# author of 1000 plus page book dissing the kindle owners



## kindlencoffee (Jan 19, 2010)

I read some early buzz of Adam Levin's new novel and thought it would be perfect for the Kindle. Looked at Amazon and it was only available for pre-order at the time, so I was hoping that the Kindle version would follow once it was released. After reading his interview in the paper today http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-live-1026-adam-levin-20101026,0,4696664.story it doesn't sound like a Kindle version is in the works.

I don't want to haul around a huge book even though people like me make him "(expletive) sad." A book like this I would probably chip away at, bit by bit, while reading others at the same time...again, making it perfect for the Kindle instead of hauling around 2 books. I just don't get it. Are there many authors who are particular how their readers read their work? What does it matter? I get it if it is a graphic novel or something where the formatting just doesn't work for the kindle, but straight up text 

_--- fixed link_


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## Andrew Kaufman (Jun 16, 2010)

I'm still sort of bewildered when I see a book isn't available on Kindle. I can't imagine what they're thinking. It's inexpensive to produce, widens their audience, and takes far less effort to put up for sale (as opposed to printing an actual book). I don't think in this case, it's because the book is new. Most of the time, it seems the e-version comes out before the paper ever does. Stubbornness? Laziness?


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

I think publishers hate eBooks. They can look at other segments of the economy where electronic media took over, and they don't like what they see. In a world limited to paper books, the publishers are in control. With eBooks, they lose that control, and people begin to wonder just why publishers are needed for fiction and narrative. 
    But authors? That is a bit puzzling. It seems like a musician demanding customers buy a CD rather than download to an iPod.  I bet this author's publisher made sure the publisher owned the eBook rights, and in the next few years will be putting it out as an eBook. And the author will quietly cash those eBook royalty checks.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Hey, I'm also from a Ukrainian village!  Okay, not a village - I was born and raised in the capital of Ukraine, but I've visited Ukrainian villages.  Anyway, this writer sounds extremely pretentious to me, in spite of what the author of the article thinks.  Levin's "expletive" filled rant against Kindles reeks of Messiah complex...which is very pretentious.  It's also presumptuous and stupid to tell me how and where I should read his book.  I can tell you for certain I won't be reading his book in any format.


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## Trophywife007 (Aug 31, 2009)

I think it's (expletive) snobbery.   

I also think this helps makes a case that authors (and actors, too) shouldn't expose so much of themselves that their real life personalities get in the way of the book or the movie I'm experiencing.  It has a way of dragging me back into reality, when I'm trying to disappear into the world they've attempted to create.


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## Carolyn Kephart (Feb 23, 2009)

"And the book itself is about, to some extent, its own (expletive) bookness."

Okay... 

CK


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## CJ West (Feb 24, 2010)

Terrence,

I agree. Publishers hate ebooks because they level the playing field and invite all sorts of competition.

They will have to engage the market because it is going to be too big to ignore.

CJ


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## pooka (Jul 31, 2009)

I agree.. This guy is seriously pretentious. Really, he thinks that his book is so important that it can only be read in hardback? Get over yourself buddy. 

I won't be buying his book in any (expletive) form.


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

DYB said:


> Hey, I'm also from a Ukrainian village! Okay, not a village - I was born and raised in the capital of Ukraine, but I've visited Ukrainian villages. Anyway, this writer sounds extremely pretentious to me, in spite of what the author of the article thinks. Levin's "expletive" filled rant against Kindles reeks of Messiah complex...which is very pretentious. It's also presumptuous and stupid to tell me how and where I should read his book. I can tell you for certain I won't be reading his book in any format.





pooka said:


> I agree.. This guy is seriously pretentious. Really, he thinks that his book is so important that it can only be read in hardback? Get over yourself buddy.
> 
> I won't be buying his book in any (expletive) form.


Couldn't agree more! I was at least hoping to read a measured, thought out stance on e-books, but I couldn't even understand what his point was because of all the (expletive) scattered throughout the interview.

I don't swear, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but this guy is a total


Spoiler



douche


!!!


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I couldn't even make sense of anything he was saying because his quote was so hard to read with all those "expletives". I'm certainly no stranger to profanity myself but when it's that excessive, I find people aren't actually listening to/absorbing what you're saying, all they're hearing (or reading) is the foul language or censored bits. They may be succeeding in refusing to conform to society's standards of social etiquette or drawing more attention to themselves or whatever other reason they do it - but if they actually have anything worthwhile to say (and I usually find that they don't), it gets lost in all the profanity.

It's not surprising the guy's book does not sound like something I would be interested in reading even if it were available for FREE on Kindle.



pooka said:


> I agree.. This guy is seriously pretentious. Really, he thinks that his book is so important that it can only be read in hardback? Get over yourself buddy.
> 
> I won't be buying his book in any (expletive) form.


No kidding... and someone should remind him that if the article needs to explain to readers who he's referring to when he talks about his characters like they're real people, he's really not as important of an author as he thinks he is.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

I actually didn't even read his diatribe on Kindles all the way through.  I found that I couldn't follow it because of the (expletives.)  I don't mind profanity at all.  It was just difficult to read and understand.  Maybe I'm just too stupid to understand this dude.

I was amused by the fact that Philip Roth never acknowledged him sending him his 1000 tome.


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## kindlencoffee (Jan 19, 2010)

Yep, I don't think this guy did himself any favors with this interview...really turned me off and I don't think i will be reading the book anytime soon  .


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

For me, the thing that I take away for his interview is that I can cross off another writer that I don't have to ever read anything by.


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

Personally, I was a bit turned off by all (expletive) swearing   No, I'm not offended by cursing - I spent some time in the military and that will cure you of taking offense to swearing   I just find when someone cusses like that (all cussing, all the time, whether there's a reason or no) that they generally aren't the type of person I care to associate with.  And that includes giving you my heard-earned money or jealously-guarded time.


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## warobison (Aug 29, 2010)

Just curious--

How much control does an author have over whether his book becomes an e-book or not?  For example, when an author sells his book to the publisher, can he retain all rights to e-book formats (or even some future formats that we can't even imagine) or does the publisher automatically purchase all rights?  I have seen comments by a couple of authors, who, when asked about formatting of their e-books, answered something like, "I don't know anything about that at all.  My publisher did all that."


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

warobison said:


> Just curious--
> 
> How much control does an author have over whether his book becomes an e-book or not? For example, when an author sells his book to the publisher, can he retain all rights to e-book formats (or even some future formats that we can't even imagine) or does the publisher automatically purchase all rights? I have seen comments by a couple of authors, who, when asked about formatting of their e-books, answered something like, "I don't know anything about that at all. My publisher did all that."


It probably depends on the contract -- it could specify ebook rights or not. . . ..

Really, what we should all do is ask for the book on Kindle . . . . . you know, just sorta outa spite.


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## tlrowley (Oct 29, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Really, what we should all do is ask for the book on Kindle . . . . . you know, just sorta outa spite.


and then not buy it


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

Warobison,    

    The author starts out owning all the rights. Everything. Then he negotiates them away to publishers in exchange for the publisher producing the book, distributing the book, and paying the author a royalty. How much the author gives up depends on how strong his position is, and that usually means how many books he sells.
    Today, contracts will explicitly deal with eBooks. However, we have  a very interesting situtation where books still under copyright were written before anyone even thought about eBooks.  Hence there is no mention of eBook rights in the author's contract with the publisher for that book. 
  The large agency, Andrew Wylie, recently made a play to publish eBooks on Amazon for Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man), Norman Mailer (Naked and the Dead), Hunter Thompson (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), and about twenty other big time authors. They completely bypassed the publisher who owns the print rights to the books, saying the author owns the eBook rights. 
    This is all in various courts, but decisions to date favor the position that if the contract does not mention eBooks, regardless of when it was written, the author retains the eBook rights.


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## s0nicfreak (Jun 10, 2010)

There is something off-putting about an author so uneloquent he can not go five words without swearing. The Kindle-hate alone would alienate some potential customers, but combing it with that is not exactly the best marketing ploy.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

tlrowley said:


> and then not buy it


Indeed! Goes without saying.


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## Concrete Queen (Oct 19, 2009)

s0nicfreak said:


> There is something off-putting about an author so uneloquent he can not go five words without swearing. The Kindle-hate alone would alienate some potential customers, but combing it with that is not exactly the best marketing ploy.


This. That much cursing is just a sign of a poor vocabulary, IMHO.


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## Laurensaga (Sep 29, 2010)

I'm with you guys. 1000 pages? I'm not lugging that thing around.  I have two kids to chase after.  What am I supposed to do?  Drop the book?  I'm liable to hurt myself.


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## Indy (Jun 7, 2010)

Wait a minute.  It's a novel pretending to be jewish scripture??  That alone explains a few things.  He thinks it's like a big, sacred burden that you sit around at your house and read, not something you'd carry to the doctor's office.  

I'm happy he wrote what he wanted to, happy he got it published, but it's not something I'm going to read.  I have a big, heavy, hardback copy of the Torah and I'll get along just fine without fake jewish scripture.


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## nomesque (Apr 12, 2010)

Rose-scented papyrus? Gilded title on the cover? Embossed leather? Hand-stitched pages? No?

*sniff* I'm not (expletive) buying that (expletive) thing!!!


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

nomesque said:


> Rose-scented papyrus? Gilded title on the cover? Embossed leather? Hand-stitched pages? No?
> 
> *sniff* I'm not (expletive) buying that (expletive) thing!!!


HA!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Let's be careful, though, folks, that we don't get overly snarky in return. . . . .some of the posts in this thread smack of sour grapes or a 'holier than thou' attitude. . . .I'm possibly guilty as well. 

Mr. Levin is, I think, shortsighted in his not publishing on Kindle; the language he used in the interview is clearly coarse.  His book may be brilliant . . . or not. . .  

It doesn't appeal to me, but I suppose there are those it might do.

Let's not pile on too much, though. . . eh?  It's not the 'KindleBoards Way'.


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## tbrookside (Nov 4, 2009)

I really have no problem with the cursing or with the Kindle-dissing, but I really don't like it when I'm told that someone is trying to avoid having an "author persona" when it's pretty clear that every last thing they're doing is part of their "author persona", including acting like they _don't want_ to project a persona.

Edited to add: I'm probably still going to buy this guy's book and read it; it sounds like something I'd like.


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## Fireheart223 (Oct 3, 2010)

Terrence OBrien said:


> But authors? That is a bit puzzling. It seems like a musician demanding customers buy a CD rather than download to an iPod.


Exactly! I mean, the growing popularity of Kindles and ebooks indicate that people are reading more, correct? So why would an author be against something that encourages reading? It doesn't make sense to me.


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## Sandra Edwards (May 10, 2010)

911jason said:


> I don't swear, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but this guy is a total
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...


No offense taken, Jason. I whole-heartedly agree with your assessment!

Sandy


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## jmkwriter (Sep 14, 2009)

Wow, just read the article. That guy's a jerk. One less author and book for me to read. I hope something terrible doesn't happen and he ends up buried beneath unsold copies of his 1000-page novel. Safety hazard...


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## Cathymw (May 27, 2010)

That is a surprising attitude.

I know people who were convinced into to getting Kindles *because* of the convenience of being able to easily read those huge tomes without carrying around the heavy books. It's a huge advantage of e-readers.


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## Cuechick (Oct 28, 2008)

I like how people pick and choose the technology they find acceptable. He has no problem sending an 8 page *e*-mail, which is mentioned in the article. What about the tactile worth of paper and pen? The beauty of a vellum envelope and the graphic beauty of a stamp?

... convenience will always be the winning hand... when the chips fall where they may.


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

Octochick said:


> I like how people pick and choose the technology they find acceptable. He has no problem sending an 8 page *e*-mail, which is mentioned in the article. What about the tactile worth of paper and pen? The beauty of a vellum envelope and the graphic beauty of a stamp?
> 
> ... convenience will always be the winning hand... when the chips fall where they may.


Ha! You are so right!


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## Maker (Jun 22, 2010)

This diatribe is probably going to get him more sales -- notoriety anyway -- than he would have gotten if he'd just kept his mouth shut. He's probably an evil marketing genius? *Shrugs*


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## EllenR (Mar 31, 2009)

Ryne Douglas Pearson said:


> It's always wise to denigrate your audience.


Indeed. I always look for that when I'm spending my hard-earned dollars.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

1000 page book with a print run of 12,000 = a lot of trees being cut down.  Less materials, less waste--my favorite thing about e-books and POD books.  Book stores are great for browsing but whenever I go in one these days, I'm reminded of how wasteful the traditional model is in comparison to e-books and POD.  Some books with beautiful pictures and illustrations need to be traditionally published, but a regular novel with no illustrations?  

The traditional model is on the way out, and I think that's where rants like this one originate--whenever there's change, people get edgy.  A lot of talented, unpublished authors I know give me very strange looks when I talk about e-books and the future -- after years of trying to go the traditional route and following "the rules" to achieve publication, it's hard for most of them to grasp what I'm so excited about.  I imagine this author worked hard and jumped through all the hoops to get his publishing contract and hold his book in print for the first time, so the e-books and Kindle seem like very threatening things simply because they imply an easier way to achieve the goal he's worked so hard for.


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