These days I’m having so much trouble finding the enthusiasm to pick up my ereader and read. At first, I thought it was another reading funk, but after contemplating, I’ve realised I’m just so tired and completely frustrated at not being able to buy a digital book I want due to geographical restrictions. How many posts and discussions do there have to be before any notice is taken.
Jane over at Dear Author did a fantastic post about geographical restrictions, and then I read comments made by some authors. Some of them seem to think that readers are the ones that should be contacting publishers to let them know about our displeasure regarding geographical restrictions.
Over here at The Book Pushers, we’ve always wanted to concentrate on reviews, and we’ve never been ones to write pieces that are outspoken. But today I’m going to be brutally honest.
For any author who thinks that readers need to keep contacting publishers about geographical restrictions, get real! The publishers are not daft and they KNOW that readers are not happy. They would have to be completely blind not to have seen – and continue to see – the displeasure that readers express. Also, any author who writes as anonymous on a subject like this (yes, I’m talking about Author On Vacation at DA), any post you make I will totally disregard and dismiss. If you don’t have the guts to own up to your words, then your words are worth nothing to me as a reader.
To balance this ranty post, I also want to thank the authors who simply ‘get’ it. And you know who you :D. It’s authors like those that make the frustration that I feel as a reader…well, it makes you feel that your voice is being heard.
Jane has has implemented the idea that was made by a reader called Suze about setting up a website where readers can submit titles of books that are restricted to them. It’s called lostbooksales.com and I’ve already submitted a few titles. It will probably take me a whole week to list every single book I wanted to buy but was restricted. Lostbooksales is a genius idea, and even I was shocked at how many readers there are who have to deal with geo restrictions. Jane also has part two of her geographical restriction posts up.
If any author, publisher or agent takes offence at this post, well, tough shit. Thanks to geographical restrictions, I’ve stopped being the reader I once was.
And while I’m in ranty mode, can I just say enough of the piracy is bad posts. We KNOW that Piracy is bad. We KNOW that it’s wrong.
Ranty McRant Over. For now that is.
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Thanks for this, I have issues buying some books on my kindle being in the UK so I will be checking this website out later to add a few of these books.
In all fairness to amazon.co.uk they do have the ‘I would like to read this book on kindle’ tab to click so they can apparently pass the requests on to the publisher it’s just not happening quickly enough for my liking
I think that is one of the problems though – people have said there is digital tech/medium is too fast for pubs/authors and agents to catch up but the thing is they aren’t learning from the mistakes of the Music industry. Ebooks have been around for over a decade and its only now that they are hitting the mainstream. Its not like the fact that things remain static in publishing. Mass Market books which Penguin pioneered was thought to be a mistake yet their approach to publishing classics to a mass audience was hugely successful and its become the model for which most titles are produced today.
It’s very frustrating but its not like they did not know this was part of the future of publishing especially since when you have mobile devices that can read ebooks. Its lack of foresight and preparation and now the tipping point has arrived more people will get caught out on this mess.
@Libby13 I’m just hoping that publishers will take note, and just TRY and do something. But it definitely has to be a collective effort with authors and their agents. Though I don’t see that happening any time soon to be honest.
@Has Publishers have been VERY slow in hopping on the ebook market. And now that they have arrived, they are doing all that they can do control it, but it’s not to the customers advantage such as: agency pricing, DRM, and geo restrictions.