Screwed by Tor again...

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by evilrooster

My perception of tor.com is that it is a long term project, years long, with an eye to associating the Tor brand with a lively, interesting and intelligent community in the science fiction world. That takes priority, I suspect, over the sales of a few eBooks at the start.

Well, the problem, you see is that they associated the Tor brand with a site that is willing to deride those who post questions or complaints about actual issues. I don't happen to find that interesting or intelligent. One look at that site left me with a decidedly bad taste in my mouth, especially from reading PNH's posts. How lovely to know he looks down his nose at people who read ebooks. Really makes me so not want to purchase anything from any company with which he is associated. So, if making it an "interesting and intelligent community" was the goal .... they blew it.

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by nekokami

All this reminds me of a scene in Doctorow's Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town (regarding internet access cards....)

That was in Switzerland, right?

[Cthulhu]

Not um, fan digital flames, but is "Jumper" an e-book? Is it's Sequel?

These are general points of clarification.
My gameplan these days is to watch flicks that are adaptations, then be amazingly surprised at the rich levels of sub-text woven by an author in a book. Have yet to see "Jumper", and was not sure how big of a re-print its progenitor received.

The reason I ask about the original is that, well, if it is not available as a digital test, it rather points up the frustration of all digital text fans. The number or texts out there is mind-numbingly hit or miss.

I have made a choice and a conscious effort to eschew any form of book but a digital one. My close friends know that CONNECT gift cards make great gifts. Foolish or sagacious, am hoping to embrace the digital age.
Now that I am not so mobile in my life and have decent internet (and a physical address), no longer lurk about the DVD bargain bins; I can rent it or watch it online or on Satan's window. Feel the same way with music; after twenty years of switching formats and a decade of lugging discs about in ammo cases or ballistic nylon, am happy to have it all on a drive the size of a bible. Sadly, there is a fight about whether I ever owned the actual item, or merely paid a fee for rights--Did I buy a pony, or just pay it for the time on its back?

My point is that on a forum named "Mobile Read," most folks here are interested in the digital equivalent of paper texts. We may be silly or militant, but that is the choice we made, based on vague promises and advances in technology that we hoped would evolve. As such, when we cannot receive the media that we crave, we get a bit cranky.

Maybe we just get angry when the gods of our cult never land, but just fly by and dumb a little "blue ice" for our trouble.

(please do not infer that I am saying that any organisation or individual that ever offered digital text is specifically referenced by that last statement. Our longing for digital texts just reminded me of the cargo cult phenomenon)

Oh, and not to re-iterate, but I want to say what that other fellow said.
*insert emotional modifier here*

[Mindy]

Wanted to offer a (possibly) slightly different perspective on all of this.
I'm disappointed by it, and it's all Robert Jordan's fault.
A few years ago I was looking for something 'new' to read and was pointed towards Book 1 of Wheel of Time. By the time I got to book 10 it wasn't published yet; I hadn't enjoyed some of the previous installments but I'm one of those people who has to know what happens. By the time book 10 came out I'd forgotton enough of what had happened before to be totally confused; this is one of the very few instances where I haven't persisted regardless. I now have a significant weight and volume of books in a series that is incomplete, but I can't bring myself to dispose of books (sacreligious) so will probably cart them around for years to come.
(There is a point, honest, I'm getting to it, and I'm not slurring Wheel of Time either, circumstances conspired against my appreciation of it).
Anyhoo, the big attraction of ebooks was having entire series like that taking up so little space that it doesn't matter how many there are; I had effectively stopped buying books in recent years because moving became an increasingly intimidating prospect. My ebook reader has been my portal to get back into reading and when I saw the Tor promotion and accompanying hype it achieved it's purpose; I thought great, a chance to expose myself (?) to some new authors, read some new material and encourage new participation in the ebook market. Because I only clocked the offer towards the end of the period and don't have hours to spend trawling the net, I downloaded them all, didn't read much of the fine print and certainly didn't look up which were series, where they were available etc. I think the key thing is that I was attracted to them purely because they were ebooks, and thought the promo was indicative of a new resource rather than an advert for a new forum. Now that I know that wasn't really the point, and have no intention of purchasing more p-books at this time, given the above-mentioned compulsion towards completion I probably won't even bother reading the ones I downloaded (except perhaps the ones identified as standalone) which is a disappointment for me and, I can't help feeling, a wasted opportunity for Tor since if they did have the follow-ups as ebooks, if I had enjoyed the freebie I would have bought them (i.e. paid money for the ebook).
If previous posts are correct then at least the experience has highlighted the ebook market and hopefully encouraged consideration of expansion into it. In the meantime, I'll be sticking to the classics and the sites where I've been able to source the reading material I'm looking for in it's entirety from the outset.

[acidzebra]

Originally Posted by Mindy

Wanted to offer a (possibly) slightly different perspective on all of this.
I'm disappointed by it, and it's all Robert Jordan's fault.

To be fair, the guy couldn't help dying, it happens to the best of us eventually.

Actually, wait, that was during book 12. Never mind. I never really got into the whole Wheel of Time thing.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by Mindy

but I can't bring myself to dispose of books (sacreligious) so will probably cart them around for years to come.

[snip]

I had effectively stopped buying books in recent years because moving became an increasingly intimidating prospect.

The space savings are definitely one of the attractions of eBooks. Our house has been at more than maximum book capacity for some time (we don't get rid of them either).

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

Not um, fan digital flames, but is "Jumper" an e-book? Is it's Sequel?

Um... not officially. They're out there, though. I guess you could consider them free Tor ebooks that Tor just sort of forgot to mention.

[Robotech_Master]

And Charlie Stross, author of a good many post-singularity stories, writes in a Tor forum post:

Okay, so I confess: the Tor free ebook giveaway worked, in at least one case. I finally got my teeth into "In the Garden of Iden" by Kage Baker -- the first of her Company novels (at least, in sequence) -- and I confess that I'm hooked.

Only trouble is, there's a whole bunch of 'em. And they're mostly not published in the UK (where I live). I've ordered a bundle from amazon.com, who will take about a month to ship them, but in the meantime ...

Where are the ebook editions?

(Yes, I know about the short stories that've been released via Fictionwise and Mobipocket. Got 'em. I know about the Kindle edition of the latest -- can't use it, Kindle isn't sold/doesn't work outside the USA. What about the rest?)

Guess he didn't get the memo.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

Not um, fan digital flames, but is "Jumper" an e-book? Is it's Sequel?

Jumper: Griffin's Story is: http://fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook64809.htm. Just one format, though.

It's not my place to give specifics, even if I had them, but -- I've had some discussions with Tor people in the last couple of days, and I've been assured that Tor's appearance on the Baen ebook program is coming much sooner than the 6-12 months rumored. I'll be waiting like everyone else for an official announcement, but I'm much more optimistic now.

And if folks are ticked off at Tor for whatever reason, even if they're good reasons, I hope they won't hold it against Tor authors -- who, after all, just want to get their books out to you readers!

(Ahem.)

[Taylor514ce]

To which point: you've bent over backwards to do so. And upthread I made a similar comment. Writers want Readers, and Readers want Writers. A publisher's job should be to facilitate that... what's fascinating about your recent efforts is how Readers and Writers came together to publish your e-book editions. We've all either read about or talked about the new paradigm the internet and digital media will inevitably bring. It's nice to see a concrete example, in which e-book consumers showed altruism, volunteerism and contributed both labor and monetary renumeration... rather than being perceived as "book pirates" as is so common.

Kudos to you and everyone here who has been helping out.

P.S. It also demonstrates that MobileRead is poised to act as more than just a community of e-book enthusiasts and nut jobs like myself. We have utility authors, e-book formatting pros, and e-book consumers built right in. We're also watched by e-book manufacturers and retailers. We can take an active role in the e-book market rather than passively observe it. I hope YOU encourage other authors to consider using MobileRead as a resource in making e-book versions of their works possible.

[igorsk]

Maybe we should make an official subforum for volunteer services for writers: formatting, ebook conversion etc...

[HappyMartin]

Originally Posted by starrigger

And if folks are ticked off at Tor for whatever reason, even if they're good reasons, I hope they won't hold it against Tor authors -- who, after all, just want to get their books out to you readers!

I have done my fair share of complaining on this thread about Tor but if they posted or sold e books I would be over there like a shot to spend my money. What would be the sense of asking for something and then not responding when it was offered. No way I will let my ego get in the way of a good read.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Jumper: Griffin's Story is: http://fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook64809.htm. Just one format, though.

It's not my place to give specifics, even if I had them, but -- I've had some discussions with Tor people in the last couple of days, and I've been assured that Tor's appearance on the Baen ebook program is coming much sooner than the 6-12 months rumored. I'll be waiting like everyone else for an official announcement, but I'm much more optimistic now.

Is Griffin's Story even related to the original books, or is it related to that movie thing?

Thanks for the non-specifics!

[Robotech_Master]

It's a movie tie-in. I think the story on tor.com right now is related to the main book and its first sequel only.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by Robotech_Master

I think the story on tor.com right now is related to the main book and its first sequel only.

Yes, I can confirm that. (I've read both books and the story, but not the movie tie-in, nor have I any desire to see the movie.)