If you own an ebook reader like the Amazon Kindle or Sony Reader, this is a subject that you’d benefit knowing about. By no means is this a new discussion, but not too many consumers are familiar with the ebook geographic restrictions and what exactly it means. Here is the low down that addresses both sides of the story.
What is a Geographic Restriction?
It simply means that an ebook store can’t legally sell certain books to consumers who live in certain countries. This varies, but is all dependent on they way the ebook contract was written. When you are looking at an ebook online, a list of countries that are allowed or not allowed should appear on the web page.
Why Would Publishers Limit Who Can Purchase Ebooks?
With the paper book business, rights of particular books have been sold to different publishers by geographic region. It might be outdated when it comes to ebooks, but these contracts and rules are still in place. If the publisher chooses to go against these restrictions, they are of course, subject to legal action. In addition, sellers must adhere to these restrictions, or risk ebook withdrawals from their virtual book store.
Should We Complain to the Publisher?
We could, but it isn’t going to help. The problem is that the ebook rights are not held by a single publisher. The rights may be held by different publishers in different countries. The publisher that gives the right to the ebook store only has the right to grant permission for the country or countries specified in the contract.
The Other Side
This is no doubt a true frustration for consumers in Europe and Australia. These restrictions usually don’t apply to Americans. This topic is usually a rant by consumers that can’t purchase the ebook that the want, but here is the other side of the story.
One of the reasons why these restrictions are present is to preserve the country’s local economy within the publishing industry and reflect the differences within each market. The profits from country-specific international editions assist in keeping a structure that is needed for local book publishing. Local pricing and profit are vital to a local economy and its culture.
Large players like American publishers can oversaturate smaller countries, and take away from their local economies. Additionally, added taxes can strain these countries as well.
None of us like restrictions; especially, when it affects our obsession with reading, but unfortunately, these restrictions are still applicable. Hopefully, the publishing world can come up with a new solution that is more modern to address this setback in the ebook reader realm.