Thread by @doctorow

Many people have written lately asking for the best way to get electronic editions of my books and audiobooks, so now's a good time to remind you that I run my own ebook store, where I sell my publishers' electronic editions of my books:

craphound.com/shop/

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So I'm getting the 30% that Amazon would take if you bought the books from them, then I send the 70% to my publishers, and then THEY send me 25% of that back as my royalty - basically doubling my income.

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But it's also a better deal for you: while all my books, in all bookstores, are sold without DRM (including these ones), these ebooks are also sold with NO TERMS AND CONDITIONS. Kindle books require that you "agree" to a sprawling garbage novella of impenetrable legalese.

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Clicking "Buy" is also clicking "Agree" and what you agree to is a near-total waiver of your privacy and consumer rights. Amazon even reserves the right to reach into your device and delete your books if they change their minds about selling them to you.

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They've done that before...with George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. No, I'm not making that up.

nytimes.com/2009/07/18/tec…

I have asked dozens of Amazon press spokespeople whether they would do this again, and...crickets.

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I once got invited to give a paid speech at Amazon and I said, "Sure, I'll even waive my fee. Just answer my questions about whether you will delete the Kindle books people buy in the future." I never got an answer, and I never gave the speech.

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My store's also got my audiobooks. You can't even buy those on Amazon, or its audiobook monopolist Audible - that's because Audible refuses to carry my audiobooks because they're DRM-free.

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Every book on Audible has DRM that locks it forever - even after the copyright has expired - to Amazon's platform. They and they alone can decide which devices can play those books.

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This is the company that one day decided (for example) that it wouldn't stream its video to rivals' TV dongles, like Google's Chromecast. They changed their mind...eventually. Do you think it's the last time they'll change it?

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Audible controls 90%+ of the audiobook market, and audiobooks presently account for about the same number of sales as hardcovers. That's an entire universe of literature that is under total control of a monopolist.

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There are rivals to Audible that have virtually identical inventories and exactly the same prices: libro.fm, downpour.com, and - for my audiobooks, at least - craphound.com/shop.

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My audiobooks - like my ebooks - come with no terms and conditions. The deal you make with me is the same deal you make with bookstores when you buy physical books: "Every right Congress ever gave you is intact. Don't violate copyright. We're cool. Thank you and come again."

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As far as I know, this is the ONLY way to buy ebooks published by commercial publishers without signing away your rights. It's not a "license," it's a sale. You bought it, you own it. It's a book. Books are older than copyright, than publishing, than paper, than commerce.

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I totally reject the idea that the ancient compacts that bind us when we trade in literature can be unilaterally rewritten by a monopolist simply by making you click "I agree."

eof/