For a while now I've been regularly checking the prices of certain ebooks at the Kobo US store, but as of today those books have vanished. Yes, they were there yesterday. Though I hadn't noticed, and though they are by different authors, it turns out they are all published by Open Road (Open Road Media, Open Road Integrated Media). If I search for them on the Kobo website, they can't be found. If I click on the Kobo link on Open Road's website, I get sent to Kobo, all right, but there are zero results for the given ISBN. A Google search (still) provides links to Kobo, but again the books are either not found or there's a 404 error: "Sorry, this item is no longer available." Perhaps coincidentally, the titles in question are on sale today.
For example:
The World of Tiers, Volume One, by Philip José (or Jose) Farmer (a volume containing three novels from the World of Tiers series). On the Kobo website, if you begin to type in "The World of Tiers" in the search box, it even gives you the suggestion "The World of Tiers Volume One (Philip José Farmer)," but again "0 results."
Or another example:
The Queen of Springtime by Robert Silverberg.
Anyway, as you may imagine, I wonder what's going on. Can Kobo have decided since yesterday to remove these books? Has Open Road decided not to sell them through Kobo anymore?
Or is it just, as they say, me?
Here are the links at Open Road:
https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/the-.../9781504046015
https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/the-.../9781480418295