Arthur C. Clarke ebooks?

AppleTard · 07-09-2012, 09:48 AM

I wanted to buy some of my favorite Arthur C. Clarke works as ebooks, to replace my tattered paperbacks. I search the Kindle Store, but it offers only a paltry selection (mostly of his later work).

Does anyone knows why this is the case? Is it a legal matter, or just market forces responding to low demand? I've even tried looking for torrents (shoot me!), but only found poorly formatted PDFs. I'd appreciate any light shed on this subject.

garygibsonsf · 07-09-2012, 09:58 AM

Really? I see scads of ACC books available for Kindle, both old and more recent on both Amazon US and UK, including the 'classic' releases from sfgateway.com.

Delfic_Clearo · 07-09-2012, 11:15 AM

Similar problem with period sci-fi author Philip K. Dick. If you want "Do Androids", Amazon pushes the French language version. If you opt for the Kindle version, you get a rewrite at 'Level V', which is apparently restricted to a 1,800 word vocab, or some such. Hard to just get the d*&% book. And B&N, their search toy returns a null report. Go figure. I have no hypothesis other than greed and laziness. Or maybe Heinlein's Stand on Zanzibar has arrived. What's your theory?

HarryT · 07-09-2012, 12:54 PM

All (that I can think of) of Mr Clarke's books are available as eBooks on Amazon UK.

miguel1626 · 07-09-2012, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garygibsonsf

Really? I see scads of ACC books available for Kindle, both old and more recent on both Amazon US and UK, including the 'classic' releases from sfgateway.com.

Scads!? I've just checked Amazon: No Childhood's End, no Space Odyssey, no Rendezvous with Rama, no The City and the Stars, no Fall of Moondust, no Songs of Distant Earth, no compilation of short stories (and no, audiobooks don't count). Sfgateway.com yielded nothing better.

Here's what is available on Amazon US (and not co-written with Stephen Baxter): The Sentinel, The Ghost from the Grand Banks, Clarke's Universe. This is a very poor selection, as far as I'm concerned.

If you do know where to find the books I mentioned on the 1st paragraph, please give us a link. I don't know about the OP, but I'd surely appreciate

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

All (that I can think of) of Mr Clarke's books are available as eBooks on Amazon UK.

I absolutely hate georestrictions - totally forgot to check Amazon UK. But I just looked for Songs of Distant Earth, and it's not available on the UK either. So not everything is available, but at least it's an improvement over the US store. At some point in the future I'll have to get my fake UK address again

HarryT · 07-09-2012, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miguel1626

Scads!? I've just checked Amazon: No Childhood's End, no Space Odyssey, no Rendezvous with Rama, no The City and the Stars, no Fall of Moondust, no Songs of Distant Earth, no compilation of short stories (and no, audiobooks don't count). Sfgateway.com yielded nothing better.

I know this probably doesn't help you, but all the books you name are available at Amazon UK.

miguel1626 · 07-09-2012, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I know this probably doesn't help you, but all the books you name are available at Amazon UK.

Yep, I saw it afterwards and edited my post accordingly... At some point I'll get myself a UK proxy/fake address (again) in order to buy this stuff (I did it once to get a couple Stephen King books). Lame georestriction...

crossi · 07-09-2012, 02:18 PM

I feel for you. I want David Eddings books. They are available in Amazon UK but not in the US (except for the few that I like least).

Santos · 07-09-2012, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crossi

I feel for you. I want David Eddings books. They are available in Amazon UK but not in the US (except for the few that I like least).

I agree, I like Eddings Books but can't find any ebook versions

piperclassique · 07-09-2012, 05:56 PM

Uh huh. Would a little vpn help? And an exchange of gift vouchers to get round the credit card address problem? Just a thought.

CommonReader · 07-09-2012, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miguel1626

Scads!? I've just checked Amazon: No Childhood's End, no Space Odyssey, no Rendezvous with Rama, no The City and the Stars, no Fall of Moondust, no Songs of Distant Earth, no compilation of short stories (and no, audiobooks don't count). Sfgateway.com yielded nothing better.

Perhaps the publishers believe that all potential demand has been satisfied by the darknet already?

carpetmojo · 07-09-2012, 06:18 PM

Can you use PayPal to buy from UK , or do the limitations apply too ?
Only I've bought from US like this.....

Greg Anos · 07-09-2012, 07:47 PM

5 years ago, some were available on fictionwise as htmls. then the publishers got horsey and had them removed. So I have a legitimate City and the Stars, Deep Range and Sands of Mars...

crossi · 07-09-2012, 07:52 PM

I've thought about using vpn but I don't know how to go about it. So I'm just waiting. I really don't know what the hold up is. It can't be that the author was against ebooks because they are available in the UK. It can't be because the publisher doesn't think they'd sell because I've seen a lot of less popular authors books made available.

frquixote · 07-09-2012, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miguel1626

no The City and the Stars, no Fall of Moondust, no Songs of Distant Earth, no compilation of short stories Sfgateway.com yielded nothing better.

Did you check Books on Board? If found those three books there in ePub format, don't know if they have them in Kindle. Still, Apprentice Alf and Calibre could be your friend.

There are several others, as well, but no Space Odyssey books. I, too, hate georestrictions. There was a compilation of all ACC's short stories at the local Border's before before it closed, but I was hoping to find it in ebook ... guessed wrong.

07-09-2012, 09:48 AM	#1
AppleTard Member Posts: 24 Karma: 1839286 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: iPad	Arthur C. Clarke ebooks? I wanted to buy some of my favorite Arthur C. Clarke works as ebooks, to replace my tattered paperbacks. I search the Kindle Store, but it offers only a paltry selection (mostly of his later work). Does anyone knows why this is the case? Is it a legal matter, or just market forces responding to low demand? I've even tried looking for torrents (shoot me!), but only found poorly formatted PDFs. I'd appreciate any light shed on this subject.

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07-09-2012, 09:58 AM	#2
garygibsonsf Addict Posts: 321 Karma: 432192 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Glasgow, Scotland Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite	Really? I see scads of ACC books available for Kindle, both old and more recent on both Amazon US and UK, including the 'classic' releases from sfgateway.com.

07-09-2012, 11:15 AM	#3
Delfic_Clearo Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2012 Device: Kindle	Similar problem with period sci-fi author Philip K. Dick. If you want "Do Androids", Amazon pushes the French language version. If you opt for the Kindle version, you get a rewrite at 'Level V', which is apparently restricted to a 1,800 word vocab, or some such. Hard to just get the d&% book. And B&N, their search toy returns a null report. Go figure. I have no hypothesis other than greed and laziness. Or maybe Heinlein's Stand on Zanzibar* has arrived. What's your theory?

07-09-2012, 12:54 PM	#4
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	All (that I can think of) of Mr Clarke's books are available as eBooks on Amazon UK.

07-09-2012, 02:18 PM	#8
crossi Guru Posts: 992 Karma: 12000001 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Seattle Wahington U.S. Device: kindle	I feel for you. I want David Eddings books. They are available in Amazon UK but not in the US (except for the few that I like least).

07-09-2012, 05:56 PM	#10
piperclassique A garbling groftpot Posts: 974 Karma: 9234667 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: France Device: Oasis, Voyage, Kobo mini, Samsung tablet, phones, whatever.	Uh huh. Would a little vpn help? And an exchange of gift vouchers to get round the credit card address problem? Just a thought.

07-09-2012, 06:18 PM	#12
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	Can you use PayPal to buy from UK , or do the limitations apply too ? Only I've bought from US like this.....

07-09-2012, 07:47 PM	#13
Greg Anos Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,248 Karma: 35000000 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Pocketbook	5 years ago, some were available on fictionwise as htmls. then the publishers got horsey and had them removed. So I have a legitimate City and the Stars, Deep Range and Sands of Mars...

07-09-2012, 07:52 PM	#14
crossi Guru Posts: 992 Karma: 12000001 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Seattle Wahington U.S. Device: kindle	I've thought about using vpn but I don't know how to go about it. So I'm just waiting. I really don't know what the hold up is. It can't be that the author was against ebooks because they are available in the UK. It can't be because the publisher doesn't think they'd sell because I've seen a lot of less popular authors books made available.

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