All Romance eBooks / OmniLit to close on 12/31/16

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I'm suspicious. I'm thinking there is more to the story. Convenient way to promote your books in this mess.

Sent from my XT1528

She's posted excerpts from the letter, and it's a free book. The worry is they told her in the first letter they could ban her from publishing on Amazon. In this case, knowing Amazon as I do, I'm more inclined to believe the author. Amazon aren't exactly subtle in their letters.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

She's posted excerpts from the letter, and it's a free book. The worry is they told her in the first letter they could ban her from publishing on Amazon. In this case, knowing Amazon as I do, I'm more inclined to believe the author. Amazon aren't exactly subtle in their letters.

No I'm not saying she's lying about that but she was very quick to point fingers and scare other authors. It doesn't matter it was a free story her other books are not.

You should never make accusations without proof. She's either wanting attention or using it as publicity for her books.

We are not getting the full story.

Several have told her this is a common scam nothing to do with ARE but she won't listen to reason. She is using this as publicity which I think is bad taste.

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[BearMountainBooks]

It's very easy to panic when Amazon sends those letters because they will not reveal who is claiming the rights on the other end. It could be someone showing a contract saying they are the ones with the right to publish. If she had already been publishing it on her own, that is STILL possible. The problem is that Amazon won't tell her--they will ask for proof that is pretty hard to provide when you don't know what you need.

I doubt she's using it for publicity, although I don't know the author. She's probably just screaming in panic and after having had problems with ARe, she may just be pointing the finger early. Just making that claim is hardy enough to provide publicity. I could write sob stories on my blog or visit other blogs and leave sob stories, but that isn't likely to generate "buying" publicity. The readers have been taken in this scenario as well so just mad speculation doesn't buy anyone anything.

Other authors have gotten that letter and it can take WEEKS to straighten out. It simply isn't a high priority with Amazon. It's much easier to take the book down.

[Blossom]

She's refusing to see reason that ARE more than likely has nothing to do with it. She keeps accusing them without proof.

So more like she doing it for the "many" comments she is getting. Sorry but I can tell when someone doesn't care about the paranoia she is spreading to other authors. I'd post the link and name so you could see for yourself but I don't want to give her any public time on here.

Getting back to the topic.

There is a Facebook group of authors getting together for class action. You can find the link on SB Sarah's blog in the comments on the post about ARE.

They are also saying anyone who lost books needs to file a complaint with Florida's Attorney General's office.

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[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Blossom

They are also saying anyone who lost books needs to file a complaint with Florida's Attorney General's office.

I sure don't want to present myself as an expert, but isn't this where the whole "you don't own your e-books" argument is going to come in? With this store closing, you aren't losing e-books you own, you are losing your ability to view licensed content.

Not that I agree, but isn't that where ARe's customers stand legally?

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I sure don't want to present myself as an expert, but isn't this where the whole "you don't own your e-books" argument is going to come in? With this store closing, you aren't losing e-books you own, you are losing your ability to view licensed content.

Not that I agree, but isn't that where ARe's customers stand legally?

Probably true. It's just so sad. Still maybe if enough complaints are made the AG would take action. It's worth a try.

We need to change this. We need to change the law about owning ebooks if anything this is a prime example why.

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[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Blossom

She's refusing to see reason that ARE more than likely has nothing to do with it. She keeps accusing them without proof.

So more like she doing it for the "many" comments she is getting. Sorry but I can tell when someone doesn't care about the paranoia she is spreading to other authors. I'd post the link and name so you could see for yourself but I don't want to give her any public time on here.

Getting back to the topic.

There is a Facebook group of authors getting together for class action. You can find the link on SB Sarah's blog in the comments on the post about ARE.

They are also saying anyone who lost books needs to file a complaint with Florida's Attorney General's office.

Sent from my XT1528

Sounds like you and I are both on that authors FB feed, still like you say we've seen it before but I can empathise with her panic, I've been at the end of a threatening Amazon letter myself.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Probably true. It's just so sad. Still maybe if enough complaints are made the AG would take action. It's worth a try.

We need to change this. We need to change the law about owning ebooks if anything this is a prime example why.

Sent from my XT1528

We need to change the law about owning all digital files, ebooks, audiobooks, video, it's all the same, unless it's sold DRM free we don't own it.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Sounds like you and I are both on that authors FB feed, still like you say we've seen it before but I can empathise with her panic, I've been at the end of a threatening Amazon letter myself.

No her blog post. I haven't checked her Facebook.

Originally Posted by Josieb1

We need to change the law about owning all digital files, ebooks, audiobooks, video, it's all the same, unless it's sold DRM free we don't own it.

Even DRM free is not considered owned. You are purchasing a license not a book. It needs to change. The license worked fine on software but Digital content is much different than software.

Most Amazon books they publish with the exception of Montlake are DRM free. The publisher turns on the DRM when they upload their file.

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[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

We need to change the law about owning all digital files, ebooks, audiobooks, video, it's all the same, unless it's sold DRM free we don't own it.

Strictly speaking in most cases even if it is sold DRM free, you don't own it. I've seen much the same verbiage about licensing in the copyright/EULA segment of both DRMed and DRM-free ebooks.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Probably true. It's just so sad. Still maybe if enough complaints are made the AG would take action. It's worth a try.

We need to change this. We need to change the law about owning ebooks if anything this is a prime example why.

Sent from my XT1528

The problem here is not a license vs owning. The problem is the people who did not download the eBooks and now have lost them. I think both the shop and those that did not download are at fault.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem here is not a license vs owning. The problem is the people who did not download the eBooks and now have lost them. I think both the shop and those that did not download are at fault.

Right, but that's your personal opinion, whereas the post above was suggesting legal action (those that lost access to their books should file a complaint with Florida's Attorney General).

Morally, maybe both sides are at fault. I sure feel for the readers that lost access due to the sudden closure and am not as quick as you to blame them for not backing up their books.

But regardless of either of our opinions, I doubt the readers who lost their books have a legal leg to stand on.

[Blossom]

As I hear more stories my understanding most used ARE desktop program for years and didn't know they could download the books separately. I'm not familiar with any of this or the software.

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[Byrdie]

I believe there may be some copyright ownership issues due to the books being considered assets of ARE's if there is a bankruptcy process going on. Was reading an article -- I think on SmartBitches -- where they talked about that possibility and advised authors to see about getting their catalogs reverted to them ASAP. Maybe that writer who says Amazon is disputing her copyright is caught up in such a mess.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Byrdie

I believe there may be some copyright ownership issues due to the books being considered assets of ARE's if there is a bankruptcy process going on. Was reading an article -- I think on SmartBitches -- where they talked about that possibility and advised authors to see about getting their catalogs reverted to them ASAP. Maybe that writer who says Amazon is disputing her copyright is caught up in such a mess.

If ARe acted as the publisher then they can file a third-party type of claim (and that was my understanding of what the author thought happened.) ARe or any entity can CLAIM anything they want. Amazon then has to decide what they want for proof. There was a case last year of someone copying text from some books, posting it on a blog and back dating it. They'd then file a claim with Amazon using the back date as their "claim" of ownership. They then wrote the author and blackmailed them (not admitting they were the party involved) ---pay "x" and we'll resolve this claim for you. It was easy for them to resolve because they'd just tell Amazon the claim had been resolved.

The problem, of course, is that it can take forever to resolve because Amazon does not identify claimants to other claimants.