I was reading Keishon’s blog and came across this article. Apparently readers are up-in-arms over Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime (Hardcover) not being available in Kindle format. The publisher decided to delay the digital release 30 days, which frustrates Kindle owners. Which I can understand.
Last year I blogged about my frustrations with Little Brown and Co delaying the e-book release of Stephanie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn. It’s annoying when you want a book and it isn’t available in the format you want to buy it in. Especially since so many publishers are taking such a strange stance on e-books lately. I don’t really understand the mentality. Are they really trying to force us to buy in hardcover by delaying the e-book release? Because that’s just asinine.
But even more asinine? Posting a 1 star review on Amazon of a book you haven’t even read, just because you’re annoyed that it isn’t available in Kindle format. That’s what readers are now doing in protest. Readers who haven’t actually read the book. Let me say that one more time, just so we’re clear: Readers are posting 1 star reviews on Amazon for a book they haven’t read, in protest of it not being available in Kindle format.
I’m sorry, but I just can’t wrap my brain around that. What, exactly, is posting a 1 star review going to accomplish? Writing a letter to the publisher asking them to make the book available sooner? Writing a blog post or article elsewhere on the internet? Clicking the “make this available in Kindle” button on Amazon? Absolutely, all of those make sense. But writing a 1 star review for a book you haven’t read? Not so much.
The thing is, and if I’m totally off the mark then please let me know, the author has nothing to do with when the book is released, in digital format or otherwise (unless they miss a deadline, but that’s a separate issue). The publisher sets that up. Leaving 1 star reviews on Amazon isn’t hurting the publisher near as much as it’s hurting the author. Is the author to blame because the publisher decided to hold back the digital release? I hardly see how.
*photo credit: laptopmag.com
Oh, man…this very thing is affecting me right now.
I would LOVE for print books and ebooks to release at the same time. But most authors have absolutely NO say in the matter. The best we can do is forward emails to our publisher.
If an author has control over their release date, they are probably self-published in some way, or they are really big authors who managed to work release date details into their contracts.
But yeah…I have no control over anything but the content of my stories. And in a lot of ways, that’s a good thing, because it leaves me able to just write. 🙂
Thanks for bringing this up!
That’s absolutly the wrong thing to do. It’s the same when people complain about the price and give one star even though they haven’t read the book.
The only thing you can do is complain directly to the publisher and be fair to the author.
I’m a Kindle owner and would NEVER rate a book based on when the Kindle edition is available. That seems unethical to me. Yeah, it makes a point but at whose expense? Totally unfair to the author. I think eventually publishers will notice that people aren’t going to buy a paper book and then buy an ebook edition of same book. That would defeat the purpose, right? Maybe I’m missing something. I just think publishers don’t know how to handle the popularity of e-readers. They didn’t think people would buy into them. They were so wrong.
But rating a book because of when it’s available? That’s just not right.
I understand the frustration regarding ebook delays, but I think posting one star reviews is definitely a misguided approach. I think what they should do instead is create a campaign with a website that explains what the issue is, why they’re upset about it and what they’d like to see done about it. They could include contact information for publishers and a form letter that can be copied, pasted and sent to them, so that those interested in having their voice heard will have a way to do so. A lot of people are upset about ebook delays, especially those who have spent a lot of money on an ebook reading device in order to receive instant gratification. If enough people pitch their voices in, maybe the publishers will take notice.
My fear is that if people are posting these 1 star reviews and the sales suffer because of it, it could have the complete opposite effect than intended.
The publisher could easily decide to not bother releasing it as an ebook and possibly dump some of the smaller authors all together.
If you love an author so much that you are outraged by having to wait for their book, you should support them as well as you can. Potentially destroying their careers isn’t the way to go.
Posting the one star doesn’t do anything other than make the ‘reviewer’ feel big and important.
I’ve been in that situation where the book isn’t available in store because of whatever reason, and then I have to wait a week before it comes out in e-form.
WTF. It makes me SO mad.
Do they really do that so that hard covers get more buyers? What about the books that are not hardback? It happens with them too…
Another thing that makes me mad about publishers is like what happened the other day. I was trying to buy a book, but the store didn’t have it (well, they said they had it, but it was an error) I got fed up waiting for it to arrive so I went to Books on Board. Frustration grew when they only had ONE reading format available. Of course, it wasn’t a format that was supported on my reader. Annoying! I had to crack the DRM in order to even read the book on my ereader. It only took me a minute to crack it, but still, we should not have to take those extra steps in order to read the books that we buy. It’s not fair.
Yeah, yeah, we are not supposed to break DRM. Well, I did it and I will continue to break DRM when I have to so that I can read books however the hell I want to on whichever device I want to.
Add that to fact that I was needing to read it for a review, and the other two gals already had their copies and had to wait for me to get my copy before we could get started.
Grrrr.
E-books are supposed to add to our convenience. They are supposed to allow us the leisure of NOT having to wait for the book longer than necessary.
Sigh.
Seriously publishers, give us the e-version the same day you give us the paper version. And let us choose from more than one damn reading format.
Oh, I’ve bought both print and e-version of the same book. Not on purpose, though. LOL!
I’ll go ebook crazy one night, and then two days later at the book store I’ll have forgotten what I already have in eform and then I have 2 copies. LOL
The print books are easy to return, though, so it’s all good.
I said it on Keishon’s blog, but what the heck….
This whole I’m Mad So I’ll Show ‘Em By Posting A 1-Star Review stikes me as not only pointless, but asinine as well. I can understand their frustration, but what do they think bitching to the middle man is going to accomplish?
If I’m pissed off at Nabisco or Proctor & Gamble about discontinuing a product I love – what does bitching to my local grocery store accomplish? N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Newsflash – it’s not my grocery store’s fault!
Bitch to the correct party. Seriously – stupid people make my head hurt.