Mary Stewart - Arthurian Saga

[issybird]

Just for the fun of it:

These are obviously not legitimate ebooks.

That said, if Amazon doesn't care, the publisher doesn't care, and the Stewart estate doesn't care enough to pursue it, I don't see why the hapless buyer has to say, "This shall not stand!" I personally strongly prefer not to give money to pirates. But if doing so would get me cheap and legitimate audiobooks, I wouldn't feel the moral obligation not to do so under these specific circumstances.

I'm commenting from the sidelines. I have not and will not purchase either the ebooks nor the audiobooks.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I think he already answered that question by repeatably ignoring it.

Well, this should be easy enough to settle. I just sent an email to HarperCollins to see what they say about it. I'll post any response that I get.

Just as a follow up, I did get a response asking for the ISDN. I sent the information that I had plus a link to the ebook. Once again, I'll post whatever response I get, one way or the other.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Just as a follow up, I did get a response asking for the ISDN. I sent the information that I had plus a link to the ebook. Once again, I'll post whatever response I get, one way or the other.

And according to HarperCollins, it is legit.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

And according to HarperCollins, it is legit.

Mind posting the reply you've received?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

And according to HarperCollins, it is legit.

I suspect you got a reply for the paperbook that you gave an ISBN for.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I suspect you got a reply for the paperbook that you gave an ISBN for.

Nope, they said that "Amazon does deal with the download for the kindle."

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Nope, they said that "Amazon does deal with the download for the kindle."

Fascinating. Their piracy team are still investigating, according to the latest I had from them. Would you mind posting your complete email and reply?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Nope, they said that "Amazon does deal with the download for the kindle."

So who deals with the download for the ePub? There is no ePub and there's no reason why these books would be up on Amazon only.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Nope, they said that "Amazon does deal with the download for the kindle."

So who deals with the download for the ePub? There is no ePub and there's no reason why these books would be up on Amazon only.

One other thing is that these books are not on Overdrive and I would think they would be. The omnibus of the first three books up on Overdrive is a Smashwords copy that we know is 100% bogus.

What ISBN did you give HarperCollins for these eBooks? When I looked at the preview for The Crystal Cave, the ISBN is for the trade paperback and if that's what you gave, then that would make sense why you got the wrong answer.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Fascinating. Their piracy team are still investigating, according to the latest I had from them. Would you mind posting your complete email and reply?

Initial -

I recently purchased the Mary Stewart Merlin Trilogy (Crystal Cave, Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment) as ebooks from Amazon. I was even able to purchase the audio books at a discount because I had the ebooks. Recently, on one of the ebook forums, the question was raised if these are pirated ebooks, or if they are legit. The published is listed as EOS, which I believe became Harper Voyager. Do you know if these ebooks are indeed published by HarperCollins? I see the paper version of the books on your website.
Thanks
Phillip Walker
=============
response -

Good Morning Phillip,
Can you send us the isbn#s for these Titles, so we may further assist you?

Thank you,
Kind Regards,
Barb

CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPT | HarperCollinsPublishers
=============
my response
The Crystal Cave doesn't list a ISDN, but it does list a ASIN of B01E2Y789U

Here is the URL if that help
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01E2...J1L&ref=plSrch

======================
Their response -
Good morning

Amazon does deal with the download for the kindle.

Thanks
Tanya

========================

That's it.

It's certainly possible that the people at HarperCollins are mistaken, but at some point you just have to accept what they tell you. Both Amazon and HarperCollin said it's legit.

I've certainly seen other ebooks where the cover didn't match. Sometime when they go to ebooks, they don't have the rights to the original cover art, so they use something else. Either something new, or something they do have the rights to.

I really do get why some may think that it isn't legit and if they don't want to buy it, that's fine. But I've done my due diligence. But as I said earlier, there are also some pretty strong signals that it's legit.

[JSWolf]

As for cover rights, there is no way that HarperCollins (US) would have the rights for the UK cover. So just for that we know these eBooks are not legit. If the rights were world wide, then these eBooks would be available at every eBook store in the US and not just Amazon and because there are no world wide rights, there are no rights to use the UK cover in the US.

Basically what the response is saying, is "It's not our business. It's Amazon's. Go ask them.".

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Initial -

I recently purchased the Mary Stewart Merlin Trilogy (Crystal Cave, Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment) as ebooks from Amazon. I was even able to purchase the audio books at a discount because I had the ebooks. Recently, on one of the ebook forums, the question was raised if these are pirated ebooks, or if they are legit. The published is listed as EOS, which I believe became Harper Voyager. Do you know if these ebooks are indeed published by HarperCollins? I see the paper version of the books on your website.
Thanks
Phillip Walker
=============
response -

Good Morning Phillip,
Can you send us the isbn#s for these Titles, so we may further assist you?

Thank you,
Kind Regards,
Barb

CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPT | HarperCollinsPublishers
=============
my response
The Crystal Cave doesn't list a ISDN, but it does list a ASIN of B01E2Y789U

Here is the URL if that help
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01E2Y789U/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484759758&sr=1-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=the+crystal+cave &dpPl=1&dpID=51ujQZziJ1L&ref=plSrch

======================
Their response -
Good morning

Amazon does deal with the download for the kindle.

Thanks
Tanya

========================

That's it.

It's certainly possible that the people at HarperCollins are mistaken, but at some point you just have to accept what they tell you. Both Amazon and HarperCollin said it's legit.

I've certainly seen other ebooks where the cover didn't match. Sometime when they go to ebooks, they don't have the rights to the original cover art, so they use something else. Either something new, or something they do have the rights to.

I really do get why some may think that it isn't legit and if they don't want to buy it, that's fine. But I've done my due diligence. But as I said earlier, there are also some pretty strong signals that it's legit.

You've certainly done enough. I suspect that the Harper Collins CS people have got it wrong, but that's only my opinion.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

You've certainly done enough. I suspect that the Harper Collins CS people have got it wrong, but that's only my opinion.

I suspect they're wrong too since the book doesn't say it's sold by HarperCollins nor does it list that the price is set by the publisher, both indicators for every other HC book in the store (nor are they available anywhere else that every HC book is sold). It's ultimately not really up to the customer to have to determine these things though. I mean if you feel they aren't legit and decide to do a little checking and are repeatedly told they're okay what's a customer to do?


@pwalker, just curious, was that an email from their general CS or did you contact someone in Harper Voyager (the successor to EOS) CS or someone in David Pomerico's office (the head of Voyager)?

[FizzyWater]

I almost hate to mention this, but if HC is saying that Amazon has a deal with them to distribute the ebooks for Kindle, what about the Smashbook versions? Didn't someone post on one of the two threads this is being beaten-to-death on that they're also available on Smashwords?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I almost hate to mention this, but if HC is saying that Amazon has a deal with them to distribute the ebooks for Kindle, what about the Smashbook versions? Didn't someone post on one of the two threads this is being beaten-to-death on that they're also available on Smashwords?

There is an old Omnibus version on Smashwords (& through them on B&N and Kobo) and also on OverDrive that Amazon pulled a long time ago when people complained about it being bogus.