Books removed from fictionwise?

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I still have two dozen bought and paid for books where I keep getting re-directed to 'lightning source' and told my territory is not authorized. I have tried hidemyass and hotspot shield and it will not let me download with those on. I am pretty mad about this and Fictionwise was not very sympathetic and sent me a generic 'we're working on it' message.

Try the AOL free desktop trick?

[L.J. Sellers]

There's some speculation that B&N will shut down or merge Fictionwise into its in-house digital book business. I tried to find the link to the news story I read, but couldn't. Sorry.
L.J.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by L.J. Sellers

There's some speculation that B&N will shut down or merge Fictionwise into its in-house digital book business. I tried to find the link to the news story I read, but couldn't. Sorry.
L.J.

Teleread article ?

http://www.teleread.com/2010/04/19/a...=Google+Reader

[simplyparticular]

Originally Posted by aagstn

I'm honestly not worried about it getting shut down. B&N owns it and I'm sure they will compensate us in some way if that happens. They want Fictionwise and ereader.com customers buying Nooks they are not going to just steal our outstanding micropay and drive us away.

I wouldn't bank on that. If they are so eager to promote their store and the Nook, then why haven't they cross-promoted either of them to the FW/eR newsletter audience? Other than the footnotes that say "a B&N company" on all the mastheads, you'd have no idea all 3 are "one big family."

ficbot, and lcalvin; why not have an american DL them for you, and email them to you. the DRM would make the files fairly useless to them. (even with removal tools, no access to the pid)

then you would have your files.

It won't do any good. Although Lightning Source is throwing up a territorial error, that isn't really the problem. FW/eR no longer have the rights to sell those books, so they aren't there to download, no matter where you live. I get the same message, on books that I DO have the geographci rights to. They just aren't on the server anymore.

+++++

For those who are still having issues downloading their older FW/eR bookshelves, if you were using an iPhone and they are still on your iPhone, you can recover them via iPhone Backup Extractor. The bad news - the files are all numeric, but if you open them in the eReader desktop software, you can see the title and rename.

I've been able to recover the last of my 12 missing titles this way, although it was a laborious process. Luckily, I still had the vast majority of my FW/eR purchases backed up from when I had to sync via Palm.

[TallMomof2]

My situation with not being able to download all my DRMed ebooks is improving. As of today out of 512 secured ebooks I have 121 that aren't downloadable but 28 of those are from about 2 years ago when Fictionwise replaced a ton of DRMed titles. At eReader I have only 6 of 215 not downloading.

What's really squirrely about this is that sometimes one book in a series will download but not others. Sometimes the same author will have some books that download and some that don't.

With the exception of one book I have all the others downloaded, disinfected and backed up.

[lcalvin]

Did they notify you or did you just have to check?

[Clytie]

With all the confusion of having to scour around for books I'm geographically allowed to buy now, I've spent the past week or so cataloguing my ebooks, noting all the different formats and the different shops and applications associated with them. Honestly, I almost need a separate department for this! I think wistfully of the years when I could just turn to Fictionwise, buy everything I needed or wanted, and have it all tidily catalogued on my Bookshelf. <sigh>

Anyway, while doing this cataloguing, I did find a few books I hadn't saved to the ebook hierarchy I'd created on my hard disk (backed up nightly, thankfully). This number was probably 100 out of 1200 ebooks from Fictionwise. Out of those, about 20 would not re-download from my Bookshelf. The error messages varied: some were Secure Mobipocket books called from an outside server which didn't respond (as others have mentioned), but most were the "territorial restrictions" message. I live in Australia, and I still find it difficult to understand why that should mean I can't buy an ebook from a shopfront available internationally, especially when it means I can't keep buying books from the same author, or even from the same series. <fume>

Anyway, luckily I had saved all my purchased ebooks in a download folder, and it was just a matter of going through them: time-consuming with so many books, but I did find all the ones I couldn't download. Backup because you can't trust the retailers (it's a sad message).

I'm intrigued by mentions in this thread of people receiving emails from Fictionwise. I've been a Buywise member and keen customer for years now, and the only emails I receive from Fictionwise are their newsletter and New Books Alerts (or Pre-Ordered Books Alerts). I've never received a receipt email, nor a response to any of the handful of customer service requests I've put in through their web interface.

Obviously they know my email address, since they send me the newsletters etc., but in my case, they've been incommunicative from the start. :S

Everytime I've followed an ebook search to Barnes and Noble, they've said the title "is only delivered to U.S. addresses", which is rather silly in the I.P. sense, and thoroughly frustrating for the customer. Do they want our money, or not?

So: I'm sad about Fictionwise, and definitely underwhelmed by B&N. :S

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by Clytie

I'm intrigued by mentions in this thread of people receiving emails from Fictionwise. I've been a Buywise member and keen customer for years now, and the only emails I receive from Fictionwise are their newsletter and New Books Alerts (or Pre-Ordered Books Alerts). I've never received a receipt email, nor a response to any of the handful of customer service requests I've put in through their web interface.

Obviously they know my email address, since they send me the newsletters etc., but in my case, they've been incommunicative from the start. :S

Have you checked your mail settings at the Fictionwise site recently? A while back I suddenly stopped receiving emails from them for no apparent reason, and when I checked my settings I found that they had been changed - I don't know if I somehow did it unintentionally when I was changing something else, or if they had some kind of software "hiccup" that changed it for me. but it's worth checking out if you haven't already.

[nikkers]

Originally Posted by Clytie

With all the confusion of having to scour around for books I'm geographically allowed to buy now, I've spent the past week or so cataloguing my ebooks, noting all the different formats and the different shops and applications associated with them. Honestly, I almost need a separate department for this! I think wistfully of the years when I could just turn to Fictionwise, buy everything I needed or wanted, and have it all tidily catalogued on my Bookshelf. <sigh>

Anyway, while doing this cataloguing, I did find a few books I hadn't saved to the ebook hierarchy I'd created on my hard disk (backed up nightly, thankfully). This number was probably 100 out of 1200 ebooks from Fictionwise. Out of those, about 20 would not re-download from my Bookshelf. The error messages varied: some were Secure Mobipocket books called from an outside server which didn't respond (as others have mentioned), but most were the "territorial restrictions" message. I live in Australia, and I still find it difficult to understand why that should mean I can't buy an ebook from a shopfront available internationally, especially when it means I can't keep buying books from the same author, or even from the same series. <fume>

Anyway, luckily I had saved all my purchased ebooks in a download folder, and it was just a matter of going through them: time-consuming with so many books, but I did find all the ones I couldn't download. Backup because you can't trust the retailers (it's a sad message).

I'm intrigued by mentions in this thread of people receiving emails from Fictionwise. I've been a Buywise member and keen customer for years now, and the only emails I receive from Fictionwise are their newsletter and New Books Alerts (or Pre-Ordered Books Alerts). I've never received a receipt email, nor a response to any of the handful of customer service requests I've put in through their web interface.

Obviously they know my email address, since they send me the newsletters etc., but in my case, they've been incommunicative from the start. :S

Everytime I've followed an ebook search to Barnes and Noble, they've said the title "is only delivered to U.S. addresses", which is rather silly in the I.P. sense, and thoroughly frustrating for the customer. Do they want our money, or not?

So: I'm sad about Fictionwise, and definitely underwhelmed by B&N. :S

you are not receiving private messages at the moment . check your settings

[Clytie]

Originally Posted by nikkers

you are not receiving private messages at the moment . check your settings

Sorry, nikkers, didn't realize. I've fixed that now. (I had private messages enabled, but only from "contacts", whatever that means in this context.)

[jenshale]

Has anyone had this problem when they have purchased all of the books in one country? I have purchased 30+ books and am getting the "territory not authorized" message through lightening source on some of them. Any ideas on how to fix this? Thank you!

[Ea]

Originally Posted by jenshale

Has anyone had this problem when they have purchased all of the books in one country? I have purchased 30+ books and am getting the "territory not authorized" message through lightening source on some of them. Any ideas on how to fix this? Thank you!

I think most of us here has purchased our book while remaining in one country - I know I certainly did. Or I may misanderstand you

[Clytie]

Originally Posted by Ea

I think most of us here has purchased our book while remaining in one country - I know I certainly did. Or I may misanderstand you

I think jenshale means why would some books be "territorially restricted" on redownload while others aren't, if you bought them all while in the same country?

(If I'm wrong, jenshale please correct me.)

In the thread above, s/he will see others have had the same problem. It looks like some books (especially Mobipocket versions) are no longer available from outside servers previously used by Fictionwise to serve purchased books. It is quite possible that those servers have been changed to reject download requests from "outside" countries, after the "geolimitations" imposition, and haven't bothered to account for books bought before the Electron Curtain came down.

As I said, some of the 20 books I couldn't download from my Bookshelf had that "territorial restrictions" rejection message, and I think those were from a Bookshelf-redirected address with "lightningsource" in it. I did complain to Fictionwise, but just as with any previous support requests, I did not receive any reply.

jenshale, it's not that we're being inconsistent in any way. The publishers have been inconsistent. For years, we could buy ebooks from all these sites internationally. Suddenly, the publishers decided to stop us. The retailers (like Fictionwise) depend on the publishers for books. You'll notice the smaller publishers (Multiformat books) haven't cut us off. It's the "Big 5" or "Agency 5", five major publishers who comprise many different imprints. They are selfish, stupid and shortsighted. I really hope the smaller ("indie" or independent) publishers benefit from this.

You can complain to Fictionwise about this, even try to ask for a refund, if you don't actually have a copy of the book you bought. They have, however, changed their Terms and Conditions, so you have to download your purchased book promptly (accounts vary from one week to one day) because Fictionwise won't provide backup to you, like they did before. You could check this thread to see if anyone else did get a refund.

In general, when you buy your books, download them immediately and make a backup on another disk. You can also use DropBox or another "cloud" service to backup files. Always backup. You never know when you'll need it, but when you do, it's so valuable!

Meanwhile, I'd also advise looking for ebooks in your own country, or in a country which has more shared publication contracts with you than the U.S. does. In Australia, we now have Borders AU, an online ebook store with an increasing range of books and some competitive prices. It's a start, and worth supporting. We can also look for and support ebook vendors in the U.K., since our publishing contracts are usually linked with the U.K.

The whole situation sucks, but as customers we actually have the power. We can vote with our wallets. Don't buy from the "Agency 5". Look for new, interesting authors supported by independent publishers. Support self-publication platforms. Buy directly from authors' websites.

Technology is about change, and our choices can help drag the book publication industry, kicking and screaming as it is, into the 21st century.

[GeoffC]

jenshale, welcome to mobileread, could you clarify your question.

From what we understand you have purchased books that are no longer available for you to download ?

Yes - that seems to be the case, and not only with Fictionwise. Changes in arrangements between the publishers and the sellers have meant, either a tightening up or contract agreement, or new contracts.

I can't remember when it started, but I suspect around a year ago - books bought prior to this time were unrestricted, since then - however - restriction means that the sale is only allowed according to where you live !!!! I've even had a case where a book purchase of a UK author from a UK seller was refused cos I am in the UK !!!!!!

In Fictionwise, books in my bookshelf, legally purchased, are no longer available for re-download cos of geo-restrictiveness ....

From what I've seen at Fictionwise, it only (clarification needed) affects DRM'd books. I can still purchase their multiformat books ....

[JordanRHughes]

Originally Posted by chlorine

It seems that my wishlist on fictionwise is suddenly half as small as it used to be. Upon investigation, it looks some books are no longer on sale, e.g. all books by Scott Westerfeld some of which were on my wishlist?

One book from him I bought is still displayed on my bookshelf but when I try to download it I get the following error: Error : Download is not authorized for this retailer.

Anybody knows what happened, and how many books are affected? Is it retailing to this 'agency model pricing' I've been hearing about?

EDIT: And of course this happens the very day I want to buy the last tome of a a fantasy trilogy I'm really enjoying! How frustrating!

EDIT again: Never mind me, I found the relevant thread on the general forum. Mods feel free to remove this post, sorry about the disturbance.

I didn't even know about the fictionwise site. Thanks you for the link.

Cheers.