01-17-2010, 08:37 AM | #61 |
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Not done anyone any good yet.
If it plays a part in waking up the publishers so that they release ebook versions of their books at the same time as the hardbacks then it will have had the desired effect. |
01-17-2010, 08:43 AM | #62 |
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01-17-2010, 09:21 AM | #63 |
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01-17-2010, 09:23 AM | #64 |
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Sometimes that's the only thing that works. The publishers are corporations, they only care about return on investment to stockholders. Unless you can somehow affect that, they don't listen.
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01-17-2010, 09:29 AM | #65 | |
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But, while these retaliatory/"guerilla" reviews might not harm the author for a given book, if such reviews appear in sufficient number to lower the rating then it will harm the author come time for the negotiation of their deal for the next book because the publisher is going to point to lower sales numbers for the last book even if a reason for the lower sales and ratings might be due to the business practices of the publishers. BTW, if all publishers actually make this the norm I would expect whatever authors guild/union to look into collusion charges, though the courts today simply have made it too easy for companies to collude even in the face of there being obvious proof of acting in concert and in an anti-consumer fashion. I mean look at cable and the telco's (especially cellular) companies and how all of they rates change in concert and their plans never are truly competitive. So, in a way the publisher wins no matter what approach the consumer takes...to me that is one of the things I find wrong with publishers (or record labels as well) in that they point fingers at both consumers as well as use anything they can to pay the author less. I really hope their comes a point for many authors where they have enough success to be able to contract with an editor, an expert to create well formatted versions of the book in however many formats the author chooses and of course someone for any cover art and in book art. Because of the ability to self publish this can be handled all outside of the publisher's reach. but, I just don't know who well or poorly publishers treat most author. Still I see a setup similar to how one can pick up contract programming jobs on any number of sites where the developer bids on the project. Such a system is really great for both parties because if things go well, odds are there will be more work should the developer want to keep working with the individual or company, but if either party is not pleased, both can move on with little or no hard feelings until they find the right people they can work with successfully. Still I feel the consumer is the loser if these sort of reviews become the norm as peer reviews were once an excellent source to gauge a product. These days with angry "getting even" reviewers combined with paid reviewers, the systems are becoming less relevant every day. |
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01-17-2010, 09:30 AM | #66 |
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01-17-2010, 09:39 AM | #67 | |
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I think it was you that mentioned the likes of blogs and twitter in a previous post, using the Amazon ratings is really just another variation of that same theme. Emailing the publishers will most likely just end up in their spam box. Writing a letter to them is possibly more likely to be noticed than emails, but that is a whole other level of effort and very few people would bother. Any other suggestions? |
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01-17-2010, 09:50 AM | #68 | |
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If Amazon dont like it then they can remove all of the one star reviews, which relate to the delayed release of an eBook. At least in doing so they will have heard their customers. I know this is a publisher issue but I'd rather have Amazon fight that battle than us as consumers. |
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01-17-2010, 09:56 AM | #69 | ||
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It reminds me of an angry reader I "met" on-line years ago, who gave a book a one-star review and flamed the author over my mailing list, other mailing list, and even various author boards because she thought the author was "ignoring" her at a booksigning. (It sounded more like a misunderstanding.) In the "review," she admitted that she threw the book at the author and walked out, so she clearly never read it. Amazon took it down within days. But Amazon had better service back then, and they were better at taking down "protest" reviews. Also, I'm pretty sure Amazon has review guidelines that the reviews must actually be about the content of the book. But they aren't as good about as taking them down anymore. |
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01-17-2010, 09:58 AM | #70 | |
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Baseless reviews serve zero purpose than to label such reviews/reviewers as nut jobs to be ignored...sorry but that is how it comes across. I suppose the way companies are combating these tactics is simply to have a peer rating system for each individual review...I know I will usually give then thumbs-down to such "I'm getting my pound of flesh" type reviews that have nothing to do with the product itself.... |
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01-17-2010, 11:27 AM | #71 | |
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Again, I'm sorry some of you feel this is "childish" and if Amazon was the only place one could turn for book reviews, even just user submitted ones, I might sympathize. But it isn't. If someone is only looking to Amazon for advise on what to read, I feel sorry for them period. This just happens to be one form of protest that companies have been known to listen to. Anything else is easily ignored. And it's not like the review police aren't voting the Kindle protests down so it's really easy to find a "real" review. But, as I mentioned earlier Amazon user reviews on political books are next to worthless as they are rarely more than cheerleader for or against the political side of the author. So I have a hard time the reviews on this book weren't going to devolve into name calling anyway. Look at how many of the review police are accusing the Kindle people of being politically motivated. I find it kind of disheartening that so many people here seem to think expecting equal treatment for eReaders is unreasonable (especially as the publishers are trying to push prices upwards to hardback levels) and daring to actually speak out against these moronic policies in a forum that publishers actually care about (because it can hurt the bottom line) is childish and sinking to some level. Last edited by Rob G.; 01-17-2010 at 11:31 AM. |
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01-17-2010, 11:30 AM | #72 | |
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The primary reason I bought a Kindle was so that I wouldn't have to lug around a 1,000 page hardback novel with me. So yes, it's a bit of a sticking point when I found out that publishers are delaying ebook releases. The more information that can be provided when researching a device and the content available for it, the better. Empowering the consumer to make a decision based upon all the facts, not just the ones the publishers want them to know. |
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01-17-2010, 12:01 PM | #73 | |
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And I realised my main problem with hardback was more it taking a lot of room in the library, than the actual price. So I waited for paperback. Sometimes borrowed the book at the library. If the hardback cost say 20E, I have no problem with paying e-book 20E. But I will not spend these same 20E on hardback; I'll just wait. Last edited by EowynCarter; 01-17-2010 at 12:06 PM. |
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01-17-2010, 12:29 PM | #74 |
frumious Bandersnatch
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Why shouldn't you be allowed to comment on the binding, paper, printing or typesetting quality of a paper book? Those are part of the product you get when you buy it (and you don't need to actually buy it to have something useful to say, you could have seen it in a bookstore, or gotten it as a gift). The same can be applied to ebooks, you can comment on the formatting, crappy OCR, obnoxious DRM or whatever.
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01-17-2010, 12:37 PM | #75 | |
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