Screwed by Tor again... - Page 2

Taylor514ce · 08-18-2008, 05:31 PM

I've pointed them to this thread. We'll see. TOR, now's your chance. Anything you'd like to say to the members of the most influential e-book site? HINT: the first sentence should probably contain the word "sorry" somewhere.

slayda · 08-18-2008, 05:33 PM

May not make you feel any better but the second book by John Scalzi after Old Man's War is, IMHO, not of the same quality as the first. It is good but not nearly as good. The third one, don't even bother with, again IMO.

I had read all three prior to Tor's freebies. Scalzi does have a new book at Tor but again, not in ebook format & I would have liked to buy it. But won't buy the pbook version. Also Tor seems to like to charge hardback prices for their ebooks that they do release.

Taylor514ce · 08-18-2008, 05:39 PM

Right... TOR: if you're listening. We really don't like paying hardcover prices for no-cover e-books. If you ever decide you would like to have us customers, please consider a rational pricing policy. Thank you.

jamesdmanley · 08-18-2008, 06:08 PM

anyone else still getting the tor emails? mine stopped a few weeks ago.

Greg Anos · 08-18-2008, 06:39 PM

Taylor, all I can do is paraphrase what the Waco Kid Told Sheriff Bart -

"These (publishers) are salt of the earth, the common clay of the new technology....You know....Morons!

DMcCunney · 08-18-2008, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

Great There will not be a third time. I'm deleting all the "free" e-books from Tor. Their neat little promotion trick, at least in this case, has backfired. I will not be doing any business with Tor.

Tor stated the ebooks were a promotion for their site.They never said it was anything more, nor that it should be construed as intent to do further ebooks.

As it happens, I expect there will be more in electronic from Tor. A response to a comment of mine urging them to do that by Patrick Nelisen Hayden, a Tor Senior Editor and Editorial Director, stated that Tor parent company Macmillan was busy making digital versions of the rest of Tor's catalog, and we could expect more ebook offerings from Tor in upcoming months.

I'm not sure why you expected other books in series where one was offered as an ebook in their promotional deal would also be available as ebooks. I didn't. I took them at their word when they stated what the promotion was all about.

I advise patience.
______
Dennis

DMcCunney · 08-18-2008, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamesdmanley

anyone else still getting the tor emails? mine stopped a few weeks ago.

There are two sets of emails. One was the weekly series promoting the launch of the new Tor.com site, with attached ebook offerings. That has stopped. The second is a monthly newletter. As far as I know, that continues, and I have May, June, and July issues thus far.
______
Dennis

DMcCunney · 08-18-2008, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slayda

May not make you feel any better but the second book by John Scalzi after Old Man's War is, IMHO, not of the same quality as the first. It is good but not nearly as good. The third one, don't even bother with, again IMO.

Can't agree on that, I fear. I though all three held up well, and Scalzi did a good job of slowly revealing all was not exactly as it seemed in the first book, and the situation was more complex than the protagonist was aware of.
______
Dennis

RickyMaveety · 08-18-2008, 08:16 PM

Well, thanks, Taylor. Good to know. I'm not starting any series I can't finish on my Kindle. I had enough frustration working through the Riverworld series years ago in pbook format. Read a book .... doesn't end at the "end" ... and no sequel published yet. That sort of thing just makes me crazy.

So, I'll file all the TOR offerings in my "read someday if and when you have time and if the other books have been made available in ebook format" folder. (No, it's not called exactly that .... it's actually titled "pending."

Nate the great · 08-18-2008, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

First, it was Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Free e-book download. Great book, I want more from this author! Sorry, Tor doesn't publish e-books. I'm screwed out of the rest of the series.

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.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

There will not be a third time. I'm deleting all the "free" e-books from Tor. Their neat little promotion trick, at least in this case, has backfired. I will not be doing any business with Tor.

Did you post this over at TOR.com? I can't find it.

Nate the great · 08-18-2008, 08:40 PM

Nevermind. I found it.

You should have started your own topic (more impact).

Taylor514ce · 08-18-2008, 09:36 PM

I figured that was the appropriate place to post. On-topic, relevant, and already full of e-book angst. One more ripple in an already large wave.

Taylor514ce · 08-18-2008, 11:00 PM

On the other hand, I will speculate that my recent hissy fit prompted another look at YOURS:

Some good information and replies therein.

I should clarify that my particular issue in this case is twofold.

The use of e-books to promote a site that has nothing to do with e-books, from a BOOK PUBLISHER, nonetheless. A recipe for misunderstanding and disappointment.

Using e-books that are parts of series that are not fully available as e-books. Again, a recipe for disappointment and frustration.

In hindsight, I think the way to promote a blog, interview and short story site would be to release interviews and short stories. TOR set improper expectations and then didn't respond well to the reactions. At least for this reader, it has lessened my enjoyment of the tor.com site as a whole. Sure, I read and liked Scalzi's short story, but top of mind is the thought, "yeah, but when can I get Ghost Brigades in LRF?".

Like Nate, I thought Farthing was brilliant, and want more. I loved Old Man's War. I was fully engrossed in Orphans of Chaos. My own personal opinion, not backed by any research or statistics, is that TOR did their authors a disservice by surrounding their excellent work in an aura of disappointment and confusion.

Nate the great · 08-18-2008, 11:38 PM

I responded to that thread:

Quote:

@148 Torie

Quote:

They were a promotion for the launch of Tor.com, a product we most certainly have provided.

One basic rule of promotion is you release samples of the item you are promoting.

If you want to promote a movie, you release clips.

If you want to promote a book, you release excerpts.

In promoting this site, you released ebooks. One could assume from the ebook release that you would have ebooks on this site. Where are they, please?

pdurrant · 08-19-2008, 04:07 AM

TOR came to an agreement to offer books on the webscription site a while back. And as you can see at webscriptions.net, the first batch of TOR eBooks made it onto the webscriptions site. Then someone high-up in TOR's parent company found out what was going on (selling eBooks with no DRM at decent prices) and put an immediate stop to it. The books remain on the site (for those who bought them in the short window they were available), but are no longer for sale.

Off Armagedon Reef is a special case because the author negotiated some special terms in his contract. But the price is a lot higher than normal.

TOR & parent company are still in discussions about making eBooks available through webscriptions.net, but I believe there are some legal problems holding things up.

I wish they would hurry up!

Paul

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

The reply from someone at TOR, on the TOR site, was that there is a much-publicized deal to offer TOR books through Baen.

The Baen site, Webscriptions, TOR. A total of 12 titles, only 1 of which can be added to the shopping cart. And it's one of the titles they've already given away, for free.

08-18-2008, 11:00 PM	#28
Taylor514ce Actively passive. Posts: 2,042 Karma: 478376 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: US Device: Sony PRS-505/LC	On the other hand, I will speculate that my recent hissy fit prompted another look at YOURS: Some good information and replies therein. I should clarify that my particular issue in this case is twofold. The use of e-books to promote a site that has nothing to do with e-books, from a BOOK PUBLISHER, nonetheless. A recipe for misunderstanding and disappointment. Using e-books that are parts of series that are not fully available as e-books. Again, a recipe for disappointment and frustration. In hindsight, I think the way to promote a blog, interview and short story site would be to release interviews and short stories. TOR set improper expectations and then didn't respond well to the reactions. At least for this reader, it has lessened my enjoyment of the tor.com site as a whole. Sure, I read and liked Scalzi's short story, but top of mind is the thought, "yeah, but when can I get Ghost Brigades in LRF?". Like Nate, I thought Farthing was brilliant, and want more. I loved Old Man's War. I was fully engrossed in Orphans of Chaos. My own personal opinion, not backed by any research or statistics, is that TOR did their authors a disservice by surrounding their excellent work in an aura of disappointment and confusion.

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08-18-2008, 05:31 PM	#16
Taylor514ce Actively passive. Posts: 2,042 Karma: 478376 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: US Device: Sony PRS-505/LC	I've pointed them to this thread. We'll see. TOR, now's your chance. Anything you'd like to say to the members of the most influential e-book site? HINT: the first sentence should probably contain the word "sorry" somewhere.

08-18-2008, 05:33 PM	#17
slayda Retired & reading more! Posts: 2,764 Karma: 1884247 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North Alabama, USA Device: Kindle 1, iPad Air 2, iPhone 6S+, Kobo Aura One	May not make you feel any better but the second book by John Scalzi after Old Man's War is, IMHO, not of the same quality as the first. It is good but not nearly as good. The third one, don't even bother with, again IMO. I had read all three prior to Tor's freebies. Scalzi does have a new book at Tor but again, not in ebook format & I would have liked to buy it. But won't buy the pbook version. Also Tor seems to like to charge hardback prices for their ebooks that they do release.

08-18-2008, 05:39 PM	#18
Taylor514ce Actively passive. Posts: 2,042 Karma: 478376 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: US Device: Sony PRS-505/LC	Right... TOR: if you're listening. We really don't like paying hardcover prices for no-cover e-books. If you ever decide you would like to have us customers, please consider a rational pricing policy. Thank you.

08-18-2008, 06:08 PM	#19
jamesdmanley Groupie Posts: 156 Karma: 817 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: houston Device: prs-500	anyone else still getting the tor emails? mine stopped a few weeks ago.

08-18-2008, 06:39 PM	#20
Greg Anos Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,520 Karma: 37057604 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Pocketbook	Taylor, all I can do is paraphrase what the Waco Kid Told Sheriff Bart - "These (publishers) are salt of the earth, the common clay of the new technology....You know....Morons!

08-18-2008, 08:16 PM	#24
RickyMaveety Holy S**T!!! Posts: 5,213 Karma: 108401 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: San Diego, California!! Device: Kindle and iPad	Well, thanks, Taylor. Good to know. I'm not starting any series I can't finish on my Kindle. I had enough frustration working through the Riverworld series years ago in pbook format. Read a book .... doesn't end at the "end" ... and no sequel published yet. That sort of thing just makes me crazy. So, I'll file all the TOR offerings in my "read someday if and when you have time and if the other books have been made available in ebook format" folder. (No, it's not called exactly that .... it's actually titled "pending."

08-18-2008, 08:40 PM	#26
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	Nevermind. I found it. You should have started your own topic (more impact).

08-18-2008, 09:36 PM	#27
Taylor514ce Actively passive. Posts: 2,042 Karma: 478376 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: US Device: Sony PRS-505/LC	I figured that was the appropriate place to post. On-topic, relevant, and already full of e-book angst. One more ripple in an already large wave.

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