Baen can no longer provide automatic delivery to Kindle by email.

[gbm]

This was posted on Baen's Bar today.

Dear Baen Ebooks customer,

Starting on or about June 10, 2015, Baen Ebooks will no longer be able to provide automatic delivery of the .mobi format to a Kindle device via the "Email book to my Kindle" feature. We have just learned that to comply with Amazon's Terms of Use, Baen Ebooks cannot use Amazon's Personal Documents Service to deliver paid content.

They have updated the ereader instructions page:

For more information on how to load Baen Ebooks onto your Kindle device, check out our Ereader Instruction page: http://www.baenebooks.com/t-ereaderi...ns.aspx#kindle

Spoiler:

Emailing books directly to your Kindle

Depending on which Kindle you are using and how you are connecting to the Internet, Amazon may charge a modest fee for emailing an Ebook to your Kindle. For US customers, the fee is 15 cents for 1 MB of data (almost all of our Ebooks are less than 1 MB). For non-US customers, the fee is 99 cents for 1 MB of data.

Amazon’s Terms of Use does not permit Baen Books to send EBooks directly to your Kindle from the Baen site. You can, however, still email your Ebook to your Kindle by following these directions:

1. Log in to your Amazon Kindle account at Amazon Kindle Manager.
2. In Amazon Kindle Manager, add your personal email address to your list of approved senders under Manage Your Content and Devices Settings.
3. Log in to your Baen Ebooks account and navigate to your purchased Ebook’s product page.
4. Click “Email book to my Kindle.”
5. Enter your personal email address into the email address box.
6. Press Send.
7. Check your email. You should receive an email from Ebooks@baenebooks.com with a .mobi file attached.
8. Forward this email to your Kindle, making sure the .mobi file remains attached. Within 15 minutes, your Ebook should be on your Kindle.

For more information about Amazon fees, check out the Kindle section in our Ereader Instructions.

bernie

[DiapDealer]

Interesting. I wonder if the same applies to third-party subscriptions. It was very handy to have periodicals automatically delivered by Weightless Books every month. This actually sorta sucks.

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Interesting. I wonder if the same applies to third-party subscriptions. It was very handy to have periodicals automatically delivered by Weightless Books every month. This actually sorta sucks.

I agree. For the user it does suck. Even though I understand why Amazon doesn't want to foot the bill for other companies (bandwidth) to use the kindle...

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Even though I understand why Amazon doesn't want to foot the bill for other companies (bandwidth) to use the kindle...

If you mean the cost of cell phone network transfer, Kindle owners pay for that, as can be seen by following the link in post #1.

Now, Kindle owners who get their @kindle.com transfers by WiFi do get that for free, but I don't think that costs Amazon much. And the email feature (not via Baen, but generally) was considered by me when I paid for the device.

Personally, I don't understand the detailed reasons for this move. But I'd point out the Baen competes with Amazon in the eBook marketplace. My speculation is that an Amazon beancounter decided it was more important to sell a few more eBooks than to sell a few more Kindles.

[fjtorres]

Amazon has been blocking transfers from other retailers for a while.
Smashwords has been complaining for years.

Some storefronts, like BAEN, were tolerated as a favor to readers but now that BAEN books are available via the Kindle store they don't expect a big enough outcry to matter. I wouldn't be surprised if BAEN were the last one still allowed to sell and email books into Kindles.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Some storefronts, like BAEN, were tolerated as a favor to readers but now that BAEN books are available via the Kindle store they don't expect a big enough outcry to matter. I wouldn't be surprised if BAEN were the last one still allowed to sell and email books into Kindles.

Weightless Books is still advertising the ability to auto-deliver periodicals to Kindles via the device's email address. No idea if it still works or not; but it did as of 3-4 months ago.

[AnemicOak]

Some Googling shows that...

OmniLit/AllRomance eBooks
Bookstrand
O'Reilly
Untreed Reads
Humble Bundle
Liquid Silver Books
Packt Publishing

..all offer this.


As far as non-stores Instapaper offers this as does Netgalley.

[Vroo]

What's going to change after 10 Jun?

Kindle Personal Documents TOS only say "You may not charge directly or indirectly to distribute content via the Service. You may not use the Service to send infringing, unauthorized, or otherwise illegal content. " - but this hasn't change for quite a while.

(https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...deId=201124320)

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Some Googling shows that...

OmniLit/AllRomance eBooks
Bookstrand
O'Reilly
Untreed Reads
Humble Bundle
Liquid Silver Books
Packt Publishing

..all offer this.


As far as non-stores Instapaper offers this as does Netgalley.

How many of those have distribution deals with Amazon, like BAEN does?
BAEN is both a retailer and a publisher. The dual status might have something to do with the pre-existing rules suddenly being enforced.

And, for that matter, do we know Amazon initiated this?
The phrasing of the quoted statement doesn't specify.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

And, for that matter, do we know Amazon initiated this?
The phrasing of the quoted statement doesn't specify.

That's sort of what I was thinking.
I'm having a hard time imagining that Amazon hasn't warned users that their (non-Amazon purchased) periodicals--which have always been auto-delivered to their devices--are going to stop being so delivered in a little less than two weeks.

Might just be a Baen/Amazon tiff.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Might just be a Baen/Amazon tiff.

Or it mighg be BAEN sales via Amazon growing big enough they don't need/want to risk annoying Amazon. Also, Amazon recently changed how they treat personal documents (Kindle cloud vs paid Amazon cloud) so lawyers on either end might be passing judgments.

If we hear of others being squeezed or blocked then we'll know where it's coming from.

(Or somebody at the BAEN bar might pass on a tip. )

[crossi]

Big deal. I load everything through Calibre so I know all the metadata is as I like it and then load my kindle with the USB. The only time I have whispernet turned on is to sync the clock because it doesn't keep very good time. Come to think of it, I don't think I've had whispernet turned on for a year or so.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by crossi

Big deal. I load everything through Calibre so I know all the metadata is as I like it and then load my kindle with the USB. The only time I have whispernet turned on is to sync the clock because it doesn't keep very good time. Come to think of it, I don't think I've had whispernet turned on for a year or so.

Good for you. That workflow works great for you--I, on the other hand, have only connected my Voyage via USB one time, and that was to add the Font_Ramp file so that I could have different font sizes. My favorite thing about the Kindle is that I never HAVE to connect it to a PC, no matter where my books come from.

Isn't it great that we have choices?

Shari

[DBDigital]

Originally Posted by shalym

Good for you. That workflow works great for you--I, on the other hand, have only connected my Voyage via USB one time, and that was to add the Font_Ramp file so that I could have different font sizes. My favorite thing about the Kindle is that I never HAVE to connect it to a PC, no matter where my books come from.

Isn't it great that we have choices?

Shari

Yes it is. And I think most people are of the same mindset with regard to connecting their device via USB. They will pay a little more (sale, different store, or otherwise) to have the book delivered wirelessly rather than spending 2 minutes to connect their device.

In my experience, people hate to side load. Personally I use both methods and would never purchase a device that did not have side-loading available for the simple reason that the wireless service might close, but side-loading will always work.

[CRussel]

Calibre as a content-server, then. No need to ever plug in your Kindle except to charge it.

Personally, even though I got that letter from Baen, I've never used their email feature. I sideload just about everything, except what I use Calibre and (on the Fire) Calibre Companion to pull down from my always running Calibre on one of my servers.