51Nau7aVIYL._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA115_.jpgReceived the following email from reader John Hagewood. Anyone got any insight into this?

I purchased many many books from ereader.com from 2000 until 2009, going way back to the palm digital media and peanut press days. For years, they were my favorite seller…loved the format, the reader, and the social DRM. A lot of what I purchased were Star Trek books. I was just revisiting my library there today via the PC and the iPhone, updating my expired CC and trying to reset my unlock codes. Then I started clicking through from my bookshelf to the pages for the books, and it looks like there is not a SINGLE Star Trek book available on eReader.com anymore. Same thing on Fictionwise. Of course they are all there on parent company B&N’s site.

What gives? Any clue? Did eReader/Fictionwise drop ALL of the Agency 5 books so they could continue their “rewards” programs?

(side note: sadly, I see that I paid $3.99 for many of these titles back in the day….they are all $7.99 or more on B&N/Kindle now….thanks to Apple and the Agency 5. I can honestly say that I would NEVER had bought dozens of these books at that price. Not when I can get the used paperbacks for two or three bucks! Agency model sucks)

10 COMMENTS

  1. It should be noted that the Star Trek titles are still available for download in the libraries of people who bought them.

    At least they are in mine. So are a number of other books eReader no longer sells, such as Jerry Ahern’s Survivalist series.

    As for titles disappearing from the store, well, sales/publishing contracts end all the time. The Survivalist books were gone long before this whole agency pricing thing started, for instance. I don’t know that I would necessarily see anything malign in it. It’s just how the e-book market has tended to work.

  2. Good point, Chris. Yes I used the nifty new “download all” feature in the iPhone app, and it churned for a while. I did notice that a few of the ST titles said “file not found” and didn’t download, but the vast majority of them downloaded just fine. Could have just been a network/app glitch on the ones that didn’t work I guess.

  3. It isn’t a glitch. Fictionwise and eReader have been very inconsistent about books being available for re-download. Some are, some aren’t. But all the ones that aren’t are with Agency 5 publishers. And they aren’t responding much to requests. I did get a refund for one of the books, but I didn’t see the point in requesting a refund for the rest. It would just be Micropay, and I’ve stopped buying anything from them.

  4. “(side note: sadly, I see that I paid $3.99 for many of these titles back in the day….they are all $7.99 or more on B&N/Kindle now….thanks to Apple and the Agency 5. I can honestly say that I would NEVER had bought dozens of these books at that price. Not when I can get the used paperbacks for two or three bucks! Agency model sucks)”

    In this particular case it isn’t an Agnecy 5 issue per se. Yes S&S is an Agency 5 publisher, but the price increases on ST books took place a long time ago now (before agency pricing).

  5. Actually I’ve noticed that a lot of authors are just gone from the store and a lot of books from authors I already have are just gone. Examples I can think of are Kim Harrison who is not available at all now though I bought several of her novels previously. Gregory Benford’s “Galatic” series was all there but no longer availble. Piers Anthony doesn’t have many of the books that were there months ago. There are probably a lot more but these are the ones I’ve noticed lately as I look for more books.

  6. I have noticed that almost all of my more popular authors have completely disappeared. Christine Feehan, Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison, Carrie Vaughn, Charlaine Harris… What is the point of spending any money with ereader.com if they have lost all of my authors. Several of my books are no longer available for re-download also. You better believe I’m gonna ask for a refund on any titles that are no longer working.

  7. This sucks big time. I have absolutely no interest in paying more for an electronic book than I would for a used book. I can get most books on ebay for less than $4, including shipping. Why would I want to buy a digital version for $8?

    Anyway, I bought several Trek books on eReader myself, when they were still available. I wouldn’t have, if they were $8 each. I just downloaded them all again (which worked). Just in case.

    I guess I’ll go back to buying used dead tree books, from which the publisher won’t see a dime, instead of them getting a small cut of eReader’s price.

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