pontalba Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 (edited) Sounds vaguely familiar, but it's so fuzzy, I'm not sure. Not definite though by any means. Husband is googling, as it is familiar to him as well. Edited September 24, 2013 by pontalba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 I think it would need to come from the publishers rather than Amazon, as you would want it to be available for all e-readers, not just the Kindle to make it fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 (edited) Ahhhm Hah! Husband found an article in Forbes. Here 'tis... http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/09/03/with-kindle-matchbook-amazon-finally-bundles-print-and-e-books/ Here is a teaser from the article. There is a link within the quote directly to Amazon, with information. KindleMatchbooks is the name of a new program through which Amazon customers, beginning in October, will be able to buy cheap e-copies of books they’ve already bought in hardcover or paperback. The most expensive titles will sell for $2.99; the rest will be $1.99, 99 cents or, in some cases, free. Edited September 24, 2013 by pontalba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Now you've mentioned it, I do remember that, but again, it's only useful if you've bought the physical book from Amazon. I'm sure bookshops would benefit if this was a publishers initiative, and would be fairer for non-Kindle users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Well, it's a great marketing tool for Amazon, and you can be sure other book stores/companies will jump on the bandwagon as well. Amazon is just the first. We deal with Amazon quite a lot, so I'm happy for it. I'd bought a Kobo originally, before Borders went under, and although other stores have picked up on the Kobo I haven't used it. I found the ones I dealt with a bit unreliable. But that's just my experience with them. I know others have had much success with both the Kobo and Nook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I did think about Amazon yesterday but for some reason I didn't post about it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Recently a friend on Good Reads shared an email to her from Sharon Kay Penniman in response to a question regarding the release of the new edition of Sunne in Splendour. She told me it was ok to share it with y'all, in fact she is going to ask SKP about getting a complaint deluge going to the publisher. I'll let the email speak for itself. I have recieved an update email from Sharon. It is not good news.Dear Carol. I had to wait for my British editor to get back from holiday to ask her about Book Depository. Her response shocked me. She said that Macmillan was not allowed to sell their books int he US and Book Depository and other on-line bookshops should not be selling them to American readers. Of course i knew that with e-books, geography is destiny, but i never imagined these lunatic restrictions applied to real books, too. I was aware that Amazon and Amazon.UK would pull a "foreign" book if a publisher complained about it being offered for sale. But what Book Depository has done goes well beyond that. They will not sell Sunne to American readers, only to UK and Commonwealth country readers. Even worse, they are lying about it, saying that the book is "out of stock." At least with e-books, bookshops tell the truth, that they are not available for sale because the would-be buyer lives in the wrong country. It is not just Sunne. Book Depository won't allow American readers to buy the new Bernard Cornwell book, The Pagan Lord, which won't be published in the US till January but which came out in the UK in September. They offer only the US edition for pre-order and when I searched for the English edition, even entering the ISBN number, I was told there was no such book! Now this is obviously a departure for Book Depository since I have bought British books from them in the past without difficulty, as have many of my readers. But as long as they enforce this unfair prohibition, there is nothing we can do. It is particularly outrageous in Sunne's case since there is no American edition to lose sales if American readers buy the UK book; there is no new hardcover edition of Sunne in the US and there won't be one, either. Nor were there any complaints from my US publisher of Sunne, as it is owned by the same company that owns Macmillan. And Macmillan, of course, would be delighted to sell Sunne to American readers. You can still buy the hardcover edition of Sunne from Amazon.co.UK or from Waterstone's, at least for now. But of course you'd have to pay the considerable shipping costs if you do so. That was the great advantage of dealing with Book Depository--before they went over to the Dark Side. I do not know why Book Depository has chosen to enforce this policy now, but I suspect Amazon, its new owner, may have something to do with it. Anyway, this is the update. Sorry the news was not better.SharonSharon was kind enough to gather more information for us. Here is the email. I just think it is a bloody shame it can't be sold in the U.S. Also rather strange! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Mind you, if there are restrictions on ebooks and audiobooks (I have one in particular I can't get hold of) I'm not sure why physical books would be different? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 UK e-books to drop VAT to 0%! ... hopefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 (edited) Sounds good! For you Brits at least . I'm not sure how much VAT we pay on ebooks, we pay some on paper books too, I'm not sure if it's the same amount for both. When I order paper books from Amazon it always makes me pay about 10% VAT, if you order from a Dutch shop the VAT is included in the price (it's probably quite a bit). Ebooks from Dutch sites cost just as much as paper books if I'm not mistaken. I do know I pay VAT for Amazon.com's Kindle books because the US prices are usually lower than the EU prices for the book (ie. if I look at the daily deal screen the prices are US, when you click on the individual book it shows the price for EU, for me. Sometimes they're the same, often the EU price is higher. I think it depends on the publisher too or something. But it's still cheaper than buying it off a Dutch site, most of the time.). So let's hope for some good news, Tim ! Edited October 22, 2013 by Athena Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 I certainly hope so - it just goes to show that the EU isn't all bad ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 A really great article from The Guardian by Neil Gaimen. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming An excerpt: I was once in New York, and I listened to a talk about the building of private prisons – a huge growth industry in America. The prison industry needs to plan its future growth – how many cells are they going to need? How many prisoners are there going to be, 15 years from now? And they found they could predict it very easily, using a pretty simple algorithm, based on asking what percentage of 10 and 11-year-olds couldn't read. And certainly couldn't read for pleasure. bolding, mine..... Really. Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookmonkey Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 I know in our prisons over 3/4 of the inmates can't read or write. It's awful. When I graduate I'd love to get a job in a prison library and eventually bring in some sort of literacy programmes for the prisoners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 Book dominoes world record http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24830613 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 Cool. Pretty sure Pontalba has enough books to break that world record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 If only she had the space to lay them out for dominoes - she could make the design with a BCF tribute for us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Book dominoes world record http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24830613 Very, very cool!! Cool. Pretty sure Pontalba has enough books to break that world record. Um, yeah. Standing at about 8,005 now. Not counting a couple of hundred of my Great-grandfathers books, and the appox 300 on kindle. If only she had the space to lay them out for dominoes - she could make the design with a BCF tribute for us! Now, there is an excellent suggestion! Y'all get on over here, and we'll set her up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Book dominoes world record http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24830613 x Very cool ! Pontalba, I envy your collection, so many books ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted November 7, 2013 Author Share Posted November 7, 2013 Cool. Pretty sure Pontalba has enough books to break that world record. Pot >> Kettle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Yeah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 Pot >> Kettle. Yeah! I'm nowhere near as bad as Pontalba! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I'm nowhere near as bad as Pontalba! Ahh, well, we can't all be as bad as pontalba, that bad girl! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 (edited) I received a notification from Amazon today informing me that publication for the new book by Diana Gabaldon, Written In My Own Heart's Blood would again be delayed. I'd put the order in last June (2013) for the hardback, and the kindle copy. It was first due, I think to come out in Fall of this year. Maybe December.....it's been so long I've forgotten. So. Then it was put off till March of 2014. Now it's been put off until June(ish) of 2014. And, according to some of the comments, it may be put off again.....it seems to depend on the mini series being put out. I'm really confused. On her blog, DG said she had to make the book better. Well, earlier this year, it was put off, supposedly, on account of the mini series on Starz network. I'm so confused, that I'm disgusted. I cancelled both orders on Amazon. I may as well wait a few more years to buy it second hand. Pox on it! Anyhow, here is a link to her "explanation". piffle http://www.dianagabaldon.com/2013/11/publication-date-change-sorry-about-this/#comment-19889 Edited November 20, 2013 by pontalba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Awww that's not nice at all! I hope you'll get the book not too long from now, though I'm not sure that'll happen seeing as the date has been moved several times already . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 I'm so confused, that I'm disgusted. I cancelled both orders on Amazon. I may as well wait a few more years to buy it second hand. Pox on it! I don't blame you .. she's giving you the runaround .. very annoying and unprofessional. She needs the extra time to make it good?? Lord .. you may as well write it for her Anyhow, here is a link to her "explanation". piffle http://www.dianagabaldon.com/2013/11/publication-date-change-sorry-about-this/#comment-19889 Extreme piffle! .. piffle with knobs on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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