Quote:
Originally Posted by odamizu
I can see that happening, and would give BN the benefit of the doubt in such a situation. However, upon receiving reports of this from customers, I think the fair thing would be for BN to go back to the author and insist they restore the full version for customers who already purchased it (even if the purchase price was "free").
Imagine an author writes a long novel, then later decides to split it into a novel and a sequel. He then "updates" the original book with a revised version that contains only "Part I" and offers Part II as a sequel. Isn't this kinda, sorta what happened here?
|
Here's a real life author scenario. I'll use me, because it turns out, that is who I know most about. I wrote two short stories and offered them as a "package" in one purchase for 99 cents. Well, one of the stories had a lot of requests for a full novel. I never intended to write a full novel at the time I "sold" the short story. It was meant as a little short into one of my series and nothing more. Probably a year later, the current novel I was working on happened to fit that short story. That short story became the prologue.
When the Full Novel came out, I deleted the "short story" from the two-pack, made the remaining short free on outlets that allowed it and pulled it from the outlet that does not easily allow free stories. There was no nefarious deed intended. I have no idea if some feel it is unethical. As far as I'm concerned the "market" changed for that short story and there was no point in leaving what became the "prologue" up for sale.
Those who purchased it on Amazon can still access it, so far as I know. I have no idea what happens with B&N buyers. Those who purchased it on Kobo can still access their "old" copy. They probably can't buy the new copy since it's the same listing (It's free, but I'm guessing they can't download it as it probably shows as already purchased."
I did the best I could with a given situation when I finished writing a novel that happened to incorporate the short. I'm sure some will find it beyond the pale, but the technology today makes some things possible and I took advantage of that.