Frustrated with all the recent posts by Kindle-only authors

[Eric C]

Thanks for the info and points of view, folks. I will definitely follow these links to educate myself some more.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Eric C

Thanks for the info and points of view, folks. I will definitely follow these links to educate myself some more.

Eric -- Cory Doctorow has written some cogent pieces on why trying to manage digital rights in this way is a losing, and in the long run, counterproductive effort. DRM makes it harder for legitimate purchasers to read and share the books they've bought, and only poses a minor inconvenience to those inclined to piracy. Certainly not everyone agrees--but many authors, including me, feel that the potential audience you gain by making your books more freely available far outweighs the cost of sales you might lose through piracy. I have half a dozen of my previously-published books up for free download--and a whole bunch more available for purchase in a variety of formats (without DRM, where permitted by the retailer). I regularly hear from readers who thank me for the DRM-free formats. And often, their notes are accompanied by paypal donations.

Besides--if your book gains any traction at all, someone will copy it and have it up on the darknet eventually, regardless of what you do.

[ficbot]

Scribd is pretty terrible for longer stuff. I have posted a few shorter pieces up there int he early day, and still get hits on them, which is neat. But whenever I have tried to download something from them, I wind up with a disaster of a file without proper line breaks etc. that is totally unreadable on all of my devices.

Since you say you want an 'education' from readers in how they buy/read books, I'll just share fwiw my path for ebook buying/reading and why.

IF IT'S A FREE/PUBLIC DOMAIN BOOK

First stop is this forum. The books here are manually formatted to look optimal for my Sony, so this is my preferred first stop.

Second stop is Feedbooks, if the book isn't here. The custom PDF for the Sony looks very nice. I also appreciate that short stories are available as stand-alone works. There was one by Doctorow I really liked and I didn't need the whole book, just that one story. I also like that you can rate books and get recommendations. I just wish there was a way to filter out all the comic books and short stories to only show the novels...

Third stop is Manybooks.net. It's a little more 'serviceable.' The files are readable, but are not as pretty. They do have quite a few that my other sources did not have, though. The selection is very extensive, especially for genres like poetry.

FOR PURCHASED BOOKS

Fictionwise has thus far been my one and only stop. I like the multi-format books because there is no DRM so I can download them in whatever format I want/need. I do buy the secure eReader books if it's a massive sale and/or something I really want and/or it's at 100% rebate. But it's a bit of a labour-intensive process to both remove the DRM and also convert the resulting badly made HTML file into something decent-looking to read, so I find that my purchasing of such books since I got my Sony has been VASTLY reduced. I read fast; they would sell a lot more books if they did not have the DRM on them!

I have checked out Books on Board but hate the way their site browses. Also, I am invested in the Fictionwise reward system and use the credit on my rare DRM purchase to buy whole bunches of other non-DRM purchases So I am not interested in getting into another big store.

BUT...

With that said...

eReader.com has new lower prices with no book over $12.95, and that has put them on my radar. I have not bought from them yet but I may in the future.

And Smashwords is starting to interest me more. I like that you can, in most cases, sample portions of the book for free first to make sure you'll like it. However, most of the authors there are not ones I am familiar with so for me, I would not go there so much to browse (yet) but if I knew about a book specifically, I might go there to get it.

Individual author websites don't really interest me. I would rather have the one-stop shopping of something like Fictionwise and the security of being able to download the book from them again if the need arises.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Individual author websites don't really interest me. I would rather have the one-stop shopping of something like Fictionwise and the security of being able to download the book from them again if the need arises.

Just so you keep in mind that most of the aggregate sites have restrictions on who can sell there (I cannot add my material to Fictionwise, for example, since they only accept material from publishers with multiple authors and a minimum of 25 books).

Small and indie pubs often have problems getting into aggregate sites, which is why they have to self-pub in the first place. That is one of the advantages to the Kindle store... it takes everyone.

[BearMountainBooks]

ficbot--thanks for the buying habits info and all those nice sites. :>) Always good to know. Yup, Steve, Amazon has been an equalizer in many ways, and they have worked an awful lot of kinks out and made it easy for both authors and readers.

I used fictionwise a couple of times. I didn't like having to keep track of the credits/refunds/program and so on, but they can be a good place to find back issues of magazines if there is a particular story/author I'm hunting down. In general, I think they need to update their system to let authors have a little more control (including smaller publishers even if they don't want to go with Indie authors.)

For free e-books, most times I end up getting them from author sites. For purchasing, it just depends where I run across the book. A lot of times I hear about it on forum from either the author or a fan. The problem becomes creating an account at all those darn sites and keep track of them. I don't mine purchasing from an author site if it's just a paypal click. I'd prefer an author site to having to register with yet another retailer site.

I'm liking smashwords so far. I understand they will be partnering with BN (which may mean that BN will get some actual ebook things really going!) I also found the diesel-ebooks site quite intriguing. They seemed to have one of the better selections (I haven't actually purchased anything there yet.)

Maria
Catch an Honest Thief (sorry, kindle only!)
Sage (oodles of formats!)

[ficbot]

I understand what you're saying, Steve. I am not opposed to author websites as a concept, and I am not saying 'never!' to that. In fact there is one author who offers bundles on his website where the books are much, much cheaper if you buy them from him. I have been pondering that as I liked his first two books, but the only format he offers which would work for me is HTML and I would have to do some fiddling with them. So I am waiting until I clear out my TBR pile a little. Like Maria says, an author who makes it easy (i.e. paypal link, no need to register) is more likely to get me on an impulse buy for stuff like that. I did check out your site, but (no offense) it's not really my preferred genre, so I have not bought anything

One thing that is appealing to me about Smashwords and Feedbooks is the 'library management' aspect. Manybooks was my go-to site for ages, but it does not keep a catalogue for you of your downloads. I like being able to log in, see everything I have downloaded, then make ratings and reviews. Feedbooks seems to be getting into recommendations based on what you have downloaded already. Manybooks does at least offer reviews. I think such features will become more important on the big sites (free or otherwise) as time goes on because there is just SO much content out there now. People need a way to filter and browse the content like they would in a bookstore. I mean, Google Books alone has 1 million PD titles, who is going to go through them all one by one to find something to read? This is why I like the way Feedbooks is set up, to recommend and to let people submit ratings and reviews. I am not saying I need a Big Brother-esque monitoring of what I download and read, but I do think the 'big' sites (be they free or otherwise) do have that advantage in that they can make connections between what you have read in the past and what might interest you in the future, and that can help people discover new books and authors.

[neilmarr]

I'm sorry that I've not had time yet to read all this thread, but I get the drift -- and it's quite right that Kindle is being used as a vanity press tool by authors who've been through no selection process (quality control) and are too bad/broke/arrogant to accept professional editorial intervention.

On the other hand, legitimate publishing houses like my own in Europe, cannot offer books for Kindle because Amazon -- the laziest, most bullying, greediest enterprise in cyberspace -- insist on a US presence with tax and social security numbers. We could bend a few rules to do that and open a fake office, but I'm not in the game of making life cushy for Amazonians.

Hoots. Neil

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by ficbot

(i.e. paypal link

Just like to chime in that that's fairly important to me if you're selling cheap ebooks - my card won't process too-small transactions, so there are times I've passed on books because of that. With paypal, I can draw £5 onto it and not be tied to an invidual site's micro-pay. I know it's expensive to use, but...

[BearMountainBooks]

Ah--thank you Dawn--I hadn't thought of that. I bet that is one of the reasons Amazon uses the one-click and giftcards. That way they don't have small amounts getting run through the credit card companies.

Paypal doesn't mind small amounts either.

Something for me to ponder on.

Oh to Neilmarr--I think Amazon has to insist on the US addie and other restrictions because of copyright and publisher restrictions. They are not doing it just for the heck of it and from what I read they are trying to get other markets (countries) to open up and get permission to sell Kindle and books there. There's some sort of "trade" issues to be worked out as I understand it. They will go where the customer is--I seriously don't think it's just to be a bully!

Maria
Catch an Honest Thief (sorry, kindle only!)
Sage (oodles of formats!)

[WFT]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Just like to chime in that that's fairly important to me if you're selling cheap ebooks - my card won't process too-small transactions, so there are times I've passed on books because of that. With paypal, I can draw £5 onto it and not be tied to an invidual site's micro-pay. I know it's expensive to use, but...

I'm very interested in your comment, DawnFalcon. As one planning to offer both PayPal and separate credit card links (for those who don't like PayPal), I'm very curious to know what the lower limit is below which I should not price my e-book (if I sell it rather than giving it away...still thinking that possibility through).

Also, could you clarify what you meant when you said, "...not be tied to an individual site's micro-pay"? I don't understand what you're saying.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

AOh to Neilmarr--I think Amazon has to insist on the US addie and other restrictions because of copyright and publisher restrictions. They are not doing it just for the heck of it and from what I read they are trying to get other markets (countries) to open up and get permission to sell Kindle and books there. There's some sort of "trade" issues to be worked out as I understand it. They will go where the customer is--I seriously don't think it's just to be a bully!

I suppose they can't say "since they're not tagged for VAT as books, but as software, obviously we can sell them anywhere; book licensing for those countries doesn't include software licenses."

(I don't think that'd fly, but I'd love to see the attempt.)

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by WFT

Also, could you clarify what you meant when you said, "...not be tied to an individual site's micro-pay"? I don't understand what you're saying.

Some sites like fictionwise allow you to create a micro-pay account and load it with money and use that to purchase low-value books. However, that then ties that money to purchasing from that site only, unlike paypal.

[neilmarr]

There are many excuses, Maria, but most of Amazon's moves come down to bullying the market (you know about the Booksurge imposition on PoD, for instance and the way the Kindle 'works'?). And if anyone has problems with small-beer payments, come to me. I'll send ebooks free of charge from our own wee indie site (www.bewrite.com). All we do is to inconvenience a few electrons. Hoots. Neil

[BearMountainBooks]

That whole "micropay" club type setup was one of the things I didn't like about fictionwise. For one, it was complicated to understand--those using it get additional discounts sometimes (but it wasn't easy to tell when) and you had to basically be a regular user to get the most from it. I'm an occasional buyer -- usually looking for something specific.

I think I paid with paypal (they allow the small amounts.) Different credit cards have different amounts. Some go as low as 1.00 but there are a number of vendors recently that have things on their website such as "20 dollar purchase required for credit card users." (These weren't book sites btw.) That is because they are charged so much for smaller purchases they decided it isn't worth their business.

So I think it really depends on the card. I'd guess that 5 dollars is a pretty safe bet, but that is a GUESS.

Maria

[nomesque]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

There are many excuses, Maria, but most of Amazon's moves come down to bullying the market (you know about the Booksurge imposition on PoD, for instance and the way the Kindle 'works'?). And if anyone has problems with small-beer payments, come to me. I'll send ebooks free of charge from our own wee indie site (www.bewrite.com). All we do is to inconvenience a few electrons. Hoots. Neil

Hrmmm... I just see a domain parking placeholder....?