[Dragaera] I CAN HAZ KINDLE VERSION? NO! NOT YOURS!

[Steve Rapaport]

Very frustrated here in the UK.    Copy of my letter to Tor follows.  Any
input from knowledgeable folks appreciated.

Tor Books
Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

Dear Tor Books:

I am a long-time customer of your books and a long-time fan of such amazing
authors as Steven Brust.  I seldom take time to write anyone on dead trees,
but I was aghast today when I tried to get the jump on a slow mailing of
Brust's new Iorich by downloading it on my Kindle.  I could not!  In fact,
here in the UK where I now live, not a *single* Brust book is available on
my Kindle, though there are Kindle editions available in the US for many of
them.

I can buy the same books in hardcover or paperback on Amazon.co.uk.  I can
order them shipped direct from the US.  And if I live in the US I can
download them instantly to my Kindle.  But I can't do that here.

Is this a horrendous oversight on your part, or a copyright law snafu that
I'll grasp my head and scream when you detail it to me?  Either way, please
do, I'm sure it will be entertaining to hear about.

If it's just an oversight, please correct it immediately.  I want to buy the
digital books, Amazon wants to sell them to me, and the pitiful royalties
they pass back to you must be acceptable since you're already allowing it in
the US.

If it's some horrible corollary to the DMCA, please explain why I can buy
the same book in digital format in the US but not here, and the same book on
paper here, but not that book in digital format, in the UK.  I am agitated,
horrified, frustrated and angry.

It's not just one book, it's an entire author, possibly an entire
publisher.  And it's not just you either.  I've tried with many of my
favorite authors and publishers and experienced the same roadblock.  It
makes my Kindle close to useless here.  The selection that remains to me is,
in a word, pitiful.  I called Amazon and they assured me it's the
publisher's choice to make these restrictions, not their own.  I believe
them.  But I can't understand it.

Can you please clarify, without waffling or weasling, why exactly you're
stopping me from handing you money?  If it's a stupid law, can you explain
who in your organization is responsible for lobbying your government to have
it altered?

Thanks very much and best regards,

Steve Rapaport.





-- 
\Steve