Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
This is totally incorrect. A book can be sold in whatever regions the contract between the author and the publisher says it can be sold in. The publisher may have world-wide publishing rights or it may have rights that are restricted to one or more specific countries. The publisher may have exclusive rights, or the author may be free to sell the book through other channels, too. These are not "unjust laws", but simply contractual obligations.
|
Not unjust laws, but certainly unjust behavior to the point of being immoral and unethical.
The digital ebook format, should have made things better, but in many cases hasn't, all down to corrupt and self-serving publishers, perhaps even authors.
Many years ago, before getting my first ereader, I used to have to order some books through a local bookstore (in AUS) from American distributors. Sometimes it cost a pretty penny, but that was mostly down to postage/shipping. Then several years ago, I started making purchases online myself from all over the world, especially from America. I bought a lot of books new and a good number secondhand from both American and Canadian libraries.
Then I bought a Kindle, and discovered about exclusivity and corruption.
There are books I can simply not buy now, in ebook form, though they are available in America. I can buy them in hardcover or paperback, but not in the ebook format, which is the only format I want now.
The publishers are playing games. They claim it is due to publishing rights, but where is the justice, when I cannot get the ebook, because of some deal with a company/publisher that doesn't do ebooks. They are not the same product, and just like profits from ebooks shouldn't be used to cover the losses of physical books, and thus drive up ebook prices artificially, they shouldn't dictate availability of ebooks.
P.S. Sorry to revive your old post, blame Victoria.
