Amazon and Penguin are bickering, and the Kindle edition of “Changes” has been caught up in the crossfire. Fans around the world are getting email notifications from Amazon that their “Changes” preorders have been canceled.
Jim had no say in this decision, and he’s already received an outpouring of mail from fans perplexed and angered at this chain of events. We know many of you were relying on this being available on release day, and we’re every bit as frustrated as you are. We’re confident the conflict will not be drawn out much longer, but we have no way of knowing if it will be resolved in time for the book’s Tuesday release. We have no doubt that “Changes” will be available for the Kindle at some point, but whether that’s tomorrow, next week, or next month is anyone’s guess.
We hope this doesn’t unduly inconvenience you guys, and we thank you for bearing with us in this exceptionally annoying time.
I will happily wait for the digital release, but please ensure its also available through Barnes and Noble for the nook.
The email address for Penguin.
Couldn’t hurt!
publishersoffice@us.penguingroup.com
I’m surprised that Penguin agreed to the Apple requirements. As a reader the IPAD is no better than a laptop. It is fine in the dark but how many hardcore readers want to read in the dark, that’s a good way to ruin your eyes. What about sitting in a park or reading where there is a lot of light. You won’t be able to even see the screen with the glare. So why are they treating the technology as the same as the E-Ink ebook readers. It just doesn’t compare and the hardcore readers will realize this. We don’t want the IPAD. Its just an overpriced, oversized I-Touch and its OS doesn’t even match a lot of the Touch phones that are out there now. Now I’m even more annoyed that they are using it to affect my tracking of my favorite novels!!!!!
I was just at the Apple store in Sherman Oaks, CA to play with an iPad — just to check the rumor that iPad DID have Changes scheduled for release — the test iPad I used had the iBook Ap on it, so I went to search “Jim Butcher” and lo and behold: Changes is scheduled to be released “on or around April 6” and the iPad price was “$9.99”! Now, maybe, the iPad I was testing did not “refresh” old info, but I was able to download a sample of Changes to it and the salesperson verified that I had downloaded it from Apple’s iBook site. Interesting. Perhaps Apple doesn’t know they arn’t supposed to have the ebook version of it? If indeed the Apple iBook store does release it, and nobody else can (nook, kindle, etc.), what does that say? Amazon, nook, et al. there are some great lawyers out there. Penguin might be in for a little lawsuite. Certainly serves their insufferable CEO right.
Personally all this mess is making me mad at the publishers. If I could buy direct from Jim and cut out the publishers I would do it in a heartbeat! I’d love to be able to send Jim my cash directly for his books. I bet he’d get a LOT more that way then the cut the publishers give him for his hard work.
The author’s the only one truly hurt by things like this. The rest of us are only inconvenienced.
Mr. Butcher, I certainly hope your publisher gets this resolved to your advantage and satisfaction. We buy your books in pairs – one each of hardback and Kindle. One’s for sharing, and one’s for dragging around the world airport to airport.
One can’t but wonder why they don’t release ebooks at the same time and at a comparable price (accounting for $1 or so in printing and distribution) as the hardbacks. After a few months, digital versions could be reduced in price to what the mass market paperbacks would be. Those of us who are eager to buy your work in multiple media generally don’t mind paying the premium for instant gratification. Those who would rather wait can.
Kindle?? I’m a Gutenberg fan. There’s something about being able to flip back and forth through the pages. I have progressed to audiobook thought. James Marsters is great.
I’m sure we all understand that Jim would much prefer to have all of this resolved so his dedicated fans can get the book in whichever format they prefer.
This just means my boyfriend and I will have to fight over the hard copy.
The whole ebook thing is just a fiasco. And yes, while there are two sides to every story, I am not just taking Amazon’s. I’ve been researching the business sheets and other news outlets…and it just seems that the publishers, due to the ‘Agency Model’…want to be the ones in charge of the actual selling price. Book stores could no longer be competive with each other by offering sales prices, etc..that differ from each other. The publisher will be monopolizing the price point. There will be no option for customers. Paper OR ebook I am guessing. Which is just CRAZY!!! When you sell the book to the re-seller…then you STOP having a say about how much they sell that for. YOU get the cost price…regardless. THEY re-sell at retail. Since when should publishers be able to designate what the Retailers sell the item for? They already get the cost price…the actual retail is none of their business. It’s like Best Buy ordering 200 tvs from Sony….then Sony telling them they HAVE to sell them at $500 each…instead of $425 that Best Buy normally would. Where is the market competition for customers then if everyone HAS to sell it at the same dictated price?
The Agency Model is just wrong on sooooo many levels.
Unlike many I do not currently have the option of going and buying a hard cover or holding out for a Kindle. I’m currently living in a 3rd world country whose mail system mysteriously disappears any mail that isn’t sent fedex and one book store that doesn’t carry the latest books for several months and then the question is if they happened to stock the book you are looking for as they won’t/can’t order specific titles for you.
So for me not being able to get a hold of a kindle version means I can’t read the book. Which is upsetting.
Two Words: Sony E-Reader….I downloaded CHANGES into my E-Reader last night through Audible. I’ve had this Reader for over a year and LOVE IT!
So why is it available at the Sony E-book store and not at Amazon for Kindle? Is it because Sony caved to the price requirement.
You know the worst part about all of this is I’d happily pay 15 to pre-order and get a version on my nook. I’m not poor, I have no issue paying 15 bucks for a book, I think its a fair amount.
Instead however Amazon is to blame in this whole fiasco. Let consumers decide if something is too much. Don’t try to strong arm a lower price that a publisher isn’t willing to do.
As a Barnes and Noble nook customer I’d rather pay 15 but still be able to get my ebook version because regular books are irresponsible to purchase.
Yep, same here – don’t care much about the price – I think it should be some amount lower than the printed hardcopy version, and a hair lower than a paperback, but no highway robbery please! Most upset about the slip in availability. MOST upset. UNBELIEVABLY upset, in fact – hence all my angsty vetting posts here……
sorry, make that venting … really shoud preview….
Mr Butcher,
Since the book is not available on the Kindle, I will not be purchasing Changes. Instead, I’ll borrow a copy to read. If Penguin wants my business in the future they will have to provide content in the format I want it.
However, as a fan, I don’t want to deprive you of any royalties you would have received. Is there a way that I can send the money I would have spent directly to you?
Hmm. Lots of posts here. Lots of disgruntled readers. Maybe we should take some of this effort and indignation directly to Penguin and tell them exactly how myopic this fear of ereaders really is.
Here is why I don’t think it’s Amazon’s fault: They were advertising the $9.99 New Release/ Best Seller price at least 3 months before the Kindle ever shipped. If the publishers had a problem with the pricing structure they should have complained at that time. They let the pricing sit for OVER 2 YEARS and have just recently made it an issue.
I think that the only reason that this is happening now is that the publishers underestimated what the eventual demand for e-books was going to be. They were probably hoping that it would be a fad and go away, or end up being a very small portion of the market. And now that it’s wildly popular they want their money.
PS – Any confirmation on the rumor that iBooks is selling Changes for $9.99?
OK, this is my last post — I checked with my computer expert (my 15 year old nephew) regarding a suggestion Jim had made — and yes, the bit torrent sites did have a “release” day for Changes and that occured last night. According to my nephew, there is one site that has Changes in epub, mobi (amazon kindle compatable), pdf, .rtf, LIT (Microsoft reader) and some others. Released by “Jove in France?” But anybody with a book scanner could format all of those if so interested.
In any event — this is terrible! This is like robbing the creator of money owed. Are these sites going to be popular? Probably. The longer Penguin “negotiates,” the more people will say “screw it….!” I guess if people do download from there, send Jim $20. I’m at a loss of what else to say.
I can understand the publisher’s feeling threatened by e-books. Unfortunately, in a digital age, once you release entertainment (books, movies, songs, etc.) to be viewed by the public, it can be viewed by any member of the public. In the case of books, e-book encryption can be hacked, print books can be scanned, or determined people can type the book out. The “agency model” is not going to prevent free illegal e-books from being available. What it is doing is alienating the people who want to BUY the books.
I WANT Jim to get paid (how else will he keep writing books! 🙂 I want the publishers to get paid so that they can keep finding great new authors and providing them with support and editing. I want the convenience of downloading the book on the same day that the physical book comes out and
I DON’T want to be price-gouged. (ie, I don’t want to pay more than the going rate for the hardback for new releases or the softcover for older titles.)
From many of the comments here, I suspect I am not alone in my sentiments.
I realize that this is a last-ditch effort by the publishers to hold on to their control over supply. In the end, it looks like it may backfire. It just sucks that it has to come to a head over the release of a critical book in one of our favorite series!