Gollanz to launch world's biggest SFF library

[DiapDealer]

Gollancz is lying. They claim to have the largest SFF library and they don't.

So, just who is the world's largest digital SFF library, then?

I think you're needlessly getting hung up on semantics, here. It's subtle, but replace the word "have" in the above quote with "be" and I think you'll see what I mean. They don't claim to "have"... they claim to "be." There's a difference. I, and most others, don't really care about the distinction, but it's there just the same.

"Lying" is pretty strong language, but whatever.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

So, just who is the world's largest digital SFF library, then?

I think you're needlessly getting hung up on semantics, here. It's subtle, but replace the word "have" in the above quote with "be" and I think you'll see what I mean. They don't claim to "have"... they claim to "be." There's a difference. I, and most others, don't really care about the distinction, but it's there just the same.

"Lying" is pretty strong language, but whatever.

Here, here, what Dulin says also...

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by elcreative

I do and I did... congrats, get life and look at something important when spraying "Ooooh, it's dishonest" about when a) you're wrong, and b) there's real dishonesty going on in the world for you to hold up your noble outrage to...

Oh, seconded, seconded........

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's not as if they have any choice in the matter; they have to obey the law.

Obviously a response that points out any restrictions are beyond their control and doesn't actually say they won't sell somebody a book is preferable to marketing types than telling potential customers they won't sell them something.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's not as if they have any choice in the matter; they have to obey the law.

Well, they need to respect their contracts. As far as I know, there aren't any international laws or treaties forbidding authors and publishers from entering into contracts where a single publisher has global digital publishing rights. For example, it's my impression that Baen has global digital publishing rights for all of its ebooks. I just hope that if Gollanz is going to digitize the backlist of various SFF authors from the 1940s to today, they contract for global digital publishing rights so that we don't end up with them being available for, let's say, the UK, Canada, and South Africa, but not available anywhere else.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by elcreative

I do and I did... congrats, get life and look at something important when spraying "Ooooh, it's dishonest" about when a) you're wrong, and b) there's real dishonesty going on in the world for you to hold up your noble outrage to...

Why be a jerk? Why is my pointing out Gollancz's deceptive claim any less important than your lauding of it? AFAICT, we probably could both be doing something more productive.

[QUOTE=DiapDealer;1671792]So, just who is the world's largest digital SFF library, then?

I don't know. But I know that Amazon has ~70,000 SFF e-book titles, as does bn.com

I think you're needlessly getting hung up on semantics, here. It's subtle, but replace the word "have" in the above quote with "be" and I think you'll see what I mean. They don't claim to "have"... they claim to "be." There's a difference. I, and most others, don't really care about the distinction, but it's there just the same.

"Lying" is pretty strong language, but whatever.

The part I object to specifically is where they claim to be launching "the world's largest SFF library" when they are doing nothing of the sort.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I don't know. But I know that Amazon has ~70,000 SFF e-book titles, as does bn.com

That's where our difference of opinion comes from, right there. I just don't consider Amazon or B&N to be digital SFF libraries. Do you?

Now if Gollancz were claiming to have more digital SFF titles than anyone else in the whole world, you might have a valid case. But they're not. They're claiming to be the biggest specialized e-library of its type. It's not deceitful and it's not a lie... you're just not interpreting it the way they mean it, that's all.

I can't wait for the largest digital SFF library to open its doors!

[elcreative]

Andrew H... jerk sees as jerk is...Amazon is NOT a publisher, B&N is NOT a publisher... Gollancz/Orion IS a publisher... if you can't/won't get the difference and are so hung up on the "library" word then I really feel that is your problem, not mine...

You may want to consider the Mirriam Webster extended definition of library as well:
Definition of LIBRARY

1
a : a place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but not for sale
b : a collection of such materials
2
a : a collection resembling or suggesting a library
b : morgue 2
3
a : a series of related books issued by a publisher
b : a collection of publications on the same subject

Seems 1a knocks out your retail examples and 3a supports the PR from Gollancz/Orion...

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I don't know. But I know that Amazon has ~70,000 SFF e-book titles, as does bn.com

I looked at the kindle section on amazon and they have 14,718 titles for Science Fiction and 16,253 for Fantasy and some titles might overlap. Did you consider any other sections to fall under SFF?

[Sil_liS]

Two other things:
1. I was looking at the website with the region set to Europe, and the numbers for the US are different (Science Fiction - 16,798 and Fantasy - 17,315)
2. The numbers seem to be increasing by the minute. Now I see for Europe Science Fiction - 14,724 and Fantasy - 16,334.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Seli

Basically a 'library' with selected good works with a good central interface beats the hell out of a warehouse that contains everything, perhaps buried under a complete mess.

The thing that makes Amazon stand out from all the other online bookstores is the quality of their interface. I'll bet on them to have a better user experience, and certainly not a 'complete mess'

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by elcreative

You may want to consider the Mirriam Webster extended definition of library as well:
Definition of LIBRARY

1
a : a place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but not for sale
b : a collection of such materials
2
a : a collection resembling or suggesting a library
b : morgue 2
3
a : a series of related books issued by a publisher
b : a collection of publications on the same subject

Seems 1a knocks out your retail examples and 3a supports the PR from Gollancz/Orion...

And 1a knocks out Gollancz as well, unless you think aren't going to charge for their books. What is your point?

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

And 1a knocks out Gollancz as well, unless you think aren't going to charge for their books. What is your point?

Actually it doesn't, I should have highlighted a couple of other words but as you missed it, try again:

1
a : a place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but not for sale points to Amazon and B&N not qualifying in this but the items are NOT mutually exclusive, they are a number of definitions for library.
1 does not replace 2 or 3, 2 is not superior to 3, they are dictionary definitions of the usage of the word in different contextual situations hence 3a does apply to Gollancz... oh, and THAT was my point...

[carpetmojo]

And how many SF books can Gollancz get on the end of a pen compared to Amazon ?

[elcreative]

Yeah, yeah... so it got sidetracked... just got p****d off by good news getting sidetracked by groans and grumbles... why do so many people see only a half full glass... we get news about lots of back catalogue stuff coming out and then, instead of being pleased that we're getting some of what we all want, attack those doing it...