Great We Have a UK Store now about all those books we still cant get......

[lorezskyline]

Is anyone else getting a bit annoyed with the fact that Amazon and the publishers have still not sorted out this ridiculous situation where if your in the US you have a choice of thousands more books than those of us in Europe?  Enough is enough now there are to many gaps in the library William Gibsons sprawl series still not available in the UK, Neal Stephenson many books missing in the Uk, Lawrence Block Burglar series not available in the UK.  Are these people learning nothing from the disaster that was the music industries move to digital distribution?  I wonder how long people in the UK will wait before they either get a US IP address and the US publisher gets the cash or worse get a pirate copy which means no money at all to the publisher/author.  We are actually queing up to give these people money for a book we have already bought before and a product they already have, they are not taking advantage at all wheres the business sense in that? 

[history_lover]

Well, the UK store did only just recently launch... how many books were available for US residents when Amazon first launched the US Kindle store? Probably not as many as there are today. It's frustrating that Amazon obviously puts US customers first but I think the UK store just needs time to catch up.

[lorezskyline]

Well, the UK store did only just recently launch... how many books were available for US residents when Amazon first launched the US Kindle store? Probably not as many as there are today. It's frustrating that Amazon obviously puts US customers first but I think the UK store just needs time to catch up.

Well the Kindle has been available in the UK since the K2i came out we just had to use the US site but those books were just region bared so really all they have done is put the price in pounds and sell the hardware direct from the UK.  I get the feeling its mainly down to the publishing rights and the agency model etc etc but these people need to realise even if they make less money here than in the US per book its still better than zero which is what they are in danger of getting at the moment.   

[Linjeakel]

This is not an Amazon problem. They want to sell books and would be delighted to list every book in the universe if they could. The problem lies with the authors/copyright holders, agents and publishers who have to negotiate separate contracts for each country where the book is published. Some authors don't want their books published digitally (JK Rowling anyone?). Many publishers are only just catching up to the fact that e-books are worth publishing at all and they're struggling to get their back catalogue into digital form. Once they're caught up, I think in the not too distant future it will just be normal practice to publish the digital book simultaneously with the paper one.

Once the book is published as an e-book, then Amazon can get involved and sell it. They'll try to sell it at a price of their own choosing if they can or at the publishers chosen price if not and tell you which it is.

In the digital market, Amazon's primary concern isn't to sell Kindles, it's to sell e-books and you can bet they're doing everything they can to get as many books as possible available for the Kindle.

[history_lover]

Well the Kindle has been available in the UK since the K2i came out

But it didn't even come with a UK charger from what I heard? It felt like an afterthought to me - my husband called it a stock dump. In my opinion, Amazon are only just now making a dedicated effort to launch Kindle in the UK so it's going to take them some time to catch up with the US store.

I get the feeling its mainly down to the publishing rights and the agency model etc etc

Yes but I get the impression that if publishing companies aren't approached about ebooks, they don't make the effort to put them out there. So if Amazon aren't chasing them down to sign up with them, they won't get signed up. Again, it looks like Amazon finally started doing this in the UK but up until the opening of the UK store, I don't think they were making much of an effort. They obvious got a lot more publishers/authors on board than there were before the UK store opened so I think it's only a matter of time before the UK store catches up to the US one. They are certainly headed in the right direction, finally.

This is not an Amazon problem. They want to sell books and would be delighted to list every book in the universe if they could. The problem lies with the authors/copyright holders, agents and publishers who have to negotiate separate contracts for each country where the book is published.

I'm sure there are publishers/titles that Amazon approached but did not succeed with and I don't blame Amazon for that. But if Amazon don't initiate things, I think it definitely won't happen.

Prior to the release of the K3 and UK store, Amazon's efforts in the UK were minimal at best. You could only purchase a Kindle through the US store and their supply of Kindle books for UK residents was pathetically small. Suddenly, they finally launch Kindle properly in the UK and oh look, the supply of ebooks has been massively expanded. That's not a coincidence. Amazon made a conscious decision to push their marketing of Kindle in the UK and therefore actively got publishers involved.

I have no doubt that Amazon would like to be the biggest ebook seller in the world - but logistically, that takes time, effort and money that they may not necessarily have for the entire planet so they prioritized the US first and the UK second... other countries in Europe will probably be third.

[JSRinUK]

Why is it that some books that were available weeks ago are now not available?

I built up quite a "wish-list" during August while waiting for my K3 to arrive.  Some of those books were the first four books in the Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir series "The Destroyer" (I read the first one about 20 years ago and would now like to read some of the others).

I put the first four in my "wish list" with the intention of buying one to see what it's like before continuing - but now three of them are not available.  They still sit in my wish-list but I can no longer click on the title to find more information, nor is there a "see buying options" button.  Only one of them is now available for the Kindle.  What happened to the others?

A search shows that I can buy books 8, 22, and 23 - but not 1, 3 or 4 (which were available in August) or any of the others.  If it turns out that my tastes haven't changed too much and I want to read the series, I'm not going to be buying books 8, 23, and 24 when I can't get any of the in between ones.

I also added "Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic" by Terry Jones to my wish-list when it was available as a Kindle book in August.  Just like the above books, I now can't click the link and there are no buying options.

In short, it seems to be a right old mess.  Still, that seems to be par for the course with the UK Kindle roll-out.  One thing's for sure, the Amazon UK Kindle Store isn't going to increase the number of books available if they're deleting ones that were available prior to the Kindle's release.

[ProfCrash]

I have read about WH Smith and Waterstone's e-book sales at Mobile Read. They seem to have more books available then Amazon and I know that someone in the US can buy from one of them even when the book is not available in the US. They might have a better selection for UK Kindle users.

[TheSeagull]

To be honest it's not that bad. I haven't found a book I haven't been able to buy on the UK store in the US store. It was a lot worse 6 months ago.

[Muddypawz]

I just finished a wonderful DTB from my stash then headed to Amazon, all set to purchase all of the author's books after reading on her site that her other books were availalbe in ebook format, only to find them only available for Kindle in the UK! Such disappointment!  I can imagine how folks in the UK and other regions feel when they face the same issue.    

Come on publishers, authors, etc., get on the stick and make your books (e-books) available to everyone!!!

Melissa

[JSRinUK]

I just finished a wonderful DTB from my stash then headed to Amazon, all set to purchase all of the author's books after reading on her site that her other books were availalbe in ebook format, only to find them only available for Kindle in the UK! Such disappointment!  I can imagine how folks in the UK and other regions feel when they face the same issue.    

Come on publishers, authors, etc., get on the stick and make your books (e-books) available to everyone!!!

Melissa

It's like the tail wagging the dog.  Here we are, the consumer, wanting to give our money to the publisher/author only for them to not want our money.

I don't know what kind of business model it is whereby you have a product that you don't want to sell to your customers, but it seems a bit bonkers to me.

[babyd]

Why is it that some books that were available weeks ago are now not available?

This is more of a concern to me too.   I have a few samples and wishlist ones that just vanished....crazy........   for example, Robin Hobbs farseer series has been out for ages in ebook, it was on Amazon UK till a few days back, now that gone too.......very odd.  Many others seem to have vanished too, plus I have also noticed a sudden jump in prices, seems they lured us in with bargains and now its released they are creeping up in cost

[history_lover]

To be honest it's not that bad. I haven't found a book I haven't been able to buy on the UK store in the US store. It was a lot worse 6 months ago.

There's still about 1/3 of my to read list not available on the UK store which is available on the US store. I guess it depends what you read. But Amazon self admittedly have over 670,000 books on the US but over 415,000 books on the UK store. That's more than 1/3 (38% to be more accurate) less books for the UK store so it makes sense my to-read list has a similar percentage. Even if you personally don't come across the unavailable books, others will.

[DizzleUK]

I believe when the UK store launched there were 400,000 titles and about a week or so ago that changed to 415,000 titles, so they are obviously adding more titles all the time.

Bear in mind they need the publishers to agree to a Kindle version and not all titles have the same publisher in the UK as the US. Also bear in mind that the Kindle has been available in the US for 2+ years now and in the UK (officially) for 1 week, and the store for 1 month.

Give it time.

[Linjeakel]

I believe when the UK store launched there were 400,000 titles and about a week or so ago that changed to 415,000 titles, so they are obviously adding more titles all the time.

Bear in mind they need the publishers to agree to a Kindle version and not all titles have the same publisher in the UK as the US. Also bear in mind that the Kindle has been available in the US for 2+ years now and in the UK (officially) for 1 week, and the store for 1 month.

Give it time.

The kindle has been available officially in the UK since last October, when the international version of the K2 was released.

[Ann in Arlington]

The kindle has been available officially in the UK since last October, when the international version of the K2 was released.

 I thought you couldn't buy a kindle or kindle books through amazon.uk though -- at least, not until the K3 was announced?  

Maybe I am confused. . .it's happened before.  

[Linjeakel]

 I thought you couldn't buy a kindle or kindle books through amazon.uk though -- at least, not until the K3 was announced?  

Maybe I am confused. . .it's happened before.  

No, you couldn't buy through amazon.co.uk. But it was 'officially' available here in the sense that you didn't have to pretend to be in the US and have it shipped through a US address as you would have had to before that. Also Amazon knew you were in the UK and filtered your book choices accordingly, so that in effect there was a 'UK' store although it was accessed though amazon.com. The books available in the UK store proper are exactly the same ones, the only difference is that they're now priced in £s instead of US$s.

My point is, that Amazon have been supplying ebooks specifically to UK buyers for almost a year now, not a week or so, and during that time have made little progress in increasing the books available - though I stand by my earlier post in that I don't think the main fault for that necessarily lies with Amazon itself.

[history_lover]

No, you couldn't buy through amazon.co.uk. But it was 'officially' available here in the sense that you didn't have to pretend to be in the US and have it shipped through a US address as you would have had to before that. Also Amazon knew you were in the UK and filtered your book choices accordingly, so that in effect there was a 'UK' store although it was accessed though amazon.com. The books available in the UK store proper are exactly the same ones, the only difference is that they're now priced in £s instead of US$s.

But having to buy everything through the US store means making it available to UK residents was more of an afterthought than a true UK launch, especially with the pathetically small amount of titles previously available. It may have been "officially" available but Amazon were NOT making a dedicated effort to properly market it like they had been in the US.

My point is, that Amazon have been supplying ebooks specifically to UK buyers for almost a year now, not a week or so, and during that time have made little progress in increasing the books available

Because up until recently, they weren't making much of an effort. Now that they finally ARE making a effort, we have to expect that it will take time for the store to catch up.