Amazon Blocks Arch Linux Handbook Author From Releasing Kindle Version

An anonymous reader writes "We've all heard the horror stories of Amazon swindling the user out of their content on the Kindle, but this time they've managed to do it preemptively: by blocking the GFDL licensed Arch Linux Handbook from the Kindle Store." Reasons include: "We’ve reviewed the information you provided and have decided to block these books from being sold in the Kindle Store. The books closely match content that is freely available on the web and we are not confident that you hold exclusive publishing rights. This type of content can create a poor customer experience, and is not accepted. As a result, we have blocked the books listed below from being sold in the Kindle Store." The workaround: he uploaded a mobi copy to the Arch website.

Re:He's not even the author

[icebike]

Exactly. He at most, packaged the wiki, no doubt cleaning some things up a bit along the way.

B&N has a similar self-publish program called Pubit.
When it was first introduced it was flooded with ebooks that were merely a couple paragraphs of wrapper around public domain books. I saw one such pubit book that still has the Project Gutenberg trailers attached.

B&N, and I suspect Amazon, has since modified the TOS to require that the "authors" at least hold the copyright to the vast majority of the submitted work.

The GFDL does allow him to do what he did. But Amazon doesn't have to be a party to this sort of thing.

They told him exactly why they rejected it:

The books closely match content that is freely available on the web and we are not confident that you hold exclusive publishing rights. This type of content can create a poor customer experience, and is not accepted.

Exclusive publishing rights. Just like B&N, they want their program to be something more than simple wrappers around public domain content.
That's their choice. He has other alternatives for distribution, and has decided to GIVE it away.

Fixed that link for you

[tezbobobo]

Book download link was broken - here's the correct url: http://archlinux.ca/arch_linux_handbook_3.mobi [archlinux.ca]

Re:Good - Trying to block spam

[ZombieBraintrust]

They allowed it at first. But spammers ruined it. Amazon is perfectly happy hosting one copy of Arch Linux Handbook. They simply don't want to host 25 versions of it. So they require that you prove you are the only one permitted to publish the book. They don't want each contributor to the book selling their own version on Amazon. They also don't want spammers who have nothing to do with the book selling it on Amazon. They also had issues where spammers would add Advertisements into the book. You might get past chapter one and then find an add for a penny stock. They had search engine optimization firms putting links into public domain books to effect search results. Lots of returns and angry phone calls later we have this policy.

Not it being freely available, but *licensing*?

[WolphFang]

Yes, I am sure it is *not* the fact that his content was free elsewhere, but more likely the weak association with the rights of the work. I have two books published in KF8 format, (http://goo.gl/DkR4T) and (http://goo.gl/r6oDN), both also available as free non-KF8 epub/pdf downloads, and Amazon sent me a query as to the RIGHTS as (using some automated system I presume) they detected that the content was available elsewhere for free. I responded appropriately, as the primary copyright holder, and my material has remained published accordingly. And for those worried about GPL, etc, content, as the author, you can specify NO DRM!

Amazon doesn't make you use DRM

[sirwired]

DRM is optional for Kindle books sold on Amazon. They do not require it's use; it's up to the Author.

Just like any other publisher

[kriston]

Just like any other publisher, Amazon does not want to dilute the value of its market offerings by reselling content that is available freely elsewhere.

Note that this does not stop Barnes & Noble Nook store from providing compilations of public-domain works. The downloadable products do say that they are freely available from Project Guutenberg or otherwise, but the easy access to a collection of 20 or 50 works at $0.99 is an undeniable value.

Too bad that this author couldn't spin it that way, because most of these public-domain compilations are available on the Kindle, too.

Re:He's not even the author

[shutdown -p now]

They actually document this in KDP FAQ [amazon.com] as well, so he should have known in advance:

Public Domain and Other Non-Exclusive Content

Some types of content, such as public domain content, may be free to use by anyone, or may be licensed for use by more than one party. We will not accept content that is freely available on the web unless you are the copyright owner of that content. For example, if you received your book content from a source that allows you and others to re-distribute it, and the content is freely available on the web, we will not accept it for sale on the Kindle store. We do accept public domain content, however we may choose to not sell a public domain book if its content is undifferentiated or barely differentiated from one or more other books.

Re:He's not even the author

[shutdown -p now]

They make an explicit exception for public domain, so yes, it would be allowed.

Re:I do not know why this appear on Slashdot !!

[ridgecritter]

Agree with your point. I've been spending more time at Ars lately, less here. Overall quality @ /. (stories and posts) is on a downtrend, IMHO.

Kindle "Publishing" already has a lot of 'free'

[dtjohnson]

Amazon theoretically pays royalties of 35 to 70 percent of the retail price of their Kindle e-books to the copyright holder. However, what is not perhaps so widely known is the 'Amazon Gotcha' which is: "As the publisher, you (the author) set the "list price" for your content. Amazon.com reserves the right to set the retail price at our sole discretion. See the Pricing Page and Terms and Conditions for information on how royalties are calculated. Please note, We reserve the right to set the retail price we charge for the books you provide to us. We may offer your book at a price below your list price if, for example, the price at which a competitor sells your book, or the price at which we sell a physical edition of your book is lower than your list price. In that case, if you chose the 70% royalty option, your royalties will be calculated off of this offer price for sales that qualify for the 70% royalty option. If you chose the 35% royalty option, you will be paid off of the original list price you chose.

What does this mean? Amazon can set the price at anything they want to, including "zero." Guess what 70 percent of zero is? So...when Amazon is restricting content as TFA refers to, by claiming that the content is already 'freely available on the web' they are dissembling since a goodly portion of their kindle store is already 'free.' The main reason for Amazon's action is more likely embodied in the Amazon statement "we are not confident that you hold exclusive publishing rights." Amazon is happy to sell content for free because it builds their Kindle brand but they don't want there to be any chance of a copyright violation coming back to them as a costly claim.

Re:I do not know why this appear on Slashdot !!

[alanw]

There was a big problem with scammers packaging wiki-ed information from community game site

Worse than that, scammers were creating print-on-demand paperbacks of Wikipedia articles and selling them.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/04/03/2112203/print-on-demand-publisher-vdm-infects-amazon [slashdot.org]

I'm not sure how you easily stop that without hitting the people who genuinely own the copyright from distributing in a format other than a web page.