E-book Freebies and Deals 2013

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » Wed March 6th, 2013, 9:42 am

[quote=""Amanda""]
And some of the books that are bargains to US readers are 9.99 for us! The publishers are to blame aren't they?[/quote]

When I visited Australia (Sydney and Brisbane) in 2007 I noticed that the books in the bookstores were more expensive than back in the UK. Someone told me it was because there was a lack of publishers/printers in the country due to a shortage of paper and so most books were imported, but I've no idea if that was accurate or not, I thought no more of it at the time. Anyway, that wouldn't apply for e-books - unless the publishers are making sure the prices of those remain high too, so as not to completely push printed matter out of the market.

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » Wed March 6th, 2013, 9:44 am

[quote=""emr""]In my case I can get the books from amazon.com. Everytime I go there it bugs me to switch the kindle to amazon.es. I do not think so thank you very much.
For me, about half the free books arent free and the rest have a 18% taxes added, so that book up there for 0.99 $ was actually 1.17 $. In fact they haven't figured out they should be applying a 21%. Don't tell them please

[/quote]

I'm glad you can use Amazon.com at least - I certainly won't tell them!

Mythica · Post by **Mythica** » Wed March 6th, 2013, 3:01 pm

[quote=""Amanda""]And sometimes prevented from downloading them at all! Some will say "not available to your area" but sometimes they don't even appear on kindle if you search for them, and you know it is available because you have read reviews on blogs etc!

I am trying to restrict as much of my new book buying as I can to kindle, as the books around here are totally out of hand. I am proud that since having the kindle I have only bought a couple of books (The Downton Abbey books....because of the pictures).

And some of the books that are bargains to US readers are 9.99 for us! The publishers are to blame aren't they?

Frustrating![/quote]

I don't know - pricing of ebooks is in the middle of being handed back to retailers and most of the deals I've posted are prices set by Amazon (or the author, I think). I think when an ebook is not available in other countries, it has to do with the rights to sell it but not sure about pricing.

This explains it better than I could: http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfi ... ilable_in/

This is a hold-over from the physical book era.
When physical books had to be printed, publishers had local partners in many different places in the world that did local marketing, printing, and distributing to local bookshops. So if you were in New York, you didn't have to talk to a book shop in Switzerland. There would be a designated local publisher that handled the Swiss market. This was also useful because each country has its own laws. As the main publisher, you didn't have to worry about Swiss law, your local partner handled that for you.
Many of the publishers have long-term agreements with each other to handle rights for each other's stuff in certain locations. When the digital era arrived, we were stuck with the old business model.
So to enforce these restrictions, the publishers use software encryption schemes called "Digital; Rights Management" to make sure that an e-book is purchased and delivered to accounts in certain locations where the rights are cleared.

I'm not sure but maybe the pricing has to do with this too.

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » Wed March 6th, 2013, 5:59 pm

I like how it refers to the "physical book era" as if it was some ancient thing far in the past

I'm guessing the pricing will be due in part to individual countries' laws on whether the publisher sets standard book prices:

http://www.ilsr.org/why-publishers-not- ... ok-prices/

(the article focuses on the US and is from 2011, but it explains the standard book prices across the board seen in some countries.

Mythica · Post by **Mythica** » Wed March 6th, 2013, 8:08 pm

[quote=""LadyB""]I like how it refers to the "physical book era" as if it was some ancient thing far in the past

I'm guessing the pricing will be due in part to individual countries' laws on whether the publisher sets standard book prices:

http://www.ilsr.org/why-publishers-not- ... ok-prices/

(the article focuses on the US and is from 2011, but it explains the standard book prices across the board seen in some countries.[/quote]

This is about the agency pricing model which is now being contested in court and most publishers have backed down and agreed to settle - so it's in the process of not really being very applicably anymore. Furthermore, I disagree with everything this article is saying - it's basically saying that the publishers having control of the pricing makes the market more competitive but the whole reason charges were brought against them in BOTH the US and Europe is because they were conspiring to raise ebook prices which breaks antitrust laws in both the US and EU. I had to laugh when I read "there is strong empirical evidence from Germany, France, and many other countries that publisher-driven pricing will actually lead to lower book prices over the coming years." Yeah, that totally panned out, lol.

It's true they did this because Amazon was selling ebooks for a loss to drive their competitors out of business but part of the settlement requires Amazon's total sales for each publisher is not at a loss (so they can sell some ebooks for a loss but not others, in order to balance it out).

But I do not know what all this means for Australia or other countries outside the US and EU. I don't know if the agency pricing model was in place in Australia and if so, whether or not charges were brought against them there too. If the agency pricing never applied in Australia, it's all moot because Amazon should have always had control of pricing there - if it was applied but charges haven't been brought against them, that would explain why Amazon deals don't apply there.

However, none of this explains deals on ebooks not published with "the big 6" publishers. Indie and self pubbed ebooks have nothing to do with the agency pricing model.

Mythica · Post by **Mythica** » Mon March 11th, 2013, 1:20 pm

Freebies:

The Sekhmet Bed (The She-King) by L.M. Ironside
The Devil's Fire: A Pirate Adventure Novel by Matt Tomerlin

Normally, I try to keep bargains under $5 but since it's Bernard Cornwell: Sharpe's Battle - $5.99

Mythica · Post by **Mythica** » Wed March 13th, 2013, 10:04 am

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - $4.99
Honolulu by Alan Brennert - $2.99

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Wed March 13th, 2013, 11:31 am

Crucible by S G MacLean is the daily deal in the UK today at 99p.

I've read and enjoyed The Redemption of Alexander Seaton and A Game of Sorrows - historical thrillers set in the 1600s with a fallen minister as the detective.

Mythica · Post by **Mythica** » Thu March 14th, 2013, 11:10 am

Two for Sorrow (Josephine Tey #3) by Nicola Upson - $1.99
The Red Rooster by Michael Wallace - $0.99
A Storm Hits Valparaiso by David Gaughran - FREE

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Fri March 15th, 2013, 4:42 pm

This freebie looks interesting. WWII/nurse/Philippines/Japanese POW camp.

A Pledge of Silence by Flora J. Solomon