July 24, 2012

So often, it seems I find a book that I wish to load onto my Sony Reader (in ePub format). And then I find, as I about to part with my hard-earned money, this book cannot be sold in the UK. The latest book was Jean Vanier’s Becoming Human. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jen Vanier’s work, he is inspirational. Jean Vanier has spent his life working with people who have learning difficulties and has allowed his experiences to shape his spirituality and philosophy of life.

I wanted to read and reread some of his work – especially Becoming Human – and that is where I ran into problems. I found that I could buy the eBook from the Sony US readerstore for $10.95. But because I live in the UK, Sony would not sell me a copy. However Sony UK do not sell the book – the picture here shows what happened when I went to Books on Board.

I am at a loss to understand this – after all I will pay for the book, the author and the publisher will get my money. I could buy a hard copy and scan the whole book so I could read a pdf version on my eReader.

I had similar problems getting hold of Joseph Ratzinger’s Jesus of Nazareth which was very puzzling for I had originally listened to the book as an audiobook. Much to my amazement, I found that I could buy the eBook in Germany or the Netherlands, but not in the UK. To get hold of this I had to pretend to be German. But why should I have to undergo such subterfuge? I do not want to have to steal, but the way the electronic book market is structured, good, honest, lawabiding citizens are being forced into piracy and deception. Is it not time the publishing industry got its act together?