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French Government vote to stop Amazon selling discounted books


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[quote user="Clair"]It's worth mentioning that Amazon has a 5-day return policy on digital books.

Any Kindle book purchase can be returned for a refund within 5 days of purchase and I frequently make use of that policy.

Refunds are made within 3-5 days of the Kindle book being removed from the Kindle library.

[/quote]Brilliant, Clair. Exploiting the rules to your advantage just like Amazon do with the tax laws[;-)]

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[quote user="woolybanana"]So, Clair, you read 'em quik and send 'em back, then? Sounds very easy to me. There has to be a limit as to how often you (one!) can pull that little trick.[/quote]

Yes, I do just that!

I don't know about any limit, but it's based on distance-selling consumer law. The consumer has 5 days to return goods bought by mail-order, no questions asked...

After a quick check on my Amazon emails, it would appear I have returned 33 books since May...

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[quote user="Rabbie"][quote user="Clair"]It's worth mentioning that Amazon has a 5-day return policy on digital books.

Any Kindle book purchase can be returned for a refund within 5 days of purchase and I frequently make use of that policy.

Refunds are made within 3-5 days of the Kindle book being removed from the Kindle library.

[/quote]Brilliant, Clair. Exploiting the rules to your advantage just like Amazon do with the tax laws[;-)]

[/quote]

Its not actually Amazon that only makes a loss its the authors of books.

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

And here's queenie's opinion on e-books:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2452553/Queen-fears-children-choosing-e-books-traditional-reading.html

But just because I am showing this link, it does not mean that that's my opinion![:P]  I am still looking at the research......[:D]

[/quote]

Not sure what is meant by traditional reading. You still have to read on a Kindle or any e book. I suppose you can listen to it but its very automated. You can change the text if the print is small and you naturally contribute to saving billions of trees. Kindles can also store thousands of books. Many classics are also totally free. I recall when mobile phones first came out, people moaned, what do you need that for...now everybody has one!

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[quote user="Aly"]

Its not actually Amazon that only makes a loss its the authors of books.

[/quote]

Amazon and loss? Not two words you normally see together.

They have a very clear plan and strategy.

As for the authors..........they know what the deals are.

Bravo to Clair for following the rules, just like Amazon do.

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[quote user="Benjamin"][quote user="Aly"]

Its not actually Amazon that only makes a loss its the authors of books.

[/quote]

Amazon and loss? Not two words you normally see together.

They have a very clear plan and strategy.

As for the authors..........they know what the deals are.

Bravo to Clair for following the rules, just like Amazon do.

[/quote]

Well here is what some of the authors are saying in one petition. their are others from publishers etc

http://www.change.org/petitions/amazon-kindle-e-book-return-policy-stop-allowing-refunds-on-e-books-after-e-books-have-been-read

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[quote user="Aly"][quote user="Benjamin"][quote user="Aly"]

Its not actually Amazon that only makes a loss its the authors of books.

[/quote]

Amazon and loss? Not two words you normally see together.

They have a very clear plan and strategy.

As for the authors..........they know what the deals are.

Bravo to Clair for following the rules, just like Amazon do.

[/quote]

Well here is what some of the authors are saying in one petition. their are others from publishers etc

http://www.change.org/petitions/amazon-kindle-e-book-return-policy-stop-allowing-refunds-on-e-books-after-e-books-have-been-read

[/quote]

While I sympathise with the authors who want Amazon to stop allowing

the refunds, it appears that Amazon have to offer the refund in

accordance with consumer law. Perhaps the petition should have been

directed to the governments who have put the law in place.

After all, we do want to see Amazon keeping to the law.

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Aly

I can't open your link, maybe it's my browser but I can guess what the petitions are saying.

The queue for bleeding hearts starts here.  [:D]

These people. be they authors or publishers, know exactly the deal they sign up to with the likes of Amazon and if they don't then they shouldn't have signed in the first place.

I don't suppose any of them have started petitions to complain about the publicity their writing receives from being on a site like Amazon or would they be happy to be published anonymously?

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That's a very harsh line to take, Benjamin.

Authors generally write books to earn money - if they are not interested in money, then they write fan fiction. Therefore they are entitled to receive royalties from the purchase of their books. What the application of this law seems to allow is for people to 'buy' a book, read it for free over a few days, then claim a refund - meaning the authors miss out on a just payment for their efforts in writing the book in the first place.

You might argue, well isn't that what people do in libraries - yes that's true, but there is a method of payment for authors based on the number of times their books have been borrowed.

There are times no doubt when a refund is justifiable - a mistaken purchase for a book already possessed, or the blurb was misleading, however these are different cases to simply going through the processes of 'buying' a book with the intention of claiming a refund once the book has been read.
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[quote user="Thibault"]Authors generally write books to earn money - if they are not interested in money, then they write fan fiction.[/quote]

Are you aware of E.L. James and the other authors who make money from their fanfics?

There are shelves dedicated to their writing on Goodreads!

I'm sure they all give their books away! [:D]

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[quote user="woolybanana"]When my next book comes out, Clair, I shall personally scrag you if do a read and return as you will be depriving starving children of the minimal amounts that the book earns![/quote]

I promise it won't happen if you send me a free copy! [:P]

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[quote user="Clair"][quote user="Thibault"]Authors generally write books to earn money - if they are not interested in money, then they write fan fiction.[/quote]

Are you aware of E.L. James and the other authors who make money from their fanfics?

There are shelves dedicated to their writing on Goodreads!

I'm sure they all give their books away! [:D]

[/quote]

E L James did not make money from her fanfic - she originally wrote a story based on Twilight for which she received no payment.

Her later books (the Shades Sagas) were new stories for which she owned the copyright and thus was able to make large amounts of money, but she received nothing for her fanfic.
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[quote user="Clair"][quote user="woolybanana"]When my next book comes out, Clair, I shall personally scrag you if do a read and return as you will be depriving starving children of the minimal amounts that the book earns![/quote]

I promise it won't happen if you send me a free copy! [:P]


[/quote]

If you should be so lucky! 

Not only did he charge me full whack for one of his books, he charged me full postage as well........

Don't worry, Wools, I promise I won't tell another soul on the Forum [;-)]

Clair, please look at your PMs when you get a chance?

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[quote user="Thibault"]E L James did not make money from her fanfic - she originally wrote a story based on Twilight for which she received no payment.

Her later books (the Shades Sagas) were new stories for which she owned the copyright and thus was able to make large amounts of money, but she received nothing for her fanfic.[/quote]

I see you bought the hype! [:D]

The Shades saga, as you call it, is her fanfic, with a simple change if names.

All she did was a simple search-and-replace to change the names of the protagonists.

In the earlier versions of the "new" work, some name changes were missed and still appeared as the fanfic names.

You're right though, she did not make money from the fanfic.

She made money from changing the names and passing it off as an original work, even though it had been available to read for free long before it was available for sale.

THIS explains it in more detail.

Many, many more fanfic authors have stepped on the road to riches by pulling their fanfic for publication (it's called p2p), and some others have also managed a movie deal. Cassandra Clare and her "Mortal Instruments" have just seen the first (and hopefully her last) transition from book to movie.

I have a book recommendation, if anyone is interested.

It's also being made in to a film (scripted by Jon Stewart and the author, Maziar Bahari). No hint of fanfic there [;-)]

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Well, having read both Twilight and the Shades stuff, there is really no comparison between them. Also did you read the comments after the article you linked?

There was no legal action taken by the Twilight author which given that James made around £47m from the Shades stuff, would have been worth it if there was a case to answer.

Anyway, Shades was an original work. There was no bondage in Twilight!

Anyway, this doesn't really have anything to do with the idea of downloading someone's work with the intention of reading it and then claiming a refund.
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Fanfic is not restricted to the original work's universe. They come under the AU (Alternative Universe) tag.

A lot of Austen's fanfic is created in a contemporary setting, and it's still fanfic.

A lot of Twilight fanfic is created in a "human" setting, and it's still fanfic, with or without BDSM!

Did you see the similarity between the fanfic and the "new" work?

If my calculation is correct, it means that 11% of the"new" work is in fact original... and 89% is fanfic.

But hey, that's OK if you're a fan [:)]

We'll have to agree to disagree! [:)]

And this really doesn't really have anything to do with the French government's decision to restrict the sale of bargain books either...

In view of that restriction, it's good to know Amazon allows its customers to return a digital book if they change their mind about their purchase.[;-)]

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