No ebook for the next Stephen King

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Spoken like someone who doesn't have all their capital tied up in the stone tablet industry.

Count yourself lucky, my Charcoal sticks and Ochre sales company (for use in cave painting) went bust when your Stone tablets arrived and ruined everything for everyone!

[ProfCrash]

Wow, he went from getting a special Pink Kindle 2 to delaying the ebook release? I am not a big fan of piracy but it is crap like this that makes it very clear why people pirate.

Twit

[morantis]

How do "books" work again?

[paulsalter]

i will be more disappointed if there is no hardback edition

[Elfwreck]

From Judge Gertner, Sony v. Tenenbaum (P2P lawsuit):

As it made clear previously, the Court was prepared to consider a more expansive fair use argument than other courts have credited -- perhaps one supported by facts specific to this individual and this unique period of rapid technological change. For example, file sharing for the purposes of sampling music prior to purchase or space-shifting to store purchased music more efficiently might offer a compelling case for fair use. Likewise, a defendant who used the new file-sharing networks in the technological interregnum before digital media could be purchased legally, but who later shifted to paid outlets, might also be able to rely on the defense.

Emphasis added.

Concurring opinion of Judge Marcus in Suntrust v Houghton Mifflin ("The Wind Done Gone" case):

The law grants copyright holders a powerful monopoly in their expressive works. It should not also afford them windfall damages for the publication of the sorts of works that they themselves would never publish, or worse, grant them a power of indirect censorship.

If there's no legit copy available, scanned-and-uploaded versions may be fair use. If they *never* intend to release an ebook, they don't have the moral right to stop people from reading it that way. Publishers who decide not to release an ebook format for sale are shooting themselves in the foot; they're removing their own ability to prosecute piracy.

[usuallee]

Some of you guys getting so worked up about this! Take a chill, folks. Maybe there isn't some elaborate conspiracy here. Maybe it's just waht King said -that he feels nostalgic for paperback books and want to release this one book this way. Nobody said all his future books would be released dead tree only.

This clearly ISN'T about maximizing profits - for one thing it's not King's style at all, and for another thing, if it was about the profits they would be releasing it in $35 hardcover format.

If you are interested in reading the book, why not just go with it? Take a break from the ereader and read this one book in paperback.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Wow, he went from getting a special Pink Kindle 2 to delaying the ebook release? I am not a big fan of piracy but it is crap like this that makes it very clear why people pirate.

Twit

Stephen King as author , has every right to determine when and how his book should be released. He has been a pioneer in releasing his books in electronic format. I think we should cut him some slack in wanting to do something different.
As to the piracy risk, King and Random House can afford lawyers and I expect the DOJ to weigh in against pirates big time once legislation gets passed.

[tubemonkey]

Never read one of his books and never will. Not my style.

[ProfCrash]

He has that right and I have the right to think that he is a twit. We are both happy. He gets to annoy thousands of fans by deciding to delay the release of his ebook. I gett o call him a twit for doing so. Others will read his new book for free because they cannot buy the ebook and download a pirated version. They don't have that right but what the hey, it is hard for me to complain when the author chooses to ignore a growing segment of the population.

JKR made a smiliar mistake for many years. I think she was a twit as well.

In sum, the authors can choose how to distribute their book. I can voice my opinion that they are twits when they choose to ignore the ebook market by not releasing the book. We are all acting within our rights. Everyone is happy.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

In sum, the authors can choose how to distribute their book. I can voice my opinion that they are twits when they choose to ignore the ebook market by not releasing the book. We are all acting within our rights. Everyone is happy.

Are you suggesting that "the right to do so" doesn't equal "the gods have spoken... you should shut up now?" That's just crazy talk! Everyone knows that "the right to do so" automatically negates the opinions of those who disagree with the actions of someone who has "every right to do something." Not to mention inherently giving the opinions of those who do agree with "he who has done something he has every right to do," the moral high-ground.

[ProfCrash]

I am a bad, bad, bad girl. What can I say?

Stephen King has gone from champion of the e-reader to someone delaying his e-book. I have no sympathy for him when this thing is pirated out the wazooo.

If people are willing to buy the hardback version or wait for the e-book version, more power to them. I don't read Stephen King so it is not an issue for me but I know that there are books that have been delayed that I just shrugged my shoulders at and ended up not buying. If you do not want my money on day one, then I have no reason to read your book.

I think you are a twit for igoring a portion of your fan base. It is doubly stupid when we all know that is going to increase the number of pirated copies out there and in the long run cost him some cash.

So good call. (thumbs up)

Twit.

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Never read one of his books and never will. Not my style.

I read the short novel "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" after I saw the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" It was truly a good piece of writing, IMO, and it got me interested in dipping my toes in some other "non-horror-genre" that he wrote.

So, I tried to read 11/22/63, and I think it is very badly written. I made it 1/3 of the way through. There was even a glaring editing mistake in a part of the story. Other people who couldn't put it down say it gets much better, but do I want to go to the bother of borrowing it again to find out?

[pidgeon92]

I would wager that the audiobook will be released the same day the book is. I've listened to his last two on audiobook, and will no doubt do the same with this one.

[Quake1028]

Son of a....This really puts me in a situation. I haven't bought or picked up a pbook since I got my Kindle a few years ago. Hmmm.

[Kumabjorn]

Perhaps it is a scientific experiment. By not releasing an eBook for a while, maybe they have some software that will count torrents to figure out how many pirated copies will be in circulation during the non-release time span?