Screwed by Tor again...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pablodefendini

Pretty much. These new eBooks are you guys' doing. It's a stopgap, to be sure (and we know it's not exactly what you want), but a step in the right direction while we work out larger issues. Patience...

Any idea how long it might take? I do have a suggestion for your first eBook releases... The rest of the eBook that go with the free ones to make complete series available in eBook form.

[RickyMaveety]

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!

(Ahem.)

Speaking only for myself ... and I am seriously ticked off at Tor at the moment ... if the Tor authors become available in an ebook format that I can read on my Kindle, and if all books in any series by Tor authors become available in an ebook format that I can read on my Kindle, then I will certainly consider purchasing them and reading them.

Can't say that I would ever go back to Tor.com, however. The people who run that site are much too full of their own sense of self importance. One or two more pumps of hot air and their heads will probably explode.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by starrigger

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

And at a price higher then the price of the paperback edition. Plus this is prequel to the movie which took the original book and changed it too much. So what we have as an eBook has nothing really to do with the short story on Tor's website.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

I hope YOU encourage other authors to consider using MobileRead as a resource in making e-book versions of their works possible.

That's a very good suggestion!

[hmls]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

This time it was Orphans of Chaos, by John C. Wright. Free e-book. I failed to note the page numbers progressing ever closer to the end, asynchronously to the plot. So yep, the book ended before the story did. Hey, get the next in the series, right? Sorry, Tor doesn't publish e-books. I'm screwed out of the rest of the series.

I wish I had seen your post before reading this Orphans of Chaos. I just finished it and am very pissed off that I can't get the next book in the series as an ebook. I can't even find it through darknet. I am aware that I could buy it as a paperback, or get it from my library, but that is not why I bought an ebook reader! I have no desire to read "real" books anymore and if the purpose of this free ebook promotion was to get me to buy the rest of the series, it is failing miserably because I refuse to buy them unless they are ebooks.

[hmls]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

BTW: Four and Twenty Black Birds and Disunited States of America both ended the story in the single book.
BOb

While it is true that the story was (more or less) complete in Four and Twenty Black Birds, it is still book one of a series that is not available as ebooks.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by hmls

I wish I had seen your post before reading this Orphans of Chaos. I just finished it and am very pissed off that I can't get the next book in the series as an ebook. I can't even find it through darknet. I am aware that I could buy it as a paperback, or get it from my library, but that is not why I bought an ebook reader! I have no desire to read "real" books anymore and if the purpose of this free ebook promotion was to get me to buy the rest of the series, it is failing miserably because I refuse to buy them unless they are ebooks.

What's really sad is that the people at Tor.com don't understand why those of us who are upset by this are complaining. They actually think (and I am not kidding here) that we are angry about the books being "free." They just do not get that only providing one book in a series in e-book format without providing the same access to the other books in the series is annoying ... regardless of whether it is free or costs you a few bucks.

What can I say ... they are just that clueless. I'm just glad I deleted the damn things. I just don't need the aggravation.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

They actually think (and I am not kidding here) that we are angry about the books being "free." They just do not get that only providing one book in a series in e-book format without providing the same access to the other books in the series is annoying ... regardless of whether it is free or costs you a few bucks.

Not only that... but it was a brilliant way to encourage sales of the additional books... however without making them available they are loosing income. Which makes me think that they feel ebooks are a novelty and that most people would by the additional books in paper format.

BOb

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

They just do not get that only providing one book in a series in e-book format without providing the same access to the other books in the series is annoying ...

To us Ereader fans - but we're probably a tiny section of their target audience for the promotion.
Personally, I think it's understandable that our requirements didn't figure highly on their list of priorities .

[HappyMartin]

Harper Collins also have a free deal on the go and last month I read City Of Pearl by Karen Travis. I loved it and today with the news of another free book from HC I went looking for more stuff by Karen Traviss. Was pleased to find what seems to be the entire series on Fictionwise and Books On Board.

See, not so hard. Easy to do it right and sell me more books.

[Dr. Drib]

The only thing I'm finding on Fictionwise by Karen Travis (sic) -- or Karen Traviss is "City of Pearl."

CORRECTION: Found them!

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

To us Ereader fans - but we're probably a tiny section of their target audience for the promotion.
Personally, I think it's understandable that our requirements didn't figure highly on their list of priorities .

OK ... so why give out free ebooks if the people who prefer that format are not your target consumer?

Makes less than no sense to me.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

OK ... so why give out free ebooks if the people who prefer that format are not your target consumer?

Makes less than no sense to me.

It's an easy and cheap means of distribution. Give people an ebook to get them started, and sell them the pbook if they stay interested.
The subset of their market that has completely abandoned pbooks for ebooks is pretty small I'd imagine.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

It's an easy and cheap means of distribution. Give people an ebook to get them started, and sell them the pbook if they stay interested.
The subset of their market that has completely abandoned pbooks for ebooks is pretty small I'd imagine.

But also the subset of pbook readers that would read an ebook is probably much, much smaller.

[Robotech_Master]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

OK ... so why give out free ebooks if the people who prefer that format are not your target consumer?

Makes less than no sense to me.

Because (as I explained up-thread) they drank Eric Flint's koolaid about free ebooks being most valuable as advertising for their print books—people read a chapter or two of the ebook, then go out and buy the print book, because who actually wants to read a whole e-book?