Where have all the ebooks gone?

[JWolf]

JWolf wrote:

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For some reason, the links to the eBooks no longer work and it even says on the home page that Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism is available. I wonder what's wrong with the website??

It looks like the site is fixed. But Infinity's Prism is not available as an eBook even though on the ront page it's listed under Exciting New eBooks!.

[Galahad]

I have posted on here off and on for a few years, but have been mostly lurking as of late. This is slightly off topic from the rest of the posts here, but fits best under this threads title...where have all the ebooks gone?

I am currently stationed in Iraq, I was facing a stark reality that I would not be reading any new Trek fiction for awhile...enter the Kindle. I use the Kindle extensively I am a big proponent of the device, however, all of a sudden no new e-books are available, no Fearful Symmetry, Myriad Universe, or Greater than the Sum. Can anyone shed light or give me hope?

[Thrawn]

It looks like they're coming, just really slowly. It took a long time for the Terok Nor books to come out, but they've made it. Fearful Symmetry is finally up at S&S, which means it'll likely appear on Amazon pretty soon.

The mass markets usually hit amazon 2 or 3 weeks before their publishing month; looks like the e-books are coming about that much time afterwards. Fearful Symmetry was the July release, and it's only early August now, so I wouldn't panic. Just a few weeks late.

[JWolf]

There is no excuse for the eBooks to be so long in coming after the pBooks. As I see with other publishers, eBooks can come out at the same time even. So S&S, get off your butts and do something about the eBook situation. It's disgusting how long we have to wait for them after the pBooks are release.

[Brynthe2]

JWolf wrote:

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There is no excuse for the eBooks to be so long in coming after the pBooks. As I see with other publishers, eBooks can come out at the same time even. So S&S, get off your butts and do something about the eBook situation. It's disgusting how long we have to wait for them after the pBooks are release.

Agreed!

[Thrawn]

They're a business like any other; if it were cost effective, they'd care more. It must just mean not enough people are buying them to justify the effort.

If it helps any, it looks a lot like the Star Wars books are on the same kind of schedule, maybe even worse - the most recent SW book that's available in Kindle form, as far as I can tell, is the May hardcover.

[ATimson]

Thrawn wrote:

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If it helps any, it looks a lot like the Star Wars books are on the same kind of schedule, maybe even worse - the most recent SW book that's available in Kindle form, as far as I can tell, is the May hardcover.

The Star Wars novels are only occasionally scheduled for ebook releases (generally they dump a whole bunch when a series comes to an end); they aren't scheduled for complete, consistent simultaneous releases like S&S does. On the other hand, they also keep their schedule.

[Thrawn]

ATimson wrote:

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The Star Wars novels are only occasionally scheduled for ebook releases (generally they dump a whole bunch when a series comes to an end); they aren't scheduled for complete, consistent simultaneous releases like S&S does. On the other hand, they also keep their schedule.

Huh, that's weird.

Anyway, in either case, if they could make more money by being more on top of things they would. We just need to buy more ebooks, I guess.

[Skittles]

Thrawn wrote:

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Anyway, in either case, if they could make more money by being more on top of things they would. We just need to buy more ebooks, I guess.

I'd love to buy more, but I can't. The books I want are all missing from the Kindle store.

In my "Waiting to buy" list are...

• Fearful Symmetry
• Greater than the Sum
• Myriad Universes #1
• Myriad Universes #2
• These Haunted Seas (yes, I know I can buy the first two Mission Gamma books separate, but I prefer the collection)

... and I can't buy 'em, because they're still not available for the Kindle. I realize that MU2 is out REALLY early on Amazon, but Haunted Seas and Fearful Symmetry have both been out for a while.

I've emailed Amazon about this a few times, and they say that the only reason they wouldn't appear in the Kindle Store listings is that the publisher hasn't provided them with the eBook yet.

So I'm at a loss. I want very badly to start buying up eBooks and show the publishers that this is a viable format, but I can't do that when the books I want aren't available. And I have friends with Kindles (quite a few, surprisingly) that are in similar boats when it comes to the Star Trek books.

Heck, even some of the older catalog titles which I am REALLY in need of are missing. Amazon carries the entire New Frontier catalog *except* for Book 5, which I want to re-read after finishing the collection of the first four NF books. I emailed Amazon about it, and they told me the same thing... the only reason they wouldn't have it is if the publisher didn't provide it to them.

I even emailed S&S about this. Still haven't received a response after a few weeks.

It's hard to support a format when publishers don't support it in return. I realize that a slight delay is to be expected when it comes to eBook releases, so I'm willing to be patient. But when days turn to weeks (or in the case of Fearful Symmetry, months) then that patience turns into sadness. Sadness leads to annoyance. Annoyance leads to suffering. Or something like that.

[ATimson]

Skittles wrote:

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I'd love to buy more, but I can't. The books I want are all missing from the Kindle store.

In my "Waiting to buy" list are...

• Fearful Symmetry
• Greater than the Sum
• Myriad Universes #1
• Myriad Universes #2
• These Haunted Seas (yes, I know I can buy the first two Mission Gamma books separate, but I prefer the collection)

... and I can't buy 'em, because they're still not available for the Kindle.

These Haunted Seas is available; the Fearful Symmetry ebook has been in other formats for a week, so yeah, someone is lagging (more) there.

And the other three, nobody else has in ebook form, so you're hardly alone. (I don't think MU2 is even scheduled to be out for another week or two...)

[Skittles]

ATimson wrote:

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These Haunted Seas is available; the Fearful Symmetry ebook has been in other formats for a week, so yeah, someone is lagging (more) there.

Thank you very much for the Haunted Seas link! I'm throwing another $10 to Amazon now.

I hadn't seen it linked from the main page for Haunted Seas, and since I hadn't done a direct search for it in the past week, I hadn't even noticed it was quietly added.

[Thrawn]

Skittles wrote:

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Heck, even some of the older catalog titles which I am REALLY in need of are missing. Amazon carries the entire New Frontier catalog *except* for Book 5, which I want to re-read after finishing the collection of the first four NF books. I emailed Amazon about it, and they told me the same thing... the only reason they wouldn't have it is if the publisher didn't provide it to them.

Oddly enough, amazon actually has new copies of book 5 still available for sale, 10 years later. So you can fill that hole the usual way and then buy up the rest in e-book form; I would guess if book 5 isn't out yet, it's not going to be anytime soon.

[Deano2099]

For New Frontier the hardback of Stone and Anvil comes with a CD with electronic versions of all the previous books too.

[Skittles]

Deano2099 wrote:

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For New Frontier the hardback of Stone and Anvil comes with a CD with electronic versions of all the previous books too.

I have that. The problem is, those books come via PDF format, which don't play nice with the Kindle, no matter if you run it through Mobipocket Creator or Amazon's experimental PDF transfer service.

[Thrawn]

Skittles wrote:

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I have that. The problem is, those books come via PDF format, which don't play nice with the Kindle, no matter if you run it through Mobipocket Creator or Amazon's experimental PDF transfer service.

This is true; they certainly don't.



Hey, I know this is off-topic, but I have a really random question about the Kindle. Does it tell you how many pages the book you're reading has (based on your chosen text size, obviously) and which page you're on while you're reading? Thanks.