Digital store for horror fans

Dragoro · 03-16-2009, 06:22 PM

http://www.horror-mall.com/Digital-E...p-1-c-370.html

Lots of books, and they are sent directly to your kindle like amazon does (need to add their email to our kindles approved emails) or you can dl the pdf form if you like.

deety · 03-16-2009, 06:53 PM

It seems very odd that they'll email it to your Kindle but not allow you to download the book in a Kindle-friendly format and load it yourself.

Dragoro · 03-16-2009, 07:11 PM

Just the way they do it i guess.

deety · 03-16-2009, 07:37 PM

I got curious and took a look at their digital download FAQ, and it sounds like they're really paranoid about piracy.

Quote:

There are 3 levels of security our system provides: 1) When downloaded, IPs are logged and links are only valid for 72 hours. 2) Files are only accessible using a customer's unique DAK (digital access key). 3) Files are encrypted with sensitive data about the customer's order #, IP and order date and tracking parameters are included so Horror Mall gets notification when and from where each time a file is opened. Furthermore, Horror Mall can terminate a customer's log in to their files and even remotely shred a file if found illegally sharing or distributing.

The FAQ also includes the amusing advice that customers should make a printed back up of digital editions.

It's great that they're trying to offer e-books, and I appreciate their desire to protect their material. But their policies seem a bit too extreme for me, which is sad because I've had a big problem finding tolerable horror novels these days.

Dragoro · 03-16-2009, 08:07 PM

they sent both an azw and a mobi version to my kindle. I had no prob moving them to my comp and putting them on calibre and even modifying the meta data. Im not sure what extreme measures your referring to.

Dragoro · 03-16-2009, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deety

I got curious and took a look at their digital download FAQ, and it sounds like they're really paranoid about piracy.

The FAQ also includes the amusing advice that customers should make a printed back up of digital editions.

It's great that they're trying to offer e-books, and I appreciate their desire to protect their material. But their policies seem a bit too extreme for me, which is sad because I've had a big problem finding tolerable horror novels these days.

How could they possibly track it? especially since they put it out on pdf. They have no way of tracking on sony since sonys are never connected to the net. Even with kindle, most people dont leave them logged on all the time.

kevindorsey · 03-16-2009, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deety

It seems very odd that they'll email it to your Kindle but not allow you to download the book in a Kindle-friendly format and load it yourself.

That's not odd, but plain dumb.

StanDaMan · 03-16-2009, 09:23 PM

Thanks for the resource

deety · 03-17-2009, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragoro

Im not sure what extreme measures your referring to.

I could be reading this wrong, and it sounds as if this only applies to PDFs, but the "digital access key" thing (mentioned in a different part of the Terms of Service than I quoted) is pretty ridiculous. The FAQ says something about needing to "log in" to your purchased file once a year from the computer you downloaded it on, and you can only view it on three different computers - the FAQ claims that the PDF won't unlock on a fourth.

I assume that you can contact customer service to reset that when necessary, but it would get really tedious to keep having to contact them to reauthorize more copies over the years. It seems like overkill to make customers jump through hoops for their purchased content - especially if the company can already track the source of illegal copies in ways that won't inconvenience honest buyers.

I wouldn't be buying PDFs, so I guess that wouldn't affect me directly. But it's hard to get into the idea of doing business with anyone who thinks that "you can only open one of our formats on three different computers" is a good idea. Is that a common thing among e-book stores?

Dragoro · 03-17-2009, 01:55 AM

Well they could go the amazon or sony way, and make it only available to one specific device. At least with this place, they are letting you get what ever version you would like. I dont think, at least for awhile, your going to find totaly non drm'd stuff in at least some version. Also this site is a very small publisher, dealing specifically with horror books, so they dont have the resources major places do, and they have to try some way that both them and the authors get paid so that they can both stay in business.

JSWolf · 03-17-2009, 04:52 AM

All I can say is that the scariest part of this site is they way they run it.

The problem is that they people have no idea what they are doing. What they are doing is losing sales left and right. They will not allow me to purchase any of their eBooks in a format that I can use or convert to be usable. I will not pay for PDF.

Dragoro · 03-17-2009, 09:56 AM

Becaues you choose not to pay for pdf does not mean that they dont put out a format you can use. They just dont put out a format that you choose to use. Big difference.

They put out books in both paper form, kindle form, and pdf. There not being a format that you prefer, doesnt mean they dont know what they are doing. And you have no idea if they are losing sales left and right.

horrormall · 03-17-2009, 09:54 PM

Hello. My name is Shane Staley and I'm owner and proprietor of Horror Mall. I was directed to this thread, so I thought I'd answer some questions here. Horror Mall is a sole proprietorship which just started to get into digital distribution. I run a Bram Stoker Award winning specialty press called Delirium Books as well.

Our customer base is frequented by book collectors, and HM is by far the biggest specialty store for limited edition horror books. We've just introduced digital editions in the past few months.

As for concerns placed here about our policy being 'dumb' and other comments, all I have to say about this is that HM just started getting into this market and I plan on adding different content and formats. This is new and it will be evolving.

The problem with DRM discussion here seems to be one-sided, and I understand some perspective as readers and consumers and I agree it's much easier to allow free distribution of digital goods. But from a publisher's perspective, do you guys actually know how many authors are comfortable having their work put out there in a non-DRM format. I'll tell you: not many. And it's new to most authors working in the horror genre.

I've published Brian Lumley, Brian Keene, Ramsey Campbell, Douglas Clegg, Jack Ketchum and many more of the bigger names in the genre. Out of the majority, I'd have to say we're talking about 10% of them are totally cool with just throwing their work out there without some kind of protection.

The digital access key is only for PDFs and you do not have to ever re-registered your file again. If you read the FAQs, you'd note that it stated you only had to log in to the file with a user name and password once every 365 days.

As for losing sales left and right, please understand that digital downloads are a very small fraction of the business done here.

But it'll grow and we'll evolve.

Nate the great · 03-17-2009, 10:02 PM

Shane, this is a good place to learn. We love to answer questions.

desertgrandma · 03-17-2009, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by horrormall

Hello. My name is Shane Staley and I'm owner and proprietor of Horror Mall. I was directed to this thread, so I thought I'd answer some questions here. Horror Mall is a sole proprietorship which just started to get into digital distribution. I run a Bram Stoker Award winning specialty press called Delirium Books as well.

As for concerns placed here about our policy being 'dumb' and other comments, all I have to say about this is that HM just started getting into this market and I plan on adding different content and formats. This is new and it will be evolving.

The digital access key is only for PDFs and you do not have to ever re-registered your file again. If you read the FAQs, you'd note that it stated you only had to log in to the file with a user name and password once every 365 days.

As for losing sales left and right, please understand that digital downloads are a very small fraction of the business done here.

But it'll grow and we'll evolve.

Welcome to MobileRead, Shane, and good for you for coming here and stating your side.

Looking forward to downloading some books.

03-16-2009, 06:22 PM	#1
Dragoro Lovecraft Fan Posts: 414 Karma: 539914 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Michigan Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Kindle Touch	Digital store for horror fans http://www.horror-mall.com/Digital-E...p-1-c-370.html Lots of books, and they are sent directly to your kindle like amazon does (need to add their email to our kindles approved emails) or you can dl the pdf form if you like.

03-17-2009, 09:56 AM	#12
Dragoro Lovecraft Fan Posts: 414 Karma: 539914 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Michigan Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Kindle Touch	Becaues you choose not to pay for pdf does not mean that they dont put out a format you can use. They just dont put out a format that you choose to use. Big difference. They put out books in both paper form, kindle form, and pdf. There not being a format that you prefer, doesnt mean they dont know what they are doing. And you have no idea if they are losing sales left and right. Last edited by Dragoro; 03-17-2009 at 10:08 AM.

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03-16-2009, 06:53 PM	#2
deety book geek Posts: 51 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: Kindle 2	It seems very odd that they'll email it to your Kindle but not allow you to download the book in a Kindle-friendly format and load it yourself.

03-16-2009, 07:11 PM	#3
Dragoro Lovecraft Fan Posts: 414 Karma: 539914 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Michigan Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Kindle Touch	Just the way they do it i guess.

03-16-2009, 08:07 PM	#5
Dragoro Lovecraft Fan Posts: 414 Karma: 539914 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Michigan Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Kindle Touch	they sent both an azw and a mobi version to my kindle. I had no prob moving them to my comp and putting them on calibre and even modifying the meta data. Im not sure what extreme measures your referring to.

03-16-2009, 09:23 PM	#8
StanDaMan Connoisseur Posts: 79 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: kindle	Thanks for the resource

03-17-2009, 01:55 AM	#10
Dragoro Lovecraft Fan Posts: 414 Karma: 539914 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Michigan Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Kindle Touch	Well they could go the amazon or sony way, and make it only available to one specific device. At least with this place, they are letting you get what ever version you would like. I dont think, at least for awhile, your going to find totaly non drm'd stuff in at least some version. Also this site is a very small publisher, dealing specifically with horror books, so they dont have the resources major places do, and they have to try some way that both them and the authors get paid so that they can both stay in business.

03-17-2009, 04:52 AM	#11
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 77,001 Karma: 138588794 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	All I can say is that the scariest part of this site is they way they run it. The problem is that they people have no idea what they are doing. What they are doing is losing sales left and right. They will not allow me to purchase any of their eBooks in a format that I can use or convert to be usable. I will not pay for PDF.

03-17-2009, 09:54 PM	#13
horrormall Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 354 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 2	Hello. My name is Shane Staley and I'm owner and proprietor of Horror Mall. I was directed to this thread, so I thought I'd answer some questions here. Horror Mall is a sole proprietorship which just started to get into digital distribution. I run a Bram Stoker Award winning specialty press called Delirium Books as well. Our customer base is frequented by book collectors, and HM is by far the biggest specialty store for limited edition horror books. We've just introduced digital editions in the past few months. As for concerns placed here about our policy being 'dumb' and other comments, all I have to say about this is that HM just started getting into this market and I plan on adding different content and formats. This is new and it will be evolving. The problem with DRM discussion here seems to be one-sided, and I understand some perspective as readers and consumers and I agree it's much easier to allow free distribution of digital goods. But from a publisher's perspective, do you guys actually know how many authors are comfortable having their work put out there in a non-DRM format. I'll tell you: not many. And it's new to most authors working in the horror genre. I've published Brian Lumley, Brian Keene, Ramsey Campbell, Douglas Clegg, Jack Ketchum and many more of the bigger names in the genre. Out of the majority, I'd have to say we're talking about 10% of them are totally cool with just throwing their work out there without some kind of protection. The digital access key is only for PDFs and you do not have to ever re-registered your file again. If you read the FAQs, you'd note that it stated you only had to log in to the file with a user name and password once every 365 days. As for losing sales left and right, please understand that digital downloads are a very small fraction of the business done here. But it'll grow and we'll evolve.

03-17-2009, 10:02 PM	#14
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	Shane, this is a good place to learn. We love to answer questions.

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