Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Simon & Schuster get Scribd?

I don't know how long they've been there, but I noticed today that Simon & Schuster, the publishers of licensed Star Trek fiction, are publishing teaser copies of their works on Scribd. Have a look at the latest in their Star Trek: Enterprise line ...



Just out of curiosity, what exactly is the title? Most of the advance publicity says this is "Star Trek: Enterprise: The Romulan War", so what is, "Beneath The Raptor's Wing"? Is it just me or does it sound like the first of a new series? Surely they're not going to fit the whole of the Romulan War in one volume?

And, not wanting to be critical but... two colons in the same sentence?

All niggles aside, I will be buying this since I believe Enterprise has a lot of story potential and not just because of curiosity as to how they will unfold the Romulan War to us. My only caveat is what media to get it in. I recently lost my beloved iPaq >sniff< and I mostly miss its scheduling and eBook functions. I have a eeePC - called "Mini Me" - that is very handy but the Linux installation that it came with has no serious eBook reader (and the media player sucks too!). I'm trying to teach myself the arcane rituals of downloading and installing software in Linux to put one on there. (^V^)

I could get it from Scribd as a pdf download but pdf looses a lot of the eBook functionality, keeping your page, dictionary and note-taking for example. I haven't read an eBook in a while, can I get this in MobiPocket? Does MobiPocket still exist now that it has been bought by Amazon and they are pushing the Kindle?

I'll get back to you shortly.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting article on S&S's Scribd marketplace by Anthony S. Policastro on The Writer's Edge. I thought that the pricing was a bit steep for a pdf download myself however we're talking about a new release here so they're probably worried about drawing customers away from the hardcopy versions. I would disagree: the readers who buy hardbacks and paperbacks will still buy them. They are collectors as much as readers who like the possession of a book. making it possible to buy cheaper eBook copies will give them a new, previously untapped market.

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  2. ... and to answer my own question, yes, I can get it for the full price of $16 from the Mobipocket website or for $14.04 from Diesel eBooks. However since the pdf download from Scribd is $12.80 and the Kindle version is $9.99 I would be paying extra for the privilege!

    Is this Amazon's way of pricing Mobipocket out of the competition by undercutting them with the Kindle version? I can live with that although it smacks of a growing monopoly (as does their conduct on the POD front).

    What I can't forgive is their embargo on Australian purchase of the eBook! I can only assume that it is a licensing agreement with S&S so that I will be forced to fork out the list price for the paperback of $AU24.99 from the Aussie S&S website since they do not have any eBook retailers over here! (NB all other prices are $US)

    I think not. All they will do is lose a potential customer.

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