Camestros Felapton

FELAPTONL

I Can’t buy Too Like the Lightning :(

I’ve been meaning to buy Ada Palmer’s book for some time and lots of people (even some who didn’t like  it) have suggested  that it’s a book I might like. Well there it is – a Hugo finalist and me with decks cleared for Hugo reading and…

Um.

Amazon initially denied  its existance when I looked on my Kindle. On computer, Amazon thought it might have an audio book version but not one I could buy. Trying a different way Amazon might ship me a used hardback version. Huh?

I went via another route – Kobo. Ah, there it was as an ebook! Ah but I then got redirected to the Australian store and…no book! To add insult to injury, adverts on other websites became Kobo adverts showing books with “Lightning” in the title.

It turns out there’s no distribution deal for it UK/Aus (which is weird because I’m sure some Brits had recommended  it to me). That must be incredibly frustrating for Ada Palmer.

I may have to get that second hand copy shipped over! (Or Tor – Hugo packet might be an idea if lots of voters can’t get the book outside of the US)

camestrosfelapton

13 responses to “I Can’t buy Too Like the Lightning :(”

  1. I may have mentioned my frustration with this once or twice before.
    Seriously UK/etc publishers, go offer her some money, and preferably publish both parts at once while you’re at it.

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    • Ah! You see, I thought you’d read it but I must have been misremembering.
      But, I’m sure a UK relative was also talking about it also last year (as in “have you read…yet”)

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      • Nope, wasn’t me that’s read it. Almost everyone else seems to have done, hence my frustration. Amazon UK lists it in dead tree quite happily, so UKians could easily have read it, but no ebook. I’m not sure if the paper edition is just imported or if it’s inexplicably been sold to a UK publisher staffed by e-book hating neanderthals.
        Anyway, the problem has been solved by a mysterious benefactor!

        Liked by 1 person

  2. I have a US paper copy bought from UK Amazon.

    UK Amazon do a lot of retail imports from the US of books not published in the UK.

    There is no ebook available in the UK either.

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      • It’s mostly copyright law, licensing and tax law.

        A British bookseller can buy books in the US (outright, ie not sale-or-return), sell them in the UK and not pay VAT. I believe an Australian one doing that would pay GST twice, once on the wholesale transaction and again on the retail transcation. For this reason, it’s much more popular with UK retailers than Australian ones.

        Ebooks require a licence to read the book (not just to sell it), so the seller (ie Amazon for Kindle) has to have that licence from the author to sell to you – and those are sold on a territorial basis, ie US, UK and Australia separately for English-language books (non-English-speaking countries are allocated to one of the three, and NZ is part of Australia for books that first sold in US or UK).

        Liked by 1 person

  3. I feel yer pain. I’m still waiting on an audio version of The Malice (Peter Newman) to make it to the US. Sigh.

    And I very strongly hope that TLTL is included in the Hugo packet. Everyone needs to read it! Vote Palmer! 😉

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  4. If you order the paper version from overseas, pick up the second book in the series as well: Seven Surrenders.

    You’ll want to read it right away, I suspect. (Both are just earthshatteringly good!)

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  6. I, too, got a printed US copy from Amazon UK. So it is possible. (That it is possible does not, of course, imply that it is guaranteed to happen in any particular case.)

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  7. Um. Later in April, I will be attending PenguiCon, at which Ada Palmer is a Guest of Honor. I am willing to try to get some signed copies, & ship overseas? If anyone prefers that option.

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  8. That a title you can kindle borrow from someone or can people not hare in different zones.

    I’ve been meaning to give it another go, I bounced off the style right away and there was other books out I wanted to read and then it had to go back to the library because someone who was eager to read it wasn’t appreciated my procrastination.

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