Interesting Links for 02-03-2012

[andrewducker]

• Apple censoring books because they contain URLs to a competitor
  (tags: censorship amazon ebooks apple publishing )
• You cannot use two genes to predict voter behaviour
  (tags: psychology politics genetics )
• If you're doing anything on a .com domain that is illegal _if you were doing it in the US_ then it can be taken away.
  (tags: internet web law dna usa )
• Coding tricks of game developers - anecdotes and examples of things you should hope you never have to do
  (tags: coding games development programming )
• A generator that uses waste water for power - and desalinates it at the same time.
  (tags: power water )
• How Not To Sell Software
  (tags: software business sales )

Comments

[andrewducker]

This is why I object to vertically integrated markets. I expect booksellers to sell books, publishers to publish, etc. By putting them together you end up with a situation where a bookseller is refusing to sell books based on their content, and I object to that on a basic level.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on vertical markets. Of course in Apple's case, it's even worse since they sell the hardware too (certainly for music, less so for books).

On the other hand I don't have a problem with a company (or a private individual running a tiny independent bookshop for that matter) not selling something that it doesn't want to sell, for whatever reason.

[andrewducker]

I _do_ have a problem with it, but that's my personal view. I don't believe they should be legally bound to publish things they do not want to publish, I just don't personally approve of them not doing so.

Same with their app store - if they want to censor content on the App Store then that's their right. And it will mean that I will never buy an iPhone, as that's my right.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

Various of the ebook sellers do this, not just Apple.

[andrewducker]

Really? I've not seen Waterstones, Google eBooks, etc. doing this. Got any links I can pass on?

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

I don't think Amazon like you doing it (though I could be wrong) but Smashwords definitely don't like you linking to the Kindle store.

[andrewducker]

That would piss me off. And is weird, as they publish through the Kindle store (amongst other places).

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

They don't, actually - they have been trying to get an agreement to publish through Kindle for ages, but they haven't got one yet.

*None* of the ebook sites will allow this, and they all state it quite clearly in the T&Cs, and there are various good reasons.

In Smashwords' case, in particular, they are selling the books through various different markets, and it would be very bad business (and bad faith) if, say, books they sold through iBooks had links to buy other books in Barnes & Noble.

More importantly, though, there are people who published what is effectively spam - 'books' a few pages long, but full of affiliate links. In this case, Godin is not just linking a single book, but is linking to multiple books by different authors. That's classic linkspam behaviour, and even if in his case it's not spam (though I would offer ten to one odds that all those links went through an affiliate site) because it is a proper book, the rules are there for a very good reason.

Smashwords' general T&Cs include that you won't:
"contain hyperlinks to affiliate marketing pages, especially if the ebook is published for the sole intent of publishing hyperlinked content that directs readers to affiliate marketing pages"
or
"contain advertisements for services, or contain partial books for the purpose of promoting the purchase of the same book elsewhere or on Smashwords"

Smashwords' Style Guide says:
"As a courtesy to ebook retailers who promote and sell your Smashwords Premium Catalog titles, please restrict your hyperlinks to only your Smashwords author page and book pages, or your personal home page or blog. Do not add hyperlinks to online ebook retailers that may compete with current or future Smashwords retail distribution partners.
It’s not considerate, for example, if to advertise your Kindle or Apple ebook in your ebook sold at Barnes & Noble. Such advertising will only alienate your retail partners, confuse your customers, and will cause a retailer to remove your book from their catalog."

That suggests that presumably Apple and Barnes & Noble *do* allow links to at least one competitor - Smashwords (because otherwise they wouldn't talk about putting in links to your Smashwords page). Which suggests to me that this is more about the affiliate thing than anything else.