Mary Stewart - Arthurian Saga

[pwalker8]

Picked up the Mary Stewart trilogy in audio book this morning for $3 per. I don't know if it's because I had bought all three as ebooks (i.e. the whispersync tie in), my membership or if they had just been reduced, but the last two just came out this month. Read by Dererk Perkins. Haven't had a chance to do more than just listen to the a couple of bits and pieces, but he does have a good voice.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Picked up the Mary Stewart trilogy in audio book this morning for $3 per. I don't know if it's because I had bought all three as ebooks (i.e. the whispersync tie in), my membership or if they had just been reduced, but the last two just came out this month. Read by Dererk Perkins. Haven't had a chance to do more than just listen to the a couple of bits and pieces, but he does have a good voice.

Whispersync is the reason for that pricing.

[pwalker8]

I guess that means that the ebooks are legit regardless of what some may think.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I guess that means that the ebooks are legit regardless of what some may think.

I don't know anything about the author or these books, but why is their legitimacy being questioned?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I don't know anything about the author or these books, but why is their legitimacy being questioned?

These books are not legit because they say they are published by EOS in April 2016 and EOS was defunct before then. So there is no way they are legit.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

These books are not legit because they say they are published by EOS in April 2016 and EOS was defunct before then. So there is no way they are legit.

Only books 1 and 3 are EOS (HarperCollins), books 2, 4, and 5 are Hodder & Stoughton (Hachette). All 3 audiobooks (books 1 to 3) are Blackstone Audio.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I don't know anything about the author or these books, but why is their legitimacy being questioned?

The author died back in 2014. The books are classics in the Arthur genre. There is a history of pirated versions of the books, but in this case I see no real evidence that they are not legit and quite a bit of evidence that they are legit.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

The author died back in 2014. The books are classics in the Arthur genre. There is a history of pirated versions of the books, but in this case I see no real evidence that they are not legit and quite a bit of evidence that they are legit.

So the fact that some of the books are from a publisher that no longer exists and stopped existing before the date published doesn't send red flags?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Only books 1 and 3 are EOS (HarperCollins), books 2, 4, and 5 are Hodder & Stoughton (Hachette). All 3 audiobooks (books 1 to 3) are Blackstone Audio.

The 4th book is missing. The first three show as from EOS which is no longer in business. EOS went out of business before the dates shown.

Also, Hodder & Stoughton is a UK publisher. So if you see any listed under that publisher, then yes, it's fake because you cannot buy UK eBooks in the US on Amazon.com.

Amazon makes it very easy to pull off this scam. That's why these books are up on Amazon. Oh and if they were real, they would have DRM. There's no way they'd be there with no DRM. There'salso no way they'd be exclusive to Amazon.

[pdurrant]

JSWolf is right. There are no current legitimate ebook versions available in the US.

And yes, it is very hard for ordinary readers to tell.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So the fact that some of the books are from a publisher that no longer exists and stopped existing before the date published doesn't send red flags?

No. There are legitimate legal reasons to use the name of the company (EOS) that signed the original contract rather than the current company (HarperCollins).

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

JSWolf is right. There are no current legitimate ebook versions available in the US.

And yes, it is very hard for ordinary readers to tell.

How do you know? (to be precise, how do you personally know there is no legit ebook version of Mary Stewart's books, not how can you tell a difference).

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

How do you know? (to be precise, how do you personally know there is no legit ebook version of Mary Stewart's books, not how can you tell a difference).

Because I've emailed Hodder and Stoughton who have the UK rights. But I don't have their reply to hand (at home), so I can't quote exactly, but my memory is that they are aware of these pirate editions and are trying to get them removed. (They used to also be in the UK store.)

But that the books do not have DRM when they're purportedly from a publisher that does use DRM is enough on its own to indicate that something dodgy is going on.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

No. There are legitimate legal reasons to use the name of the company (EOS) that signed the original contract rather than the current company (HarperCollins).

What are these legitimate reasons? I cannot think of a single one. I can see EOS being used maybe if the book was put up while EOS was still in business. But after that, I see no reason at all to use EOS as EOS is no longer the publisher.

The way I see it, whoever put up these bogus versions went with the publisher listed in the pBook when the scans were done and did not know that EOS is no longer. That and they have no DRM when HarperCollins is not selling DRM free eBooks.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Because I've emailed Hodder and Stoughton who have the UK rights. But I don't have their reply to hand (at home), so I can't quote exactly, but my memory is that they are aware of these pirate editions and are trying to get them removed. (They used to also be in the UK store.)

But that the books do not have DRM when they're purportedly from a publisher that does use DRM is enough on its own to indicate that something dodgy is going on.

So the most that you can say is there is no legit UK ebook editions. You would have to check with HarperCollins to see if they put out the US edition or not.

Not all HarperCollins ebooks have DRM. As a matter of fact, they sell ebooks from their web site that are DRM free.

Mary Stewart is listed as one of the HarperCollins authors on their website and if you go to the Crystal Cave page at HarperCollins, (https://www.harpercollins.com/978006...e-crystal-cave) it links you back to the Amazon page that include the kindle version. So either it's legit or HarperCollins is extremely negligent and Amazon is accepting a huge legal liability.

Both Amazon and HarperCollins have many, many lawyers to keep that sort of thing from happening. It's hard to believe that not only would neither notice it for 10 months, but that Amazon would link a pirated ebook to their audible store. I'm pretty sure that active linkage removes any safe harbor that Amazon might have.