Ensuring eBooks are Publisher Authorised

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Also Lois McMaster Bujold. She had the covers redone.

I suspect that is because the original cover was provided by the publishing house, so it does not revert to the Author.
(IMHO many of those covers are a poor replacement )

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But what's the justification for new eBooks not to have covers?

They cost a lot. Potentially.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But what's the justification for new eBooks not to have covers?

Originally Posted by Quoth

They cost a lot. Potentially.

Artist have to be paid. They do not make a cover for books for free. They need to eat too.
I am in retail and I do do some minor things for free, but I get people in all the time who expect me to work on their jewelry for free. The ones I really love are the ones who say " all you have to do is......" My standard answer is can you you do it?
Apache

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

They cost a lot. Potentially.

So they charge almost the same and sometimes more for the eBook and we don't get the proper cover. Why are people who read eBooks treated like 2nd class citizens?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why are people who read eBooks treated like 2nd class citizens?

There is no context in which this does not come across as extremely silly. Not to mention potentially offensive to those who can actually lay claim to being treated as such.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Quoth

And the cover rights are often the original publisher, so original covers unavailable on ebooks or even a reprint by a new publisher.

It's a matter of what was the original contract for the cover art for the book, which is between the artist and the publisher. I'm pretty sure the copyright stays with the artist, which is why some of the more famous cover artists have stand alone books with various cover art they have done.

Roger Zelazny's Amber books are going through the second version as ebooks, each with different book covers, none of which were the original covers. The new covers are much nicer, IMPO. Both versions are available on Amazon, both by the same publisher (amber, inc). I made the mistake of buying the first book of the new version because it was advertised as the omnibus version.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The only places I've seen illegal eBooks being sold is from Amazon, Smashwords, and any shop where they sell eBooks from Smashwords.

Because Amazon and Smashwords allow self-published eBooks to be uploaded and sold, some people do this with eBooks they don't have the rights to.

Yes, exactly. I was stung buying 3 Kindle books from Amazon some years ago. The Harper Hall trilogy by Anne McCaffrey.

I never read the reviews, as I was familiar with the books and simply wanted to re-read them. I didn't take a "look inside" as it never occurred to me that Amazon wouldn't have some kind of vetting procedure so that illegal copies weren't uploaded.

And while Amazon has a return policy, I didn't actually get around to reading them until my Kindle Oasis 2 arrived, about a year after the purchase.

As to how I'm quite certain they are pirate copies?

Well, how often do you see a legit, still under copyright ebook that has NO COPYRIGHT STATEMENT and NO PUBLISHER INFO within? That and all three books had an absolutely obscene amount of typos, which is why I was looking for the publisher information, as I wanted to complain!

It still bugs me to this day that I put money in the hands of a book pirate!

[haertig]

Bottom line: It's not a problem that I can fix. I buy my eBooks for places that I assume are reputable (which is Amazon for me, 95% of the time). And I rent them from places that I assume are reputable as well (my local libraries via Overdrive). And I do not do further research beyond that to prove to myself that what I buy/rent this way is legit or not.

In the last few months I have checked out two library books that certainly seemed a little suspicious. They had covers (only visible after I downloaded them, not when I checked them out) that were generated by Calibre. This was obvious to me since I generate books covers this way myself, for self-created PDF files and stuff. There's nothing wrong with using Calibre to author your eBooks, but I doubt many big name authors do it this way. While I can't remember the titles of the books with these suspect covers, I know they were from bigger name authors ... because that's the only books that my libraries seem to carry. They don't have obscure, unknown authors (that's one of my gripes about libraries actually - they tend to stick to standard fare, popular stuff). Oh, and now I remember that I had another Overdrive checked out book that had a cover that said "Microsoft" (this was a fiction novel, not a textbook). Huh? What was that? Seemed a bit suspicious too.

But who am I to know or judge? Microsoft may indeed have some eBook generating software that is commonly used by authors. And other authors may indeed use Calibre to create their eBooks. And it may be normal practice for some authors to not worry about creating more standard looking book covers. All's I know is that my library's Overdrive website should not be considered a pirate website for me to shun. If I can't trust that, and I can't trust Amazon, then where else would be considered a more trusted source to get eBooks from?

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by graycyn

Yes, exactly. I was stung buying 3 Kindle books from Amazon some years ago. The Harper Hall trilogy by Anne McCaffrey.

I never read the reviews, as I was familiar with the books and simply wanted to re-read them. I didn't take a "look inside" as it never occurred to me that Amazon wouldn't have some kind of vetting procedure so that illegal copies weren't uploaded.

And while Amazon has a return policy, I didn't actually get around to reading them until my Kindle Oasis 2 arrived, about a year after the purchase.

As to how I'm quite certain they are pirate copies?

Well, how often do you see a legit, still under copyright ebook that has NO COPYRIGHT STATEMENT and NO PUBLISHER INFO within? That and all three books had an absolutely obscene amount of typos, which is why I was looking for the publisher information, as I wanted to complain!

It still bugs me to this day that I put money in the hands of a book pirate!

As I recall, there was a lot of confusion about some of the Dragonrider of Pern books prior to around 5 years ago. The Harper Hall books were available in the UK, but not the US. Del Ray seems to have the rights to a number of the Dragonrider books, while Transworld (a Penguin company) has the Harper Hall books. I got the Dragonrider omnibus book (Dragonrider, Dragon Flight and White Dragon) fairly early on.

Really, when dealing with books by dead authors, it can be a hit or miss thing. It just depends on if there is a legit version out there and if the copyright holder keeps an eye on the major ebook stores. The only way to be sure is to contact the copyright holder, something that can be difficult to do with a number of books. I think it's fair to assume that a book from Amazon or Apple are legit unless it's obvious something isn't right, such as the publisher listed not being recognize. I generally at least google the publishers that I don't recognize before buying a book.

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by sempiter

Hello everybody. This is my first post here, so please accept my apologies for any breaches of forum etiquette.

So let's start. I have bought a lot of eBooks and many come with DRM. Although I'm not especially keen on DRM, I /do/ understand that publishers would like to prevent unauthorised copying of their content.

However, I would also like a measure of reassurance and I'm not absolutely sure that common types of DRM provide it. More specifically, I would like to know that the books I buy are genuine publisher authorised copies. How can I establish that this is the case?

Please note that I only buy eBooks from booksellers that are, as far as I know, reputable. But there is an element of trust involved. Suppose, for the sake of argument, that unauthorised copies end up being distributed by the bookseller, either on purpose or by accident. It's clearly important for both the publisher and book buyer that this doesn't happen. How can I know this is indeed not happening?

Thank you!

There is no guarantee that what you are buying is copyright-owner authorised. Some retailers make an effort to only sell merchandise that the copyright-owner approves. Other retailers go out of their way, to ensure that the only merchandise that they sell, is not copyright-owner approved.

You'll have to make your own list of merchants whose wares you trust to be copyright-owner approved.

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by graycyn

That and all three books had an absolutely obscene amount of typos, which is why I was looking for the publisher information, as I wanted to complain!

Todd has complained on numerous occasions about the typos that the publishers have added to both his, and his mother's books. Unfortunately, typos are no longer an indicator that the book was not published and distributed by an organization with a legitimate contract from the copyright-owner.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by graycyn

That and all three books had an absolutely obscene amount of typos, which is why I was looking for the publisher information, as I wanted to complain!

Originally Posted by Fiat_Lux

Todd has complained on numerous occasions about the typos that the publishers have added to both his, and his mother's books. Unfortunately, typos are no longer an indicator that the book was not published and distributed by an organization with a legitimate contract from the copyright-owner.

Amazon will pull books from sale that get too many complaints about too many typos. That would probably get the publisher's attention.

[sempiter]

I’ve just come across this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Presen.../dp/B004G8QI3U

The sample at Amazon (and elsewhere) has no copyright page. Moreover, I cannot find the book at the publisher’s website.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sempiter

I’ve just come across this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Presen.../dp/B004G8QI3U

The sample at Amazon (and elsewhere) has no copyright page. Moreover, I cannot find the book at the publisher’s website.

Most eBook's have the copyright page at the back of the eBook so the copyright won't show in most samples.

[sempiter]

I checked two other f&f books that I’d previously bought and the copyright page is, indeed, right at the end.