iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon • Hacker News Board

Re: iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon

#41

Post by mikecane » Sat, Jul 28, 2012, 10:09 PM UTC

Turing_Machine wrote: post #16

brianwhitman wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't see any emails about the content block that she is referring to this post. I see emails about previous issues of her having links to Amazon in her ebooks. I am very curious about this, because I doubt just saying the word "Amazon" can really be an instant rejection -- and a quick search of the iBook store shows tons of books about Amazon itself, things like "How to Self Publish on the Amazon Kindle" et al.

"I doubt just saying the word "Amazon" can really be an instant rejection" Neither she nor anyone else is claiming that, so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here.

A Big Six publisher had an eBook rejected by Apple because it mentioned there was also a Kindle edition available.

Re: iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon

#42

Post by mikecane » Sat, Jul 28, 2012, 10:11 PM UTC

tjoff wrote: post #23

antidoh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting thing is, traditional book publishers could do the same. Maybe they have, and we wouldn't be aware of it. My impression is that they mostly haven't and mostly wouldn't. I think Apple, Amazon et al. are particularly extractive, and they come at anything firstly from the point of view of how they can control and channel the experience, the level of focus being unique to them.

Relevant: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/06/barnes-a... ...Barnes and Noble’s budget electronic edition of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” had searched for and replaced all incidences of the word “kindled” (a variant of the name of Amazon’s e-reader, of course, but also a legitimate English word) with the word “Nookd.”...

That wasn't by B&N. It was by a cheapass public domain parasite who did a search to replace "Kindle" (probably as in "Kindle Edition") and wound up FUBARing the book before submitting it to B&N.

Re: iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon

#43

Post by k-mcgrady » Sat, Jul 28, 2012, 10:12 PM UTC

PythonDeveloper wrote: post #12

This is height of hypocrisy since Apple apparently uses Amazon S3 in their iMessage app, according to an earlier HN post that links here : http://imgur.com/fwXX5 "You can't mention Amazon, but we can use it."

I'm not defending Apple but your point is completely irrelevant. They don't want products in their store to mention a competitor. That has nothing to do with them using a service which they don't have a competitor for.

Re: iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon

#44

Post by mikecane » Sat, Jul 28, 2012, 10:13 PM UTC

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #32

tjoff wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to buy your kindle-books from amazon.

And you don't have to buy your iBooks books from Apple. In fact, I rarely (maybe never) have, but I prefer it's reading experience to the Kindle apps (for whatever reason). I just use Calibre to convert.

>>>And you don't have to buy your iBooks books from Apple.

Um, wut? OK, you probably meant ebooks, but iBooks -- created by iBooks Author -- can be bought only from Apple.

Re: iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon

#45

Post by mikecane » Sat, Jul 28, 2012, 10:15 PM UTC

ktizo wrote: post #33

I wonder how ibookstore would cope with an accurate history of electronic tablet devices and their influence on book publishing.

Probably reject it as they rejected a magazine that was for Android users.

Re: iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon

#46

Post by mikecane » Sat, Jul 28, 2012, 10:15 PM UTC

alpine wrote: post #37

Time to short Apple. Somehow, I don't think this would have happened under Steve.

What, are you kidding or just not paying attention? This has been going on since before the iBookstore, when books had to be wrapped in apps.

Re: iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon

#47

Post by Turing_Machine » Sat, Jul 28, 2012, 10:19 PM UTC

davedx wrote: post #20

Turing_Machine wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I doubt just saying the word "Amazon" can really be an instant rejection" Neither she nor anyone else is claiming that, so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here.

Huh? The link title says: "iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon"

1) Not "instant rejection". 2) Not "just saying the word Amazon".

Re: iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon

#48

Post by mikecane » Sat, Jul 28, 2012, 10:21 PM UTC

briandear wrote: post #36

I'm failing to see the big picture here. One author who provides detailed links to a competitor's site gets rejected for a book about self-publishing. It isn't like Apple is rejecting political books with which they disagree or preventing users from reading specific content on their devices. Their store just chose not to sell an item. Supermarkets aren't obligated to stock every possible variety of orange juice, nor…

>>>preventing users from reading specific content on their devices

What? What? What?

Where have you been? Apple has a record of this, and it started here:

Apple Forfeits eBooks By Banning A Comic Book! http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/08/26/apple-forfeits-...

That's before there was any iBookstore. And it's gone on since. Every now and then this issue gets publicity, people are outraged and new people wake up to it -- yet it continues.

Never has any Big Six publisher or print bookstore rejected a work or refused to carry a work because it mentioned a competitor. There would have never been a Books in Print or a Writer's Marketplace, to mention just two reference books.

It's only recently that crap like this has cropped up, with Barnes & Noble and some indie print bookstores refusing to carry print titles published by Amazon. And I think B&N was emboldened by the lack of protest over Apple's moves in this direction.

Re: iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon

#49

Post by georgemcbay » Sat, Jul 28, 2012, 10:26 PM UTC

rrbrambley wrote: post #5

antidoh wrote: post #2

Do we really want our information mediated/censored by this sort of corporate behavior?

Absolutely not. This is where the line is drawn. I've grown to accept Apple's App Store policies for the sake of keeping app quality high. However, when it comes to distributing content that people actually use to learn new things and enrich their lives, there is absolutely no room for this type of policy. To anyone who is selling their books via Apple: GTFO right now.

"This is where the line is drawn."

Really?

I mean, yes this is clearly terrible, but if you're surprised by Apple doing this then you haven't been paying much attention the past few years.

I don't begrudge people who choose to use Apple products, they certainly have their charms, but I do get slightly annoyed when they are suddenly offended when Apple does something like this because post-App Store Apple pulls crap like this all the time.

Re: iBookstore rejects Holly Lisle's writing course because she mentions Amazon

#50

Post by alpine » Sat, Jul 28, 2012, 10:37 PM UTC

mikecane wrote: post #46

alpine wrote: post #37

Time to short Apple. Somehow, I don't think this would have happened under Steve.

What, are you kidding or just not paying attention? This has been going on since before the iBookstore, when books had to be wrapped in apps.

Yes, I have been paying attention. Trading is all about timing.