MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Free story (Kindle, Sony, nook, no DRM) - When Antiphon Met Personal Demons [Fantasy]

ATDrake · 09-26-2010, 01:09 AM

Publisher incompetence, cluelessness, and whining are part of why I flat out won't buy at the $7.99+ most of them seem to feel they should get for products of potentially shoddy make and dubious keeping value.

I'm willing to open up and fix MultiFormat and even the few "Secure" books I get from Fictionwise for $3-6 after coupon/sale discount. I'm not willing to do that for DRM-ed stuff starting at twice the price. For that cost, the publisher should be doing all that work, and doing it in a logical manner.

It seems incredible stupidity to go and OCR newer books if a digital text file of some sort already exists, even if it's only the author's submitted manuscript that someone will have to proof against a print copy/pre-press PDF. Not to mention expensive and wasteful.

Although on the Amazon side, they really do need to work on their conversion tools and formats, if they're going to insist on exclusive Mobipocket and Topaz file support on the Kindle. So much room for improvement in both areas that it's not funny.

And while I like Tor for having a nice back catalogue which they've been working to digitize and commissioning new short stories from prominent genre authors that they may not even publish as part of their "stable" and putting them up free online, I also don't like them for unilaterally yanking the e-reader friendly downloadable formats of those stories they've chosen to monetize by selling them, now with added DRM and geo-restrictions, in the various stores.

At least the Hour of the Hunter fix gives people who missed the freebie version the first time around the chance to get it at no cost if that's what they want.

And I see this whatever-it-is as more as a thing that nets publicity for the affected authors who certainly aren't to blame for the original error or the spin being put upon it, rather than the publisher, so I'm okay with that, even though the mistake should have been caught by whoever produced the e-version in the first place.

Apparently no one bothers with pre-release quality control checking any more. But, we are offered their ill-made goods free for a limited time.

Two steps forward, one step back.

09-26-2010, 01:09 AM	#5
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Publisher incompetence, cluelessness, and whining are part of why I flat out won't buy at the $7.99+ most of them seem to feel they should get for products of potentially shoddy make and dubious keeping value. I'm willing to open up and fix MultiFormat and even the few "Secure" books I get from Fictionwise for $3-6 after coupon/sale discount. I'm not willing to do that for DRM-ed stuff starting at twice the price. For that cost, the publisher should be doing all that work, and doing it in a logical manner. It seems incredible stupidity to go and OCR newer books if a digital text file of some sort already exists, even if it's only the author's submitted manuscript that someone will have to proof against a print copy/pre-press PDF. Not to mention expensive and wasteful. Although on the Amazon side, they really do need to work on their conversion tools and formats, if they're going to insist on exclusive Mobipocket and Topaz file support on the Kindle. So much room for improvement in both areas that it's not funny. And while I like Tor for having a nice back catalogue which they've been working to digitize and commissioning new short stories from prominent genre authors that they may not even publish as part of their "stable" and putting them up free online, I also don't like them for unilaterally yanking the e-reader friendly downloadable formats of those stories they've chosen to monetize by selling them, now with added DRM and geo-restrictions, in the various stores. At least the Hour of the Hunter fix gives people who missed the freebie version the first time around the chance to get it at no cost if that's what they want. And I see this whatever-it-is as more as a thing that nets publicity for the affected authors who certainly aren't to blame for the original error or the spin being put upon it, rather than the publisher, so I'm okay with that, even though the mistake should have been caught by whoever produced the e-version in the first place. Apparently no one bothers with pre-release quality control checking any more. But, we are offered their ill-made goods free for a limited time. Two steps forward, one step back.