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Old 03-01-2012, 08:14 AM   #166
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Originally Posted by J. Strnad View Post
I really do apologize if you take it personally, but you might save some of your ire for the disparate epub retailers who wouldn't come together on a common format (DRM, actually), which was their only chance to compete with Amazon.
Um. I assume you didn't go Amazon exclusive because of formatting (mobi versus ePUB), and you don't have to apply DRM to your books, so I'm not really even sure... what this means?

I was one of your B&N buyers, too, for what it's worth -- Pantheon by Josh Strnad is you, right? (Haven't read it yet, my TBR list is shamefully long.)
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Old 03-01-2012, 08:16 AM   #167
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One other thing to consider, which is rarely, if ever, discussed is this: How much effort did an author put into promoting the availability of the author's books at places other than Amazon? I think this is both valid and important. I have noted that many authors list their books as being available at Amazon and only if they are directly asked do they mention other outlets. One cannot sell at B&N, for example, if one doesn't promote B&N with the same vigor as Amazon is promoted.
This. I mean, I don't know for this case, but I can't count how often people have Amazon listings in their profile, but not B&N ones. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy at that point.
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Old 03-01-2012, 11:03 AM   #168
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Responding to Richard and to anamardoll.

Borrows are free, but Prime members are limited to one per month. The author receives, currently, about $1.60-1.70 per borrow.

So each borrow is as likely to be read as a sale, IMO. As opposed to the many downloads that result when people put their book up for free for 1-5 days (which you can do with the Select program), which do indeed just sit on devices, I suspect. Lots and lots of downloads, but I don't know how many actual reads. Sales typically get a brief bump after a free period. Sometimes it sticks, sometimes not.

My promotion to B&N was equal as much as possible to my promotion to Amazon. Once I went exclusive with Amazon, of course, that promotion ceased.

Josh Strnad...nope, not me. There's a bunch of us Strnads around, including another one named "Jan Strnad" who was associated somehow with Star Trek: The Next Generation. My friends assumed that it was me (and that the "Strnad Nebula" in that show was named after me) but it was the other Jan Strnad, unfortunately.

My point about the DRM is that epub is losing the format war, not because it's an inferior format, but because its adherents saddled it with incompatible DRM that meant that, for instance, you couldn't read an ebook purchased at B&N on your Kobo. The big advantage of "any ebook on any device" that epub had, disappeared because the epub retailers were busy competing with one another when they should have banded together to compete with Amazon.

So, as Amazon continues its juggernaut path to ebook domination...well, it's like watching your favorite team (B&N, Sony, Kobo) lose to the team you hate because they played lousy.

I much prefer any ebook from any retailer on any device, but it doesn't seem to be working out that way whichever format wins. I'm really very sad about this, and also sometimes angry, but I have to make solid business decisions.
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Old 03-01-2012, 11:21 AM   #169
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This whole process just makes me sad.

Really, really sad.

What's interesting is that I am in a group that digs for freebies all the time. We all d/l them...and then go back to reading the books that we've paid for. huh. Sometimes - cause we do about 1 book a week in that group - we read one of the free books for a group read, an

Most of the group ignore the books that are only free for loan because everyone else can't get them...plus its only 1 per month...
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Old 03-01-2012, 01:00 PM   #170
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I can think of one usage case in which KDP Select makes perfect sense, and I'd like the opinions of those who oppose it, especially JSWolf, who stated in another thread that not only would be never support the author post-KDPS but also discourage others from reading their work (if I read that right; if not, please correct me).

Say a new author has a debut novel. We already know that distribution through Smashwords can take more prep work to beat the meatgrinder. Why not release first at Amazon via KDPS, take advantage of those benefits, then go into wide release after 90 days?

If it were me, I'd be using those 90 days to get that awful Word document in perfect compliance for Smashwords, as well as prepping an ePub with precise formatting for sale on my web site. If I can have the mobi version for sale on Amazon while I'm doing that, why not?

I don't see this as all that different from doing a NY/LA movie release, honestly.
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Old 03-01-2012, 01:22 PM   #171
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Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash View Post
Say a new author has a debut novel. We already know that distribution through Smashwords can take more prep work to beat the meatgrinder. Why not release first at Amazon via KDPS, take advantage of those benefits, then go into wide release after 90 days?
It's not about debut novels. It's about an author abandoning other stores. It's about the possibility of finding out that the newest book of a series is only available for kindle users. It's like geo-restrictions but with distribution centers.
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Old 03-01-2012, 02:06 PM   #172
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Originally Posted by J. Strnad View Post
My point about the DRM is that epub is losing the format war, not because it's an inferior format, but because its adherents saddled it with incompatible DRM that meant that, for instance, you couldn't read an ebook purchased at B&N on your Kobo. The big advantage of "any ebook on any device" that epub had, disappeared because the epub retailers were busy competing with one another when they should have banded together to compete with Amazon.
See, I know it's a sexy new meme to say that ePUBs from Kobo are a different format from ePUBs at B&N, but people need to understand what that means.

The only difference between the format is the DRM. Once the DRM is stripped off -- via a variety of different means, I might add -- the ePUB is an ePUB is an ePUB. You can buy any ePUB from any store and as long as you yank off the DRM, you can load it to any ePUB reader. Which is to say ALL OF THEM that aren't marked as Kindle.

I have 5 eReaders in the house. All of them read ePUB. Most of them support BOTH Adobe and B&N DRM.

It's okay for you to do what you want with your books, but please stop spreading this meme like Kobo ePUBs are fundamentally different from B&N ePUBs. They're far more similar to each other than, say, mobi and topaz are to one another (as far as I know -- I'm not an expert on the topaz format) and many, many eReaders and eReader apps support both Adobe and B&N DRM. No eReader supports Amazon DRM except Kindles.
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Old 03-01-2012, 02:10 PM   #173
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The only difference between the format is the DRM. Once the DRM is stripped off -- via a variety of different means, I might add -- the ePUB is an ePUB is an ePUB.
Unless it's a kepub.
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Old 03-01-2012, 02:14 PM   #174
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Unless it's a kepub.
I thought that was completely deprecated. Have I just been lucky that the 100+ Kobo books I've bought were ePUB?
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Old 03-01-2012, 02:21 PM   #175
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I thought that was completely deprecated. Have I just been lucky that the 100+ Kobo books I've bought were ePUB?
No, you've just been selecting the correct format for downloading instead of the other monstrosity that's sometimes still available.
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Old 03-01-2012, 02:29 PM   #176
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No, you've just been selecting the correct format for downloading instead of the other monstrosity that's sometimes still available.
I've never even seen it as an OPTION. Is it something the author can disable?
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Old 03-01-2012, 02:41 PM   #177
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Originally Posted by anamardoll View Post
See, I know it's a sexy new meme to say that ePUBs from Kobo are a different format from ePUBs at B&N, but people need to understand what that means.

The only difference between the format is the DRM. Once the DRM is stripped off -- via a variety of different means, I might add -- the ePUB is an ePUB is an ePUB. You can buy any ePUB from any store and as long as you yank off the DRM, you can load it to any ePUB reader. Which is to say ALL OF THEM that aren't marked as Kindle.

I have 5 eReaders in the house. All of them read ePUB. Most of them support BOTH Adobe and B&N DRM.

It's okay for you to do what you want with your books, but please stop spreading this meme like Kobo ePUBs are fundamentally different from B&N ePUBs. They're far more similar to each other than, say, mobi and topaz are to one another (as far as I know -- I'm not an expert on the topaz format) and many, many eReaders and eReader apps support both Adobe and B&N DRM. No eReader supports Amazon DRM except Kindles.
I thought Jan was rather clear that he was talking about DRM, and not EPub, and how they try to lock-in their customers.

Just my interpretation.

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.. and many, many eReaders and eReader apps support both Adobe and B&N DRM.
I'm not aware of the many ereaders or reader apps that support both ADE and B&N DRM. The only one's I'm aware of are B&N's own apps and readers, and maybe the beta of Adobe Reader?
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Old 03-01-2012, 02:49 PM   #178
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I thought Jan was rather clear that he was talking about DRM, and not EPub, and how they try to lock-in their customers.

Just my interpretation.

I'm not aware of the many ereaders or reader apps that support both ADE and B&N DRM. The only one's I'm aware of are B&N's own apps and readers, and maybe the beta of Adobe Reader?
Well, if he's just talking DRM, then forgive me for not understanding how "So I went with the one store that has a DRM that NO other eReader can read!" is a... solution.

B&N and several Android eReader apps support B&N and Adobe.
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Old 03-01-2012, 02:53 PM   #179
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I've never even seen it as an OPTION. Is it something the author can disable?
I believe if you download from a Kobo device or app, you get a Kepub with an option to download a regular Adobe DRM Epub. If you buy from the website and don't have a registered Kobo or app, you just get a regular Adobe DRM Epub.
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Old 03-01-2012, 02:53 PM   #180
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I'm not aware of the many ereaders or reader apps that support both ADE and B&N DRM. The only one's I'm aware of are B&N's own apps and readers, and maybe the beta of Adobe Reader?
If I'm not mistaken, one of the B&N people stated on a different thread (that I'm too lazy to look for) that the beta version of Adobe should allow for the Sony T1 to read B&N, too.
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