G'day
It would be nice to come in out of the dark, wouldn't it?
Since Fictionwise lowered the "geographic limitation" boom on us Australians, they've missed out on a lot of my money, and I've wasted too much time trying to find the ebooks I want. Books On Board has now shut us out as well, as has Diesel ebooks.
Apart from a few small publisher shopfronts, I think CyberRead is the only place I've been able to find the occasional title (and O'Reilly books via iTunes). Does anyone here know of any other ebook shops still open to us?
All those book sites, all those intriguing titles, and we're like starving kids with our noses pressed to the bakery window.
It's been maddening: to be part-way through a series and see the rest available on Fictionwise (let alone get "New ebook Alert"s about titles) then not be allowed to purchase them. Worst still, we're barred from Australian authors.
Instead of having my purchases neatly arranged at Fictionwise and Baen, I now have to spend extra time cataloguing them (thankyou Calibre), noting where I bought them and where they might be available to redownload. Fictionwise has already cut off downloads of some of the titles I purchased before the "geographic" shutdown.
I am unable to hold or read paper books, so I'm entirely dependent on etext. Please excuse my frustration: I really don't have the resources to hunt down each title through many search-result pages.
In the end, I've found that only the first page (searching for "TITLE AUTHOR ebook buy") will hold shops actually selling the title, but after visiting each one, I will be told that I'm not allowed to buy it. This is a real waste of time and energy.
There seem to be plans for better provision of ebooks to Australians,
but what do we do while the publishers/retailers put out press releases and talk enthusiastically about the future? Were we just supposed to stop reading for all those months while we've been cut off from the e-shopfronts? How many readers has this driven to grabbing a "copy" online, after hours of frustration trying to buy the damn thing?
What are our options right now?
Thanks for any advice you can offer. It's actually a relief to talk to other Australian ebook buyers. Running into all those "geographic limitation" barriers, I've felt like an exile from the world of books.
Clytie