How can I travel into Mythago WOod if the path is incomplete?
August 9, 2020 8:12 PM Subscribe
Hi, AskMe. I just discovered the delightful Mythago Wood, and am very interested in exploring more of the series. Unfortunately, my search for electronic editions of the books has thus far come up nearly empty, and I wonder why, and what might be done about it?
There are electronic versions of Mythago Wood itself, Lavondyss, and The Hollowing, but these are all I can find. As a blind reader I unfortunately cannot read print, so I'm left feeling somewhat frustrated.
If this is a matter of publisher fiat, I'd love to know what I can do to get the rest of the books available digitally in some form. They were published recently enough that I'm surprised they aren't. If someone has any better luck finding them, I'd love a signpost in the right direction. :)
There are electronic versions of Mythago Wood itself, Lavondyss, and The Hollowing, but these are all I can find. As a blind reader I unfortunately cannot read print, so I'm left feeling somewhat frustrated.
If this is a matter of publisher fiat, I'd love to know what I can do to get the rest of the books available digitally in some form. They were published recently enough that I'm surprised they aren't. If someone has any better luck finding them, I'd love a signpost in the right direction. :)
Hey there -- I don't know why this is like this, but there are some available on Open Library (from the Internet Archive, I think this is the same listing). I happen to run their print-disabled qualification program so could get you (I think) an EPUB or PDF of anything they have, legally. Feel free to MeMail me if that is helpful.
I can at least find Lavondyss, The Hollowing, Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn. So I guess one more title than you can access.
No luck on Bone Forest, Merlin's Wood or Avilion. I'll keep poking.
posted by jessamyn at 8:29 PM on August 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
I can at least find Lavondyss, The Hollowing, Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn. So I guess one more title than you can access.
No luck on Bone Forest, Merlin's Wood or Avilion. I'll keep poking.
posted by jessamyn at 8:29 PM on August 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
If no other luck, check your memail.
posted by trig at 8:35 PM on August 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by trig at 8:35 PM on August 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
Just checked, and Merlin’s Wood, Avilion, and Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn seem to be the same situation—available on UK versions of Amazon and Kobo but not the US. This thread suggests you can buy UK ebooks outside of the UK but it requires a bit of finagling.
posted by brook horse at 8:37 PM on August 9, 2020
posted by brook horse at 8:37 PM on August 9, 2020
Response by poster: Thanks, all. I'm glad the books are at least available electronically somewhere, even if the geo-locking mystifies me a bit. I appreciate the timeliness and super helpful responses around her, as always.
posted by Alensin at 8:51 PM on August 9, 2020
posted by Alensin at 8:51 PM on August 9, 2020
even if the geo-locking mystifies me a bit
It's to do with publishing territories. Authors generally sell rights to publish a book to different publishers in different territories. A US publisher will generally be better set to sell books in the US for example, whereas a UK publisher knows the UK market better. However, they normally get exclusive rights - the UK publisher is not supposed to sell in the US, and vice versa.
As I'm not in an English language territory, both publishers are allowed to sell their editions to me, including the ebook edition. So I can see that the UK publisher, Gollancz, has made all of them available, whereas the US publisher Tor has only the first 3. Possibly they only bought the rights for these, and the US rights for the later ones haven't actually be sold. But the UK publisher is still not allowed sell them to people in the US, as they would be eating into a potential US publisher's market.
Generally with paper books, there's some leeway, so you might get grey imports of the UK edition in the US, but ebooks tend to be much more strongly policed. That's why you would need some of the workarounds mentioned above.
posted by scorbet at 5:47 AM on August 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's to do with publishing territories. Authors generally sell rights to publish a book to different publishers in different territories. A US publisher will generally be better set to sell books in the US for example, whereas a UK publisher knows the UK market better. However, they normally get exclusive rights - the UK publisher is not supposed to sell in the US, and vice versa.
As I'm not in an English language territory, both publishers are allowed to sell their editions to me, including the ebook edition. So I can see that the UK publisher, Gollancz, has made all of them available, whereas the US publisher Tor has only the first 3. Possibly they only bought the rights for these, and the US rights for the later ones haven't actually be sold. But the UK publisher is still not allowed sell them to people in the US, as they would be eating into a potential US publisher's market.
Generally with paper books, there's some leeway, so you might get grey imports of the UK edition in the US, but ebooks tend to be much more strongly policed. That's why you would need some of the workarounds mentioned above.
posted by scorbet at 5:47 AM on August 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
As someone who lives outside the two largest English-speaking regions (South Africa), I have a special loathing for geo-locking. In some cases I can buy imported paper books more easily than ebooks. Sometimes I can't legally buy a certain book at all. It's absolutely infuriating.
Publishers seem to consider their job done if their books are accessible within a reasonable time frame in their two largest markets. After that? Meh, whatever; not worth the trouble. Recently there was an interesting Twitter thread about how this affects the Caribbean.
This, together with general frustration with DRM, means that I'm 1000% more likely to buy a book that sounds even vaguely interesting immediately if I do a search and find that a DRM-free and region-independent ebook is actually available for me to buy. You have made it possible for me to buy your thing? Take my money now!
posted by confluency at 7:12 AM on August 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
Publishers seem to consider their job done if their books are accessible within a reasonable time frame in their two largest markets. After that? Meh, whatever; not worth the trouble. Recently there was an interesting Twitter thread about how this affects the Caribbean.
This, together with general frustration with DRM, means that I'm 1000% more likely to buy a book that sounds even vaguely interesting immediately if I do a search and find that a DRM-free and region-independent ebook is actually available for me to buy. You have made it possible for me to buy your thing? Take my money now!
posted by confluency at 7:12 AM on August 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by brook horse at 8:28 PM on August 9, 2020