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koland · 09-26-2010, 07:13 PM

Some of it is from iUniverse and a few looked a bit small as far as file size. I've not heard of any of them other than the Sherlock Holmes (but did the get the email from Bob promoting it). No worse than the Sony bargains page that now has started adding Smashwords titles in an attempt to appear fresh (and theirs is edited by hand, it isn't just a search). At least it isn't individual short stories being sold at a buck apiece, when there is also a collection available (which is generally a better deal, even at the overpriced $10 or so some thing they are worth as ebooks).

BoB is in a hard spot, since they don't have the deep pockets to compete on the freebies, they gutted their rewards system in order to get the agency publishers back (and frankly, why would anyone buy from them versus a larger and hopefully more stable company, if the price is the same at every store). The only thing differentiating the stores for the Agency publishers is how they handle returns (banned, except at Amazon, pretty much across the board) and replacements (which, if they do get them, works more gracefully at other places -- if Amazon had a flag you could check off in the management screen to release the old version of a book and get the current one, they would stop a great number of their support calls and one of my biggest issues with them). The big distinction now is how these guys handle your library -- and I've had books disappear from BoB (not all of them came back, either), Sony and others, including Amazon (here, the Agency publishers have caused problems by loading a new book under the old ASIN; although I still have the old book, the title shows the new book from the product page and it can be impossible to find the one I want, for a few titles). I suspect the few people that I've seen complain on Amazon of missing books are suffering from the same issue; the book is there, but now has a new title and author in the library (as if someone wrapped a new slipcover around it).

With any small ebookstore, you are paying premium prices, but have a much shakier foundation -- if that store is gone, so is your library (which is another reason to always make backups, even if your choice of stores tends towards the larger companies).

09-26-2010, 07:13 PM	#3
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,563 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	Some of it is from iUniverse and a few looked a bit small as far as file size. I've not heard of any of them other than the Sherlock Holmes (but did the get the email from Bob promoting it). No worse than the Sony bargains page that now has started adding Smashwords titles in an attempt to appear fresh (and theirs is edited by hand, it isn't just a search). At least it isn't individual short stories being sold at a buck apiece, when there is also a collection available (which is generally a better deal, even at the overpriced $10 or so some thing they are worth as ebooks). BoB is in a hard spot, since they don't have the deep pockets to compete on the freebies, they gutted their rewards system in order to get the agency publishers back (and frankly, why would anyone buy from them versus a larger and hopefully more stable company, if the price is the same at every store). The only thing differentiating the stores for the Agency publishers is how they handle returns (banned, except at Amazon, pretty much across the board) and replacements (which, if they do get them, works more gracefully at other places -- if Amazon had a flag you could check off in the management screen to release the old version of a book and get the current one, they would stop a great number of their support calls and one of my biggest issues with them). The big distinction now is how these guys handle your library -- and I've had books disappear from BoB (not all of them came back, either), Sony and others, including Amazon (here, the Agency publishers have caused problems by loading a new book under the old ASIN; although I still have the old book, the title shows the new book from the product page and it can be impossible to find the one I want, for a few titles). I suspect the few people that I've seen complain on Amazon of missing books are suffering from the same issue; the book is there, but now has a new title and author in the library (as if someone wrapped a new slipcover around it). With any small ebookstore, you are paying premium prices, but have a much shakier foundation -- if that store is gone, so is your library (which is another reason to always make backups, even if your choice of stores tends towards the larger companies).