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| The March North on Kobo |
The bad news is that there won't be a Kindle edition; Amazon only cuts cheques when the sales-per-territory goes over $100 USD, and that's not likely to happen. (To get electronic funds transfer I need a bank account at a chartered bank, which is well over 100 CAD/annum.) So it's not even vaguely economically rational for me to put the book up on Amazon.
The good news is that there is no DRM on either the Google or the Kobo versions, so you can download a usable instance of the book, and your kindle device ought to read EPUB just fine.
UPDATE: while there is no DRM on the Kobo version, you can't download it. You can download the Google version.
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Unfortunately I'm informed by Kobo that their version of this book "has no file format". I'm not entirely sure what they mean by that because if taken literally it's quite a feat, but in practice it seems to mean that you can buy the Kobo version and read it on your Kobo ereader app, but there won't be any epub on your computer no matter how hard you search.
(I couldn't find any other file on my computer for all my searching, for that matter, yet I can read it even with wifi disabled. So maybe they're right. Maybe there really is no file format, and the book is transmitted and displayed instead by sufficiently advanced magic.)
Well, isn't that annoying.
(Though I understand that the actual Kobo device format is a KEPUB nothing else comprehends.)
If you go to the Kobo website and sign in and look in My Library, is there a "Download EPUB" option next to/associated with the book? I don't see it because I haven't actually bought this particular book, but I am hoping you might?
It looks like the epub download only applies to free books. I see it for the public domain books but not for the paid one. Isn't it nice that Kobo is protecting your interests?
Thanks Mark!
Have updated the main post. Can't see any way to provide Kobo's corporate parent with the necessary clue, alas.
("Load tungsten-cluebide" is, alas, materially impractical.)
Zeborah --
Sorry, it looks like I failed my saving throw versus corporatism. Let me know if you'd like an epub?
Interesting re not being able to download the file. I think that must have changed in the last few years? Seems like you could download them when they were being sold at Borders stores.
Ah well, now I have something to spend my ebook settlement credit on!
I believe there was a time when there was a direct download function; an author or publisher can certainly download Kobo's EPUB version of the content they've uploaded. (Which is significant because Kobo alters it.)
There's a sort of dim background distribution kerfuffle going on, with various books not being made available in full in the Hugo packet this year, and various other signs that the publishers are having a lot of trouble dealing with the monopsonist in the living room. So I can easily believe there's been a change in policy, back toward the "but won't people be happy to rent books?" model the marketing people just can't seem to let go of. (It only took about fifteen years and two regulatory changes, freeing the cell carriers from any obligation to demonstrate value, to get rid of complex tiered rate plans for cell phones....)
Hope you like the book!
There's no download button, though other ebooks I've bought from Kobo do have one. (FWIW they've all been "Adobe DRM Epub" though I don't see why DRM would make a difference especially if public domain ones have been working for Mark Z.)
Further explanation from @KoboHelp via Twitter DM claims "The file was uploaded incorrectly and therefore there is no ePub file attached to the download. We will need to contact the publishers."
I would love an epub, thank you! I'm still zeborah at the gmail domain.
I wonder if they're going to contact me?
So ... they can sell it, and it can appear on the device, and it (by all reports to date) works, but there's no epub despite that being what I uploaded. (I *did* use the Kobo editing tool to see if I could get them to stop complaining about the cover. I wonder if that did it, in terms of the thing appearing as available?)
I experience bewilderment, even if I now understand the lack of file format.
Epub proceeding under separate cover.
Saw Brad DeLong mention your book, read a fragment on Google Play, clicked 'buy' and was up until 2am finishing it. My only concern is that I got more than I paid for. Do you have a tip jar? More books would be nice too...
bjamesj --
Brad did me an excellent turn with that review!
Glad you liked it; very difficult for any author to mind "stayed up to 2 AM" as a response. (Well, avoid the Evil Laugh, really....)
I'm currently about half way, maybe three-fifths, through writing Commonweal #3; #2 ("A Succession of Bad Days") exists, and needs a copy edit and a cover.
(I have a desire to get #3 through to first draft before having #2 copy-edited, because this makes "how many cousins did I say they had?" issues much easier to handle.)
Tip Jar is something I've never considered; have to think about that. ("Is this likely to be worth the CRA paperwork?" being one of those existential questions.) Really appreciate that you found the book high-value.
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