99 Cents Book Offer_The Legend of Witch Bane

[sirbruce]

That looks like a proverbial "sloppy copy", yes.

[Neil]

Thanks Kevis for the pricing on the book! I have downloaded it and have read just a little bit but enough to see that the book is a definite keeper and I am looking forward to reading it just as soon as I get though my e-backlog of books here. I have not read enough yet to comment on the plot but just from my brief sortie I can see that you have a very good grasp of characterization and a smooth authorial "voice." There were only a very few formatting issues -- mostly the initial caps on a chapter (I have yet to see an ebook where the initial caps were done 100% well) and also you might want to redo the main table of contents which are not live links and which are formatted sloppy. Very minor issues there!

[KevisHendrickson]

Neil,

Thanks for letting me know the situation. Since I don't personally own a Kindle, it is difficult for me to know the quality of work that my publisher has done with the kindle version of my book. All I can say is that this is a work in progress and that I will keep doing all that I can to get things sorted out.

I also appreciate you taking the time to explain your opinion of my writing. As I said before, I am not perfect, but I did the best job I could to make certain that my book was something that I can proudly showcase to the world. My book isn't for everyone (What book is?). Yet, most of my readers enjoy my book and that means a lot to me. Hopefully, you'll find my book worthy of your precious reading time as well.

[KevisHendrickson]

Cherie Pie,

Thank you for posting the screenshots. I have copied them and sent them over to my publisher. I am hoping to have this matter resolved in a timely manner.

[CheriePie]

Glad I could help.

Perhaps you could also ask your publisher to nudge Amazon about fixing their system to allow people who've previously downloaded a book to be able to download updates to it that are published to the same ASIN. I know a few other people, including one self-published author, have brought this up to Kindle Service/Support and haven't really gotten a straight answer as to their future plans for implementing this, so it can't hurt to have a publisher pushing for it too. And if they get a definite answer back that they can share with us, that'd be great.

FYI, there are a few customer service reps that appear to be clueless about the situation (and seem to think it should work even when it doesn't), while others are informed about what's really going on and have their facts straight. Therefore, feel free to let them know I tested it again right before I posted this (with the Windwalker book I have) and yes, it still always gives you the book version available at the time you originally purchased it only.

There really needs to be a better way for authors and publishers to get updated copies to their readers. I had thought this was one of the big pushes behind ebooks back when they were first starting out.

Thanks!
~Cherie

[KevisHendrickson]

CheriePie,

You are absolutely right. I really wish Amazon would allow readers to download updated versions of books they have bought for their kindle. I'm not sure that the general public knows it, but most authors wince in horror every time they publish a book, wishing that they could go back and edit it.

Today's technology makes it possible that an author can revise his book after it's initial release. However, it has not yet become feasible to do so. The great J.R.R. Tolkien was infamous for being a niggler (an author who engaged in endless revisions). In fact, his publisher had to literally go to his house and rip the manuscript of The Two Towers and The Return of the King out of his hands just so that they could publish it.

I come from the same stock as Tolkien and spend endless hours every day revising my books so that I can give readers the best version of my book. Several of my author friends are exactly the same way, and like me, spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to constantly update their books. However, amazon's greed prevents them from letting you (the reader) download updated copies of an author's book.

To be frank, the only way you can get around this situation is to return the older version of your kindle book and repurchase it. I personally know of many authors who have begged Amazon to change their policy, but they have refused to do so. The only thing that will make amazon relent on their bad policy is a massive boycott. Unfortunately, as long as people are willing to play amazon's game, nothing will ever change.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by KevisHendrickson

You are absolutely right. I really wish Amazon would allow readers to download updated versions of books they have bought for their kindle.

Are you saying that you can't do this now? I thought you could already do this.

BOb

[David J. Guyton]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Are you saying that you can't do this now? I thought you could already do this.

BOb

No, Amazon won't allow it and here's why....let's say you are a writer or blogger or something, and you want to reach your readers with new content all the time. If you continually change the content available, and readers do not have to pay for an updated version, then you could essentially offer a free "subscription" to your content to all readers who have purchased one item once.

While IIII don't have a problem with that, Amazon does, and they don't want people to be able to use a loophole to provide readers with new content. Authors can submit updated versions, but only to readers who download AFTER the update.

Back on subject, I am in the middle of The Legend of Witch Bane and it is an excellent read. Certainly a steal at $.99.

[CheriePie]

Originally Posted by KevisHendrickson

To be frank, the only way you can get around this situation is to return the older version of your kindle book and repurchase it. I personally know of many authors who have begged Amazon to change their policy, but they have refused to do so. The only thing that will make amazon relent on their bad policy is a massive boycott. Unfortunately, as long as people are willing to play amazon's game, nothing will ever change.

I know, tell me about it! I had actually done just that one time myself, returned a book only to repurchase it again so I could get the update, but the price changed in the interim for one, so it ended up costing me an additional $1.40. No big deal really but it was the principal of the matter really. The fact that after waiting on hold for 5 minutes, I basically had to argue with the customer service rep to agree to even refund me, and made me promise I wouldn't "spread it around". And all that, besides being a huge time waster, actually cost me $1.40 for the aggravation, just to get an updated copy which really should be happening automatically to begin with!

I actually do wish there was more of a publish push behind this issue though, like there is about DRM which has a lot of people talking too. I figure, if anything, we've got a better chance of getting them to change their stance on this versus the DRM issue, you think? Though I definitely think it needs to be more the authors and publishers pushing for it over the readers...

[sirbruce]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I wanted to point out that Amazon corrected the downloads of both "Tha Hobbit" and "The Fellowship of the Rings"; this involves not just changing the filename but the data in the MOBIs themselves. People who download the incorrect versions, if they delete the bad file, will redownload the CORRECT versions.

So unlike what was claimed above, it seems that Amazon can INDEED do this. Perhaps only big name authors like Tolkien are given this consideration, though.

[koland]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I wanted to point out that Amazon corrected the downloads of both "Tha Hobbit" and "The Fellowship of the Rings"; this involves not just changing the filename but the data in the MOBIs themselves. People who download the incorrect versions, if they delete the bad file, will redownload the CORRECT versions.

So unlike what was claimed above, it seems that Amazon can INDEED do this. Perhaps only big name authors like Tolkien are given this consideration, though.

No, it is entirely tied to whether or not you are backing up your annotations and bookmarks to the Amazon site (the default is YES). If you are, then once anything is backed up, you can no longer download an updated version of the book (as all the locations could change and your backup would be bad). At the current time, the only method of doing so, once this occurs, is to return the book, sync, then repurchase. The sync in between removes the book from the Kindle, the repurchase then gives you the new version.

Which is only one reason many of us have turned off this "feature" permanently. Backup your .MBP files yourself and this problem disappears.

[sirbruce]

Haven't heard anyone with the annotations and bookmarks explanation before. It may or may not be true. But it's clear that the claims that revised versions of books can't be pulled down is wrong.

[koland]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

Haven't heard anyone with the annotations and bookmarks explanation before. It may or may not be true. But it's clear that the claims that revised versions of books can't be pulled down is wrong.

Stephen Windwalker documented it in his Kindle Guides (and has posted it several times, in various places). CS is often clueless about the problem, but will almost always assist you in the swap (if not, hang up and call again).

So far, what he has documented has held true for me (and several others on the kindleboards and the amazon boards), but there might be even more "gotchas" to watch for.

From Amazon's point of view, it makes a bit of sense. Someone looked at those saved locations and said "if we let them download the new version, their notes and bookmarks won't line up and we'll get a bunch of calls and complaints (and bad press); therefore, we'll simply save the version at the time of backup and always give them that one". If only we could have a menu item inside a book that said "update me" and then a warning if we had any notes/marks that said something line "warning, location numbers may change with a new version and existing marks may not line up with the correct references; proceed? y/n", then life would be perfect (at least in KindleLand) and we would not all have to keep calling back to get books swapped, for whatever reason we are doing so (often due to atrocious formatting or the publisher's inability to spell the name of the book correctly, such as Tha Hobbit).

Karen
http://booksontheknob.blogspot.com/

[RWood]

While slightly off the center topic of the thread, I should note that Fictionwise does allow multiple downloading of their books and I have even received notices from them that there have been revisions to books I had already purchased and downloaded.

I remember one book I purchased from them that had the wrong cover art (everything else was fine including the formatting.) I sent them an email about the book -- an FYI, not a complaint -- and they corrected the error, suggested that I redownload the book, and refunded the price (while leaving the book in my bookshelf.)

[koland]

Originally Posted by RWood

While slightly off the center topic of the thread, I should note that Fictionwise does allow multiple downloading of their books and I have even received notices from them that there have been revisions to books I had already purchased and downloaded.

I remember one book I purchased from them that had the wrong cover art (everything else was fine including the formatting.) I sent them an email about the book -- an FYI, not a complaint -- and they corrected the error, suggested that I redownload the book, and refunded the price (while leaving the book in my bookshelf.)

I have had the same, on occasion. As well, if they have been unable to get a corrected version of the book, they have refunded the price (and sometimes tossed in an ereader version to boot). One was Nightlife by Rob Thurman - the book was the correct title, but the author was Elizabeth Guest (it even had Thurman's cover page, in both mobi and ereader formats; this particular book has since been corrected). Another was a double book (maybe by Greg Bear?) with no author and no title in the metadata (and a few other issues, but it was readable), for which I really just wanted a fixed book at some point (they gave me a refund, let me keep the broken one).

Of course, with other readers, you can often correct some problems (at least, so far as you can see, they are corrected), as they will let you edit some metadata and it just gets stored in the MBP file (technically you haven't fixed the metadata, but for all intents and purposes you have, as you only see the corrected info in the reader; it's mainly the Kindle that ignores these corrections).

Of course, if DRM weren't an issue, it would be trivial to fix the problems, in many cases (at least for me and most in this forum, if not for the average consumer they wished they were reaching), although not in all cases.