Sony Ebookstore Open to Canadians...

[ZaZg]

... well, almost.

I have made the mistake of entering a Canadian credit card on the Sony bookstore, and it now identifies me as a Canadian. Oh, well, I suppose I am.

What's the harm in that? Well, many books are now marked U.S. Only. I checked Sony's FAQ, and they state that "some publishers have not authorized the sale of their books outside the United States". So I went and verified that.

Case scenario:
Author: Terry Pratchet
Book: The Wee Free Men (Story of Discworld)
Publisher: Harper Collins
Marked U.S. Only on the Sony bookstore.

I went directly to Harper Collins web site, in the ebooks section, and guess what? I bought the book! (mind you, not in LRF, but I fixed that, thanks to ConvertLIT and Calibre)... and cheaper than what Sony would have charged me!

So the truth is: Sony doesn't want to sell some books outside the United States, not the publishers! Now, why is that, do you think? I can't figure it out myself... money is money, right?

[Ervserver]

Sony may have some sort of agreement that they can't sell outside the USA...who knows

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by ZaZg

So the truth is: Sony doesn't want to sell some books outside the United States, not the publishers! Now, why is that, do you think? I can't figure it out myself... money is money, right?

I very much doubt that is "the truth". Just because the publisher will sell the book to you, doesn't mean that Sony has permission to sell it to you. Why would they lie or limit possible sales.

Oh, and just because you're parinoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.

BOb

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by ZaZg

... well, almost.

I have made the mistake of entering a Canadian credit card on the Sony bookstore, and it now identifies me as a Canadian. Oh, well, I suppose I am.

What's the harm in that? Well, many books are now marked U.S. Only. I checked Sony's FAQ, and they state that "some publishers have not authorized the sale of their books outside the United States". So I went and verified that.

Case scenario:
Author: Terry Pratchet
Book: The Wee Free Men (Story of Discworld)
Publisher: Harper Collins
Marked U.S. Only on the Sony bookstore.

I went directly to Harper Collins web site, in the ebooks section, and guess what? I bought the book! (mind you, not in LRF, but I fixed that, thanks to ConvertLIT and Calibre)... and cheaper than what Sony would have charged me!

So the truth is: Sony doesn't want to sell some books outside the United States, not the publishers! Now, why is that, do you think? I can't figure it out myself... money is money, right?

Actually it's Sony following the rules and Harper Collins ignoring them. It's something you'll often see with British authors in that the Canadian rights stay with the British publisher while the US rights go to an American publisher.

If you look up "The Wee Free Men" on Chapters' website you'll see that the only edition available is published by Corgi. Harper doesn't have the Canadian rights.

[CraigMBeckett]

ZaZg,

You can get all of Pratchett's books (except the last action hero) from Fictionwise in a number of formats including LRF, they are US editions. Company does not care where your credit card comes from.

Craig.

[Barcey]

Sony is big on regional DRM on DVD's so it makes sense that they're careful about enforcing the regional publishing rights on e-books. I wish that electronic publishing would be treated separately and you would have a world wide right. I've run into the same thing purchasing audio books from Audible.

I suspect that the regional publishing rights issue was why Amazon decided to come out with a separate format for the Kindle rather then just using Mobipocket. It might be one of the reasons anyway.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by CraigMBeckett

ZaZg,

You can get all of Pratchett's books (except the last action hero) from Fictionwise in a number of formats including LRF,

They are indeed available from Fictionwise, but not as LRF.

[wallcraft]

I am not a lawyer, but I think there may be a legal distinction between selling a device (ebook reader) and its contents and just the contents. If Sony or Amazon sells a Reader to someone in a country, then the associated ebooks are going to that country and they can probably be sued in that country. If FictionWise sells an ebook, who knows where it ends up and perhaps FictionWise would have to get sued in the US if (say) a UK publisher objected to Fictionwise selling to UK or Canadian residents. Or am I completely off base? I'm sure FictionWise would tell you that all their sales occur in the US, and it is the location of the store that matters. After all, physical bookstores don't refuse sales to foreign credit cards.

[ZaZg]

Bob: « Oh, and just because you're parinoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. »

Oh, I know they are! I see them everywhere! And I hear them, too, they speak to me in my head through brainwaves coming from cell phones... ;-)

[ZaZg]

This has to be it reason. Like many before me, I wish Sony and Amazon just got together to create a reader with Amazonian features...

[da_jane]

It often has to do with author rights. If the rights that an author sold to a publisher are US only, then the publisher only has the legal power to sell withiin the US. Usually the rights, though, are North American, and then foreign rights can be sold individually or as "world" rights.

Some retailers don't always abide by those rights and do sell to customers outside the legally sanctioned area. It would probably be up to the author to constrain that.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by da_jane

It often has to do with author rights. If the rights that an author sold to a publisher are US only, then the publisher only has the legal power to sell withiin the US. Usually the rights, though, are North American, and then foreign rights can be sold individually or as "world" rights.

Some retailers don't always abide by those rights and do sell to customers outside the legally sanctioned area. It would probably be up to the author to constrain that.

The other thing to remember is that Canada is very much a special case: It's part of both North America and the Commonwealth. What happens is if the book is sold to a US publisher first they normally buy NA rights (US and Canada). If it's first sold to a UK publisher they buy Commonwealth rights (includes Canada). So Canada may not get the editions of certain books that people expect.

This is why Canadians see these rights issues more than many other nationalities.

[ZaZg]

The other thing to remember is that Canada is very much a special case: It's part of both North America and the Commonwealth. What happens is if the book is sold to a US publisher first they normally buy NA rights (US and Canada). If it's first sold to a UK publisher they buy Commonwealth rights (includes Canada). So Canada may not get the editions of certain books that people expect.

You're right. I had not made the link with ebooks, but I do know, for example, that in Canadian bookstores we get the UK versions of the Discworld paperbacks.

I was very surprised the first time I got a Discworld book from Amazon.com! The design is so different - I must say the British covers are much nicer.

[Argel]

Originally Posted by Barcey

Sony is big on regional DRM on DVDs

The understatement of the year. Sony are positively anal about DRM and regionality - regardless of the effect on the customer. This is the company, remember, that installed software secretly and illegally on people's PCs to prevent personal copying.

I vowed never to buy another Sony product after I spent $2500 on a Vaio, only to discover that it was hard-wired not to play my US DVDs.

I wouldn't put it past them to come up with something equally unfriendly in the sphere of ebooks in the future.