Question of the day

[andrewducker]

Why would you sell books 1,2 and 4 of a series but not book 3 in the kindle store?

Do you WANT me to pirate stuff, is that it?!

(arriving in email via octopoid_horror)

Comments

[lilaanne.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen that but I have seen series of four or so books where 1,2 and 4 are really really cheap and 3 is full price.

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

Presumably for the same kind of reasons Stross talks about here for book four of the Merchant Princes being unavailable on Kindle when 1-3, 5 and 6 were.

[andrewducker]

There are reasons. But if they don't get them sorted out then people _will_ just download the books for free.

What seems to have cut music piracy is things like Spotify. If it's not made similarly easy to obtain books legally then piracy will continue to be culturally normal.

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

Oh, I absolutely agree. I know you've seen my rants on DRM making it impossible for me to buy stuff, and on record companies actively turning away my custom. I just wasn't sure if the question was rhetorical or not.

[andrewducker]

I think it was more of a scream of frustration than a question :->

[steer.livejournal.com]

It's bloody silly. In fact while I love my kindle I am disappointed with availability in the UK. I've taken to nicking the books and finding tip boxes for the authors. This isn't how it should work.

[andrewducker]

Absolutely. I understand the historical reasons, but we're living in a world where a lack of legal availability just means people get a copy illegally.

[steer.livejournal.com]

It's doubly frustrating because the US kindle store is so much more complete. There's a few hacks to switch it over to the US version but they're a bit of a pain.

[chuma.livejournal.com]

Maybe they sold out of Book 3?

:D