Buying all your favorites

[soulfuldog]

I only have a few. I grudge paying over £5 for a book I've already read just to get it as an ebook! I am very price sensitive though. For example, one of my all time favourites is Ira Levin's This Perfect Day. I've so for bought two other Levin books (I've read them all previously) one in Kindle deal of the day for £0.99, the other for £2.99. Still waiting on my favourite to be reduced from £5.99. I'm sure I'll get it at some point.....

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If that were to be the case, there would be no incentive whatsoever for any publisher to issue their back-catalogue as ebooks.

I'm not so sure that is the case. One see this with PD books. You can get the book at PG, but publishers still come out with for sale versions.

I would suggest that this is where the idea of a safe harbor for orphaned works comes into play. If I were Emperor for a day, I would set up a system where copyright holders could register themselves as the copyright holder, and if a work has been out of print for a set number of years and no copyright holder is listed, then you are protected if you wish to scan the book and make it available for free for others. Of course, such works would have to be removed if a copyrights holder comes forward.

[HarryT]

I think we're actually in a pretty good place when it comes to ebooks - certainly compared to the situation ten years ago. Hugely more back-catalogue books are available, and they continue to appear. I really see no need for any drastic change to the law: realistically, I have far more books in my Calibre library than I can hope to read in any reasonable life expectancy.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think we're actually in a pretty good place when it comes to ebooks - certainly compared to the situation ten years ago. Hugely more back-catalogue books are available, and they continue to appear. I really see no need for any drastic change to the law: realistically, I have far more books in my Calibre library than I can hope to read in any reasonable life expectancy.

I don't disagree. I think that going forward, it's going to be a pretty rare book that is not available as an ebook. The real issue is orphaned works. My personal suspicion is the real hanging point for orphaned works is there are a few major players who like things the way they are, orphaned works isn't a problem for them, so they don't want any change.

I really can't think of any orphaned work that would have any real commercial value. Most of the backlist books that have any significant commercial value isn't orphaned, but rather the copy right holder doesn't want to release them as an ebook for various reasons, for example the Zelazny backlist.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

for example the Zelazny backlist.

Problems with the estate, especially the Amber books. My understanding is that his wife (the current rights holder) refuses to let the books be republished in any format. His other works are to some extent available; I've picked up quite a few - I suspect it's because the UK contract included electronic rights for most of his backlist.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by maddz

Problems with the estate, especially the Amber books. My understanding is that his wife (the current rights holder) refuses to let the books be republished in any format. His other works are to some extent available; I've picked up quite a few - I suspect it's because the UK contract included electronic rights for most of his backlist.

Actually, looking at the UK Amazon store, the Zelazny books available there are the same that are available in the US. The first four Amber books are available. The last one (Hand of Oberon) came out September of last year. All the Amber books are available as audio books, or at least were at one time. I think that all his stuff is available in paper. I've got all his stuff that is available in the Kindle store. Without doing research, I would say that perhaps a third to half haven't come out in ebook yet. The last 6 books of the Amber series,
The Lord of Light, the Dilvish cycle, Creatures of Light and Darkness, The Changeling (odd that it's sequel is available).
Yes, his wife has the rights.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If that were to be the case, there would be no incentive whatsoever for any publisher to issue their back-catalogue as ebooks.

Your concern is not without foundation, but I think can be overcome in the design of such a system. My intention was to raise what I see as a problem and suggest one possible solution off the top of my head. My main concern was orphaned works, but my proposed solution was wider than this. I really don't think it is desirable for rights holders to be able to withhold their backlist titles indefinitely, particularly not where the author has effectively relinquished control of the work. A book is not making money for anyone if it is not available, and there is now little excuse for this. Designed in a particular way legislation could gtve publishers a very big incentive to publish their backlist. Another option may be for the law to compel the reversion of the rights to the author or relatives if the work is not made available as an ebook within a reasonable time.

I find it interesting that publishers are one of many groups which talk about the importance of books to culture and argue that they should have special treatment for this reason. Yet so many books go out of print and sink without trace.

My suggestions at this stage are for discussion. I think there are problems which need to be addressed, but have not fully thought it through at this stage and am not wedded to a particular solution.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If that were to be the case, there would be no incentive whatsoever for any publisher to issue their back-catalogue as ebooks.

And there would be no need. We'd have the books. Publishers would be paid. The trick is to have a reliable payment system where they'll really get paid.

One way a publisher might do this is to contact a pirate group of some sort and make a deal with them. Quit giving away our books to unlicensed people and instead take a commission for giving them to those with licenses. Not every pirate group would be willing to do that but I'd bet some would. They'd eliminate a source of piracy, sell some licenses and the former pirates would be turned into honest capitalists.

My guess is that the publishers would be far less offended by something like this than the members of this forum.

Barry

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by crossi

Do you eventually want to get all your favorite books as ebooks? This excludes those who never reread of course, but for the rest of you?

You know what? I never even thought of doing this. I have replaced basically all of my favorite movies with digital editions (mostly iTunes... please don't give me grief about this, ). Same with music (although a lot of those were actually rips of my CDs and then I got rid of the CDs... I like to burn my bridges ). But I have never even really thought about this for my book collection.

So I have no answer for your question crossi... but I do have much to think about now.

[sakura-panda]

I bought an ebook reader because I was having storage issues with my books. I haven't replaced all of them, but I have replaced quite a few of them as I reread them; I don't repurchase them just for the sake of replacing them.

[AnemicOak]

In a perfect world I'd love to get everything in digital. Mainly I pick up titles as I see them on sale (author notifications from eReaderIQ help here) as there are a lot of books on any to buy list I could make and so many of them are $8 - $10 per backlist title that it's just not possible for me to grab everything at full price.

[basschick]

i've gotten most of my favorites as ebooks, and as a result, i've boxed up many pbooks with desiccant packs and we've put them in the garage. now we have much more space and i can find my books electronically without having to go through multiple bookcases in multiple rooms, each with 2 layers per shelf of books. believe me, i don't miss that!

like everyone says, there are favorites that aren't available as ebooks, but some of my faves that weren't available last year are available now, so i grab 'em as they come up.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by crossi

Do you eventually want to get all your favorite books as ebooks? This excludes those who never reread of course, but for the rest of you? I've replaced about 80% of my paper keepers that I currently had plus a bunch of old favorites that for one reason or another I hadn't kept. And am impatiently waiting for a handful that are not yet out as ebooks

I'm the opposite actually. I've come to the point where I'd like to start building up a physical library of my favourites that I've read on ebook, for the visual, tactile and conversation-starting enjoyment of it.

As for ebooks, I don't care about having old pre-ebook favourites electronically unless I'm about to re-read them, and so far I very rarely re-read even favourites.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by darryl

Your concern is not without foundation, but I think can be overcome in the design of such a system. My intention was to raise what I see as a problem and suggest one possible solution off the top of my head. My main concern was orphaned works, but my proposed solution was wider than this. I really don't think it is desirable for rights holders to be able to withhold their backlist titles indefinitely, particularly not where the author has effectively relinquished control of the work. A book is not making money for anyone if it is not available, and there is now little excuse for this. Designed in a particular way legislation could gtve publishers a very big incentive to publish their backlist. Another option may be for the law to compel the reversion of the rights to the author or relatives if the work is not made available as an ebook within a reasonable time.

I find it interesting that publishers are one of many groups which talk about the importance of books to culture and argue that they should have special treatment for this reason. Yet so many books go out of print and sink without trace.

My suggestions at this stage are for discussion. I think there are problems which need to be addressed, but have not fully thought it through at this stage and am not wedded to a particular solution.

I have frequently said that the ideal copyright law would be that a book is only protected if it is available for purchase. That protects the public's rights, something that is normally ignored in these discussions, as well as the author's. Copyright is a contract, not property. That means there are obligations on both sides.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I have frequently said that the ideal copyright law would be that a book is only protected if it is available for purchase. That protects the public's rights, something that is normally ignored in these discussions, as well as the author's. Copyright is a contract, not property. That means there are obligations on both sides.

My idea for copyright is that the rights holders should be required to renew it every few years, for a fee--e.g., after an initial fifty-year period, every fifteen years; perhaps with a grace period. That way, if the copyright holders consider a work still valuable, they can keep it out of the public domain, but authors and their estates can decide that they don't want to keep paying a fee for something that isn't benefiting them financially.