E-book bonanza... or maybe not.

I may have mentioned that I recently received a Sony ereader, a PRS 505 to be specific.  It looks exactly like the one in the picture.  It has been welded to me arm for the last four days(no not really but close).

I will go on about the e-reader in another post.

Sell me e-books!
Though I got the reader to access the multitude of free books via the various Gutenberg sites, I did plan to take advantage of the cheaper e-book in the future. So with that in mind I decided to check out the Australian e-book suppliers Borders and Angus & Robertson.  These two booksellers have teamed up with Kobo, with it's readers and a dedicated backend for the sale of ebooks.  Borders is also selling the new sony readers (the PRS 650 and 350).

My plan was to download a free e-book to test the ease with which a purchase could be achieved.  This began a journey that was reminiscent of the labours of Hercules.

2 hours later
I spent two hours downloading software, adding ebooks to my account which didn't appear in my elibrary( the holding space for your e-books) or if they did, could not be downloaded. I scanned forums and help files that weren't that helpful. I sent two email requests outlining the software, reader and books I was looking at.  I received 2 automated emails with a promise of the matter being dealt with in at the most 2 days time.

No second chances
I am a former customer service trainer for an online multinational. First impressions in a competitive market are everything.  Customers expect that if you are selling something that they should be able to buy it, and get it instantly(as per the Instant Download advertising on the website).  When you are trying to get booklovers to use a new technology you need to make the implementation smooth and idiot proof.

The situation occurring at Borders and A&R appears to have been going on for the last 2 months( if you check the queries at the Borders forums) with some customers not receiving books they have paid for up to 2 weeks later(Mobile Read forums).

Book Depository to the rescue
Disgruntled after wasting my time on books I could have download from the Gutenberg Project in two clicks I decided to check out the Book Depository.  I recently purchased The Case of the Pope in paperback from them ($9 and 9 days to get to me - from the UK) so I was a happy return customer.

So I checked out their ebooks, the website was so intuitive that I ended up buying the Killing Floor by Lee Childs, paying via paypal, and having my file downloaded in 2 clicks.

What are they thinking?
I would be very concerned if I was in charge of this new Australian e-book venture.  Most people wouldn't have waited 10 seconds let alone spent 2 hours fiddling around.  Do the big booksellers think they can stuff this up, that they can live off customer loyalty, off their brand?  I think there is room here for small technically literate book selling companies to step in and provide fast, simple, service.

I will be shopping at Book Depository for my next e-book, I won't be returning to Borders or A&R unless its in my interest to do so.

Have you had similar experiences?  Have you got any favourite small publishers or book sellers who are providing top notch service on e-books?


Edit: Sometime this afternoon I was able to see the books I had selected my elibrary at Borders.  I can't download them however as they say they are Desktop only - presumably meaning that its only available to read through the Kobo desktop app(this despite being advertised as epub).  I also commenced a search for free ebooks under the mobile/epub category but each of the titles that came up did not include epub.  

Book hunting

Home is the Hunter

Friday I went book hunting in secondhand stores.  It's a hobby that I have taken up to help me through the mind numbing boredom that antiques shopping can sometimes be.  I generally find second hand bookstores in the same areas as antique shops.

The future of the book?

It struck me while browsing that this may be the future for books in the solid paper sense.  I imagined in 20 years time scouring high end antique stores for a paper versions of those classics of the 21st century.  Explaining to grand nephews or nieces that this was the way information used to be contained.

Then I wondered if this whole bound and covered paper container fad will die a new generations grow up with e-readers.

The quarry, the kill

So what did I get?.

1. Far from the Madding Crowd -Thomas Hardy
2. Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
3. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
5. The Aeneid - Virgil 
6. A Doll's House and Other plays - Henrik Ibsen
7. Kidnapped - R.L. Stevenson
8. Bryant on Bowls - David Bryant
9. Fundamentals of Lawn Bowls - Albert Newton

Those last two are real classics :)  And what did I pay? All up $10.50

Now I know I could get at least half of these titles for free as e-books - in fact since I was donated an e-reader, I have( thank you).  But I am one of those lovers of books, if I see a nicely bound copy of a classic, at $1 each I simply can't turn away.

How about you?  Do you enjoy hunting for old classics in dusty back rooms of secondhand stores?

Book Beginnings on Friday- 24 September

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners.

Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

This week I went non-fiction.  I am reading Geoffrey Robertson's, The Case of the Pope.  It's been released as a penguin special in an all white cover - the first special since 1989.  Here is the opening paragraph of the preface:

I wrote a short comment for the Guardian and The Daily Beast at Easter 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI was expected to (but did not) address the crisis in his church caused by the revelations of worldwide clerical sex abuse.  I pointed out that the rape and molestation of children, committed on a widespread and systematic scale, could amount to a crime against humanity, and that the leader of any organisation that protects its perpetrators from justice might bear command responsibility under international law.

That's essentially the outline of the book, there.  It suggests a heavy topic but also a systematic presentation.  Indeed some 50 pages in and the book is a systematic, but not legalistic treatment and presentation of the facts.  


I would recommend this book to anyone with compassion for children, and a strong belief that natural justice should be done.  I especially recommend this book to catholics - it's a very fair treatment of an abominable situation.