Books from publisher Open Road gone from Kobo (US) store?

SomeSteve · 07-12-2023, 08:38 AM

For a while now I've been regularly checking the prices of certain ebooks at the Kobo US store, but as of today those books have vanished. Yes, they were there yesterday. Though I hadn't noticed, and though they are by different authors, it turns out they are all published by Open Road (Open Road Media, Open Road Integrated Media). If I search for them on the Kobo website, they can't be found. If I click on the Kobo link on Open Road's website, I get sent to Kobo, all right, but there are zero results for the given ISBN. A Google search (still) provides links to Kobo, but again the books are either not found or there's a 404 error: "Sorry, this item is no longer available." Perhaps coincidentally, the titles in question are on sale today.

For example: The World of Tiers, Volume One, by Philip José (or Jose) Farmer (a volume containing three novels from the World of Tiers series). On the Kobo website, if you begin to type in "The World of Tiers" in the search box, it even gives you the suggestion "The World of Tiers Volume One (Philip José Farmer)," but again "0 results."

Or another example: The Queen of Springtime by Robert Silverberg.

Anyway, as you may imagine, I wonder what's going on. Can Kobo have decided since yesterday to remove these books? Has Open Road decided not to sell them through Kobo anymore?

Or is it just, as they say, me?

Here are the links at Open Road:

https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/the-.../9781504046015

https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/the-.../9781480418295

JSWolf · 07-12-2023, 08:51 AM

Open Road Media eBooks are also gone from Google Play Books.

ZodWallop · 07-12-2023, 10:59 AM

Yep. I can't find Fritz Leiber's books. Open Road was part of Kobo Plus. I wonder if they are negotiating?

Cactus Chef · 07-12-2023, 01:13 PM

Kobo's cache evidently hasn't caught up with the removals yet. If you enter "Fafhrd" into the search box, it will attempt to autocomplete with several books that are no longer in their catalog.

JSWolf · 07-12-2023, 02:19 PM

eBooks.com has Open Road Media eBooks in ePub.

DNSB · 07-12-2023, 05:14 PM

Since I get the Early Bird Books which is an ORM newsletter, I took at look at the 3 books that popped when I selected Science Fiction and Fantasy as genres. The availability dropdowns were a weird mix. All three were available on Kobo as audio books but only one was available as a ebook.

JSWolf · 07-12-2023, 05:57 PM

After taking a look at early bird deals, a lot of them are not available at Kobo, Google, Apple, Books-a-Million, or Barnes & Noble. But they are available at Amazon. Their system that shows what stores they are available at is not properly working.

RobertJSawyer · 07-12-2023, 07:50 PM

Lots are gone from their daily newsletter from the Kobo Canada store, too.

JSWolf · 07-13-2023, 04:42 AM

It seems the only reliable place to shop for Open Road books is Amazon. What sort of shenanigans is Open Road playing at?

ownedbycats · 07-13-2023, 07:40 AM

I checked the three Open Road books that I purchased from Kobo.

One's gone entirely. The other two the store pages say "edition unavailable in Canada." (Anybody want to check the US version? It just tells me to go to the Canadian site.)

All three are available on Kindle, but not KU. I hope they're not thinking of going exclusive.

EDIT: My wishlist is decimated.

(Literally, in the 1/10th sense.)

JSWolf · 07-13-2023, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I checked the three Open Road books that I purchased from Kobo.

One's gone entirely. The other two the store pages say "edition unavailable in Canada." (Anybody want to check the US version? It just tells me to go to the Canadian site.)

All three are available on Kindle, but not KU. I hope they're not thinking of going exclusive.

EDIT: My wishlist is decimated.

(Literally, in the 1/10th sense.)

Nor Crystal Tears is available at Kobo in the US.

I don't get what sort of game Open Road is playing.

ownedbycats · 07-13-2023, 08:01 AM

I found a contact page and sent a message. Though I'll be surprised if they bother to send a reply.

JSWolf · 07-13-2023, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I found a contact page and sent a message. Though I'll be surprised if they bother to send a reply.

I hope you do get a reply. I'd like to know what's going on.

Cactus Chef · 07-13-2023, 08:50 AM

It's really disappointing. My eReaderIQ is blowing up with alerts from various Sci-Fi authors, a bunch of them are on Open Road Media. So I can't grab any of the Greg Bear stuff currently on sale on Kobo:

https://www.ereaderiq.com/author/Greg+Bear/

I made a New Year's Resolution to stop buying books from Amazon, but you're making it very difficult, Open Road.

ownedbycats · 07-13-2023, 08:52 AM

Considering the 'prime day' or whatever it's called, would it even be on sale elsewhere?. Unless you were intending to do price-matching.

07-12-2023, 08:38 AM	#1
SomeSteve Addict Posts: 253 Karma: 5497310 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Sony PRS-T2, Kindle	Books from publisher Open Road gone from Kobo (US) store? For a while now I've been regularly checking the prices of certain ebooks at the Kobo US store, but as of today those books have vanished. Yes, they were there yesterday. Though I hadn't noticed, and though they are by different authors, it turns out they are all published by Open Road (Open Road Media, Open Road Integrated Media). If I search for them on the Kobo website, they can't be found. If I click on the Kobo link on Open Road's website, I get sent to Kobo, all right, but there are zero results for the given ISBN. A Google search (still) provides links to Kobo, but again the books are either not found or there's a 404 error: "Sorry, this item is no longer available." Perhaps coincidentally, the titles in question are on sale today. For example: The World of Tiers, Volume One, by Philip José (or Jose) Farmer (a volume containing three novels from the World of Tiers series). On the Kobo website, if you begin to type in "The World of Tiers" in the search box, it even gives you the suggestion "The World of Tiers Volume One (Philip José Farmer)," but again "0 results." Or another example: The Queen of Springtime by Robert Silverberg. Anyway, as you may imagine, I wonder what's going on. Can Kobo have decided since yesterday to remove these books? Has Open Road decided not to sell them through Kobo anymore? Or is it just, as they say, me? Here are the links at Open Road: https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/the-.../9781504046015 https://openroadmedia.com/ebook/the-.../9781480418295

07-12-2023, 05:14 PM	#6
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 44,560 Karma: 167913281 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	Since I get the Early Bird Books which is an ORM newsletter, I took at look at the 3 books that popped when I selected Science Fiction and Fantasy as genres. The availability dropdowns were a weird mix. All three were available on Kobo as audio books but only one was available as a ebook. Attached Thumbnails

07-13-2023, 07:40 AM	#10
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 10,610 Karma: 74166147 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	I checked the three Open Road books that I purchased from Kobo. One's gone entirely. The other two the store pages say "edition unavailable in Canada." (Anybody want to check the US version? It just tells me to go to the Canadian site.) All three are available on Kindle, but not KU. I hope they're not thinking of going exclusive. EDIT: My wishlist is decimated. (Literally, in the 1/10th sense.) Last edited by ownedbycats; 07-13-2023 at 07:57 AM.

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07-12-2023, 08:51 AM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 78,985 Karma: 144284074 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Open Road Media eBooks are also gone from Google Play Books.

07-12-2023, 10:59 AM	#3
ZodWallop Gentleman and scholar Posts: 11,464 Karma: 111111111 Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Space City, Texas Device: Clara BW; Nook ST w/Glowlight, Paperwhite 3	Yep. I can't find Fritz Leiber's books. Open Road was part of Kobo Plus. I wonder if they are negotiating?

07-12-2023, 01:13 PM	#4
Cactus Chef Evangelist Posts: 490 Karma: 6655750 Join Date: Apr 2019 Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Clara HD, Galaxy Tab S5e, Kindle 4th Gen	Kobo's cache evidently hasn't caught up with the removals yet. If you enter "Fafhrd" into the search box, it will attempt to autocomplete with several books that are no longer in their catalog.

07-12-2023, 02:19 PM	#5
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 78,985 Karma: 144284074 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	eBooks.com has Open Road Media eBooks in ePub.

07-12-2023, 05:57 PM	#7
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 78,985 Karma: 144284074 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	After taking a look at early bird deals, a lot of them are not available at Kobo, Google, Apple, Books-a-Million, or Barnes & Noble. But they are available at Amazon. Their system that shows what stores they are available at is not properly working.

07-12-2023, 07:50 PM	#8
RobertJSawyer Guru Posts: 733 Karma: 3911762 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Libra 2, Clara 2E, and Clara HD; Kindle PaperWhite	Lots are gone from their daily newsletter from the Kobo Canada store, too.

07-13-2023, 04:42 AM	#9
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 78,985 Karma: 144284074 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	It seems the only reliable place to shop for Open Road books is Amazon. What sort of shenanigans is Open Road playing at?

07-13-2023, 08:01 AM	#12
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 10,610 Karma: 74166147 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	I found a contact page and sent a message. Though I'll be surprised if they bother to send a reply.

07-13-2023, 08:50 AM	#14
Cactus Chef Evangelist Posts: 490 Karma: 6655750 Join Date: Apr 2019 Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Clara HD, Galaxy Tab S5e, Kindle 4th Gen	It's really disappointing. My eReaderIQ is blowing up with alerts from various Sci-Fi authors, a bunch of them are on Open Road Media. So I can't grab any of the Greg Bear stuff currently on sale on Kobo: https://www.ereaderiq.com/author/Greg+Bear/ I made a New Year's Resolution to stop buying books from Amazon, but you're making it very difficult, Open Road.

07-13-2023, 08:52 AM	#15
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 10,610 Karma: 74166147 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	Considering the 'prime day' or whatever it's called, would it even be on sale elsewhere?. Unless you were intending to do price-matching.

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