessing this would be a minimal effort). Sounds simple to me.

Could we get more of Feist's work done also.

Exactly. If the publishers don't have the resources to do this in-house, I wish they would contract it out to other companies and get that product out there. It seems like minimal cost / risk.

One thing's for sure; a work that is out of print won't earn them a cent.

Ken Maltby · 07-12-2013, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Would you be kind enough to post a link to a legal ebook edition of "Lord of Light", please, Ken? I've been unable to find one.

Thanks,

My post was in response to earlier posts that mention authors/publishers using the Pirated ebooks to have a starting point for their own legal ebooks.

I would assume that "Pirated" ebooks are by definition not legal copies.

What you find at the sites Google finds, are links to file sharing site files, probably updated often to keep ahead of take down orders.

Luck;
Ken

bgalbrecht · 07-12-2013, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrNefario

I have considered the idea of setting up a crowd-editing website. A large number of people edit one page each, in exchange for, say, store credit. It might be possible to keep prices low, and generally improve the standard of OCRed books. I don't know.

Distributed Proofreading does this for public domain books. Unfortunately, the logistics are harder to work out for large numbers of copyrighted works, especially when going through a publisher. When Walter Jon Williams self-published his backlist, he started with pirate ebook editions and then copyedited them, and for the few books he couldn't find in pirate editions, he offered print books in exchange for people scanning and OCRing them.

pwalker8 · 07-12-2013, 05:31 PM

Before we go too far down the jilted wife path, I would point out that the entire Amber series as well as several of his other books are available as audiobooks, so whomever owns the rights isn't adverse to making some money. I have Lord of Light and This Immortal as audiobooks as well, though Lord of Light doesn't seem to be available anymore. Since these books were from the 60's and 70's, it's most likely that they simply don't have it in electronic format.

kennyc · 07-12-2013, 05:34 PM

That's probably because the audio rights were negotiated with the print rights. It's the digital ebook rights that are being discussed.

bgalbrecht · 07-13-2013, 01:02 AM

The NESFA Press Zelazny collection was published in 2009/2010, over a decade after his death, so it must have been approved by his literary executor. I have no idea why that one was approved, but ebooks of his novels are not forthcoming (as far as I know, NESFA has never published any digital content, alas).

Still, there are other authors who died before the advent of digital publishing in the same predicament, like Gordon Dickson, Clifford Simak, Edgar Pangborn, James Blish. Do they just have lousy literary executors? In the case of Edgar Pangborn, his literary executor is Peter S. Beagle, who has not been noted for getting his backlist into ebook either. I note that Orbit/Gollancz's SF Gateway series seems to be picking up some of these authors, but sadly are not for sale in the US.

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07-12-2013, 12:17 PM	#34
Apache Readaholic Posts: 5,140 Karma: 90000000 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: South Georgia Device: Surface Pro 6 / Galaxy Tab A 8"	My wife and her sister are estranged after the death of their parents. My wife was the executer of the estate and her sister attempted to sue even though the estate was being equally divided. The only thing that kept her from following through with the law suit was a clause her parent s had added to the will. Anyone who sued would automatically be excluded from inheriting and get nothing. I think the reason that most estrangements, between family members, are so bitter is because of the feelings of betrayal. Apache

07-12-2013, 12:46 PM	#39
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	In fairness to SF Gateway, they do actively encourage feedback of errors in their books, and they do fix them and re-issue the corrected books. Their current books are hugely better than their early releases. I'd much rather have readable back catalogue issues from imprints like SF Gateway than no ebooks at all.

07-12-2013, 05:31 PM	#43
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,195 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	Before we go too far down the jilted wife path, I would point out that the entire Amber series as well as several of his other books are available as audiobooks, so whomever owns the rights isn't adverse to making some money. I have Lord of Light and This Immortal as audiobooks as well, though Lord of Light doesn't seem to be available anymore. Since these books were from the 60's and 70's, it's most likely that they simply don't have it in electronic format.

07-12-2013, 05:34 PM	#44
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,872 Karma: 118716293 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	That's probably because the audio rights were negotiated with the print rights. It's the digital ebook rights that are being discussed.

07-13-2013, 01:02 AM	#45
bgalbrecht Wizard Posts: 1,806 Karma: 13399999 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: US Device: Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Glo HD, Kobo Clara HD, Kindle 4	The NESFA Press Zelazny collection was published in 2009/2010, over a decade after his death, so it must have been approved by his literary executor. I have no idea why that one was approved, but ebooks of his novels are not forthcoming (as far as I know, NESFA has never published any digital content, alas). Still, there are other authors who died before the advent of digital publishing in the same predicament, like Gordon Dickson, Clifford Simak, Edgar Pangborn, James Blish. Do they just have lousy literary executors? In the case of Edgar Pangborn, his literary executor is Peter S. Beagle, who has not been noted for getting his backlist into ebook either. I note that Orbit/Gollancz's SF Gateway series seems to be picking up some of these authors, but sadly are not for sale in the US.

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