Free book (Nook/Kobo/iBooks/Sony/Kindle/BoB) Napoleon's Pyramids

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by melmac

Yep I've noticed that some Friday Freebies don't even last the day and others are around for a few days, doesn't seem to be free at Kobo anymore either but is still available at Books on Board and the Sony store

It was free on Kobo at 7:30 am Philadelphia time 12/17/2011

[JSWolf]

What's up with the maps in this book? They look like they've been printed on a dot matrix printer with a worn out ribbon.

[melmac]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What's up with the maps in this book? They look like they've been printed on a dot matrix printer with a worn out ribbon.

Lol I think thats the first time you've made me laugh, Karma to you Mr Wolf

[koland]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

The limitation of formats vs stores is that some stores are automatically geo-restricted. Clued-in people know that Sony at present doesn't serve anyone outside the US/Canada (and in the future, the UK) unless they lie about their address.

Also, Christian Book has online reading and occasional non-DRM ePubs, so in order to best represent the books, one would have to check the individual listings, which could get tedious. (Not to mention the name provides a content warning for those who want to auto-skip religious stuff).

And then there's places like All Romance, where there's a bunch of formats that readers can pick from, but only one at a time.

Not to mention people may specifically want a version which autodownloads/syncs with their reader, from the store said reader may be attached to, and it would be nice to let them know that X is finally also available at Sony/Kobo.

A store-added update to the thread title provides exactly that info without their having to check back to see if that comment someone made was about a new store, or just unreadably bad formatting.

Personally, I do check the listing - for just reason stated. saying "christianbook" doesn't tell me if the book works on Kindle (nor if it is available worldwide - both items are in the details). Their books are mostly christian oriented, but they do carry other Zondervan and Bethany House titles which are completely secular (cookbooks, for example).

Saying "Sony" or "Kobo" doesn't automatically tell me much either, as both have geo restrictions that are quite onerous to get around.

Knowing it is an EPUB with DRM, though, is useful, as is "DRM-Free" or "No Geo".

As for Kobo - I only use them for the EPUB. If you let their readers or apps sync, they try to download every single book in your library, even if they won't fit into the memory available. And some Kobo books are not EPUB (or, at least, not useable ones), which is also nice to know and easy to overlook when buying (I think we've all been bitten, here).

For Allromance and Ellora's Cave, a format isn't really necessary (they are mostly DRM-free, although they do have some ADE books), unless you want to note the ones that are drm-free PDF only, as some won't try to read or convert those.

For those that want to know exactly which store, it isn't onerous to just read the thread. It's not as though there is enough room to keep putting every store in the title, any more than their is to note every single geographic restriction.

[dreams]

All of which is now totally confusing to me on what to put in the title. I just know that I read the threads, check for books that look interesting, stores that I know, and then I _still_ check to see if it is available to me. If it is - fatastic; if it isn't - oh, well, I will check again later. I appreciate those that take the time to post about their "finds" here.

I check the threads twice a day, so I know it doesn't take long to do so.

I would appreciate the help from both of you about what would be best to put in the title and I promise to try my best.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by koland

Personally, I do check the listing - for just reason stated. saying "christianbook" doesn't tell me if the book works on Kindle (nor if it is available worldwide - both items are in the details).

I don't bother checking DRM status except if it's a niche publisher who freebied exclusively @ CB, but do check regional availability there, probably for the inverse reasons that you do. DRM is easier to overcome than geo-restrictions (and their checkout seems pretty picky about which VPN IP proxies you use if you're outside the US and will block a "purchase" from certain common ones).

As for the other stores and formats, it would seem that store info (and knowing which store sells what) carries the automatic implication of most-likely region/format/DRM, details of which may be further noted in the update info, whereas the reciprocal does not hold true from format/DRM status alone. So while the title may end up more cluttered, the info it provides is more succinct and efficient in the long run, IMHO.

Originally Posted by koland

For those that want to know exactly which store, it isn't onerous to just read the thread. It's not as though there is enough room to keep putting every store in the title, any more than their is to note every single geographic restriction.

Frankly, I think a store-less format/DRM-based title disproportionately favours US-based Kindle users who can easily scan without opening to see if something can be made to work for their reader without much hassle, while people in other countries with other models have to do more thread digging to find out.

That said, for the more obscure stores, I do make a point of putting what format it's in if they're the primary outlet and it's not well known (eg. Copia ADE-ePub) and sometimes skip the store entirely (as for AllRomance's Xmas countdown) and I'd be perfectly fine with the 2nd+ duplicate ADE-ePub/MultiFormat outlet being noted exactly as such.

In any case, whoever's noting the updates can also note whatever information they feel is most important and should be included in the title, if they like.

It's pretty much a moot point once a freebie's been posted in any store, since anyone interested enough with a different reader will also go looking for it at their regular places anyway.

[Fbone]

It can be difficult to determine whether a book has DRM or not. It may be DRM free at one store but not at another. Amazon is even unreliable in this regard.

I thought to make it simple and easy for the poster was to have the major retailers, title and genre listed in title. If interested, look in the post for more info such as a description or other retailers. Isn't this what we have been doing? Are some unhappy with this?

Frankly, there haven't been many free books outside the KDP Select promos lately and most of those are former Smashwords titles.

[mbelec]

Thanks; just picked it up. Looks like a good Winter read.

[ATDrake]

This is now back to free @ B&N and Kobo, still free @ Sony and iTunes, and listed at $7.99 at Books On Board.

Grab it, grab it quickly in case it's a repeat glitch of some sort. Hat tip to the useful Free Nookbook Summary blog for the alert.

[carpetmojo]

Cor blimey guvnor, is £7-90 in UK !!

Think I'll pass thanks...

[ATDrake]

Guess what finally showed up free @ Amazon (available to Canadians).

It's also back to free @ Books on Board, but only for the ADE-ePub/PDF options.