Amazon offers indie authors reward for going exclusive

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

It can't be available for sale anywhere else.
Does Amazon require that download links for previous customers be removed, or is that just how B&N have chosen to do it?

Yes, you have to remove it. So download links won't work anyplace. It has to be just available via Amazon.

[latepaul]

I don't like what Amazon are trying to do in terms of exclusivity and potential monopolies, but I am not surprised they are trying to do it.

However I'm not sure you can blame them for another company removing a download link. I suspect it's just that B&N systems don't have a way to separate out "this book is for sale" and "this is not for sale but can be re-downloaded by people who already paid for it" and so to remove the one you have to remove the other. A re-download link only available to an account that legitimately paid for it, is in effect a digital locker and no different in principle to a Dropbox account. I don't think that can be considered to be distributing it because you're not offering it to anyone new.

If I were a B&N customer and my download link went missing then I'd be asking them about it. They are the ones I paid money to.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by latepaul

I don't like what Amazon are trying to do in terms of exclusivity and potential monopolies, but I am not surprised they are trying to do it.

However I'm not sure you can blame them for another company removing a download link. I suspect it's just that B&N systems don't have a way to separate out "this book is for sale" and "this is not for sale but can be re-downloaded by people who already paid for it" and so to remove the one you have to remove the other. A re-download link only available to an account that legitimately paid for it, is in effect a digital locker and no different in principle to a Dropbox account. I don't think that can be considered to be distributing it because you're not offering it to anyone new.

If I were a B&N customer and my download link went missing then I'd be asking them about it. They are the ones I paid money to.

The author's copyright means that they have the right to deny a place the ability to distribute their book.

I'm upset at the author for revoking the book license, not Amazon or B&N.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

The author's copyright means that they have the right to deny a place the ability to distribute their book.

I'm upset at the author for revoking the book license, not Amazon or B&N.

^This

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

The author's copyright means that they have the right to deny a place the ability to distribute their book.

That's true but the $64,000 question is whether the re-downloading of a book you paid for from a site who had the rights at the time but no longer does counts as "distributing". IANAL so I don't know for sure.

Suppose B&N took over Dropbox - or did a deal with them - and automatically created a copy of the file in your dropbox folder when you purchased a book. Would you expect them to also delete that file when the author removed the book?

ITSM that offering a book for sale and offering to keep an online back up of a file (which happens to be an ebook) are two distinct things, legally distinguishable. So it's not automatically clear to me that allowing you to still download your B&N books is "distributing" them and to my mind it's not. But again IANAL.

However in order for these two things to be actually distinct the B&N computer systems have to support it and it sounds like at the moment the author has a big "remove" button and it deletes the book from B&N servers altogether. If so the author of course has to use that button to fulfil their agreement with Amazon.

I'm upset at the author for revoking the book license, not Amazon or B&N.

I can understand that and if I were an author I wouldn't sign with Select. However I'm not convinced that an author can retroactively rescind my right to a copy I've legitimately acquired.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Suppose B&N took over Dropbox - or did a deal with them - and automatically created a copy of the file in your dropbox folder when you purchased a book. Would you expect them to also delete that file when the author removed the book?

...

I can understand that and if I were an author I wouldn't sign with Select. However I'm not convinced that an author can retroactively rescind my right to a copy I've legitimately acquired.

When you buy an e-book, unfortunately, you do not buy a copy. You buy a license to view the work. That license is rarely specified as eternal. I believe the boilerplate verbiage is that it can be legally revoked at any time. IANAL.

[ProfCrash]

And that is why you should back up all of your ebooks on your computer.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

And that is why you should back up all of your ebooks on your computer.

Sure. And I do, because I am paranoid about data loss. (My backups have backups!)

However, since I do have a Nook Classic that comes on vacation with me (or to the pool, etc., anywhere where eReader death would devastate me), I don't bother to sideload -- I just download over the 3G anything I want to read off my account at that moment. Having a book go *poof* is very annoying.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

And that is why you should back up all of your ebooks on your computer.

We had some contracts with a big company that was expanding several equipment lines in a small city. We worked on that job steady for about 2 1/2 years, so everyone in my company was in and out of that city during that time.

Anyway, the city had several big Gyms of the kind that you pay by the month or the year. At that time it was fairly cheap, usually about $150/year or $20/month. at any of the Gyms. There was heavy head to head competing between the different Gyms, all the time they were running specials. Either cost reductions or when you signed up, you got merchandise or coupons for restaurants. Sometimes they had a drawing for a free membership or a mountain bike. Those kinds of things. Of course the customers were benefiting though I think the owners weren't. Finally after about 6 months there, one the guys that we were working with at the company, not for us, came in one morning and said he had signed up for a "lifetime" membership at one of the Gyms, a local outfit. $350 up front. The Gym had 3 locations in the area, and the membership was good at any of them.
Everyone thought it was a good deal for that guy because he lived in that city and was likely to stay.
In another year that local Gym closed, the building and equipment was sold, and one of the big national chains that already had 1 location in the city took it over, closing 1 of the local Gym's 3 locations The lifetime memberships were worthless. They did offer 25% to 50% off for the next year's membership which immediately went to $200/year for those who had one of those lifetime memberships.

The point is when you are looking at the book business, you have to look not only at the companies you like, and the companies that give you the best deal, but also the company that is most likely to stay in business.

My bet is on AMAZON, as a reader and an "occasional author."

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by latepaul

I can understand that and if I were an author I wouldn't sign with Select. However I'm not convinced that an author can retroactively rescind my right to a copy I've legitimately acquired.

Unfortunately, they can. The purchase terms make it clear that you are buying a temporary, revocable-at-will license. You are not purchasing the book as you do when you buy a pbook. This is one of the major distinctions between pbooks and ebooks and a major basis for complaints about ebooks.

Have you (i.e., "you" generally, not "you" latepaul) forgotten so quickly Amazon's deletion of the Orwell ebook from Kindles. Amazon was within its rights to do so, even if it was a PR disaster.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Unfortunately, they can. The purchase terms make it clear that you are buying a temporary, revocable-at-will license. You are not purchasing the book as you do when you buy a pbook. This is one of the major distinctions between pbooks and ebooks and a major basis for complaints about ebooks.

I wish it was easier to find the TOS that says so, though. I wanted to link to it, but after crawling around B&N for 30 minutes, I gave up.

But, yes, you are correct.

[stonetools]

The point is when you are looking at the book business, you have to look not only at the companies you like, and the companies that give you the best deal, but also the company that is most likely to stay in business.

My bet is on AMAZON, as a reader and an "occasional author."

That's some realism right there. Of all the players, I'm about 95 per cent confident that Apple will be around 5 years from now, about 80 per cent confident in Amazon and about 60 per cent confident in BN . I wouldn't give even odds for any of the rest.

[stonetools]

Use of Digital Content. Upon your download of Digital Content and payment of any applicable fees (including applicable taxes), the Content Provider grants you a non-exclusive right to view, use, and display such Digital Content an unlimited number of times, solely on the Kindle or a Reading Application or as otherwise permitted as part of the Service, solely on the number of Kindles or Other Devices specified in the Kindle Store, and solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Digital Content is licensed, not sold, to you by the Content Provider. The Content Provider may include additional terms for use within its Digital Content. Those terms will also apply, but this Agreement will govern in the event of a conflict. Some Digital Content, such as Periodicals, may not be available to you through Reading Applications.

AMAZON TOS

[stonetools]

I'm upset at the author for revoking the book license, not Amazon or B&N.
__________________

In the end, its a business decision. The author's ultimate priority is to put food on her table and shoes on her children's feet, not to satisfy some Internet person's idea of "openness".
If you want to be mad at anything, be mad that Amazon's competitors cant offer the kind of incentives that would enable an author to turn down Amazon's deal .

[DiapDealer]

If you want to be mad at anything, be mad that Amazon's competitors cant offer the kind of incentives that would enable an author to turn down Amazon's deal .

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful?