First of all, if you have a non-delivery problem or a glitch in the site, write to us at:
authors@closed-circle.net and we will establish a ‘case’ with all the proper linkage to our book delivery system, and get working on it.
If you have a question, suggestion, or problem, either technical, about the site, or about a purchase, please comment, and I’ll try to fix/answer it.
Here are some FAQs about Closed Circle, off the top of my head.
1. We offer 2 download packages: the regular or “FULL” contains 11 formats predone. At least one of these should enable you to view the file without further ado. The MINIME download, or “MINI” contains 3: mobi, e-Pub, and pdf, if you like a faster download. You can turn these into just about anything.
2. MAKE BACKUP COPIES! We’ll work with you if you have a problem with a download, but once you’ve got it, please back up your original download file and keep your e-library backed up on more than one device. Losing that download file AND your reading copy is the same as losing a book. We are selling the files to you, for use in your immediate household. Please do not lend copies: we are trying to make a living on this, and every little bit helps.
3. All income from Closed Circle goes straight to the writer in question.
4. Nobody but Closed Circle can sell these files. If you see them elsewhere, they’re pirated: don’t patronize thieves. Again: we have to pay our light bills—please respect a creator’s rights.
5. If you are a writer and want to do what we’re doing, we’ll be happy to tell you how, particularly if you find us at a convention and buy us a drink. We are glad to link to fellow writers. Closed Circle has taken a massive slice of our writing time to plan and set up, but once set up, it should be a matter of producing e-books and putting them up.
6. Use the post office box given on the most current CC downloads if you need a physical address. NOTE: IT HAS COME TO OUR ATTENTION THAT EUROPEAN PAYPAL ALLOWS ONLY 10 CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS PER CREDIT CARD, AND THEN YOU HAVE TO USE A NEW CREDIT CARD. BUMMER! WE WILL ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL MONEY ORDERS MADE OUT TO THE SPECIFIC WRITER—NOT TO CLOSED CIRCLE, WHICH HAS NO BANK ACCOUNT AND CANNOT CASH ANYTHING!!!—AND INCLUDE YOUR E-MAIL ADDY IF YOU ARE NOT A REGISTERED BLOG MEMBER—SO WE CAN SEND YOU THAT DOWNLOAD LINK.
IF YOU ARE A REGULAR ON OUR BLOGS AND WE KNOW YOU, JUST E-MAIL US THAT YOU’RE SENDING US A MONEY ORDER AND WE’LL SHORTCUT THE USUAL PROCESS AND GIVE YOU YOUR DOWNLOAD LINK BY RETURN E-MAIL, TRUSTING YOUR PAYMENT WILL REACH US AT OUR PO BOX.
7. Yes, we will be writing things directly for CC. It will take a while. Writing does take time. But be patient.
ANNNNNNNNNNND I have an answer from my agent re the UK and other English-language rights situation—-at first the publishers thought e-books were going to go away; now they’re interested and negotations are in progress.
Thanks for following up.
This page (http://coflash.com/steam/), while specifically for Steam games, also generically applies to anything that region locks access based on IP address, such as watching Hulu, etc. See Method 3. Also, just below that is bit of information on credit/debit cards and billing addresses (I think there are an awful lot of extra people in Beverly Hills these days 🙂 )
I’m first going to try buying off Amazon just by changing the display region and see what it tells me. Then I might try entering a US address in my account details. After that I’ll look at the VPN option.
VPNs (it stands for Virtual Private Network) are quite legal (in most countries; regional restrictions may apply in China, Saudi Arabia, and other differently-enlightened countries); according to a lawyer I consulted about this a few years ago when geographical restrictions on e-book sales started becoming common, using a VPN to get around those restrictions is probably prima facie a breach of US anti-hacking laws involving gaining unauthorized access to a computer system, but a) the odds of being prosecuted are essentially nil, and b) I’d absolutely love to see the expression on the judge’s face if somebody actually tried to press charges for the crime of wanting to buy a book rather than resort to downloading it from a file-sharing site.
A VPN basically sets up an encrypted “tunnel” between your computer and another computer located somewhere else. All your Internet traffic gets sent to the other computer first, then goes on to its final destination – think of it something like a mail-forwarding service for snail mail. Since your Internet traffic effectively bypasses the local network this can be useful for getting around local restrictions on Internet use (VPNs are very popular with expats working in much of the Middle East, China, and other countries with strict – and often arbitrary – limits on what sites you can visit). In addition, since your Internet traffic appears to originate from the computer you’re connected to, any site that attempts to determine your geographical location based on your computer’s Internet address will think you’re somewhere else – if, for example, you’re in Spokane and want to stream video from the BBC, their system will block you; if you connect to a VPN in London first, Auntie Beeb will happily stream the latest episode of Dr. Who for you. The same trick works for (most) e-bookstores – I can happily buy Canadian editions from Kobo, US editions from Amazon, and UK editions from Waterstones without having to worry about the absurdities of geographical lockouts that wouldn’t apply if I were buying printed books rather than digital ones.
The only downside of VPNs (unless you happen to have access to one through work, or a tech-savvy friend in another country who can help you set one up) is that they generally cost money (bandwidth and servers aren’t free, after all). If you’re looking at a one-off use (say, purchasing the entire Foreigner series at one go, or streaming a specific event) lots of VPN providers provide free (or very cheap – USD1) trials. For reference, I pay about USD50/year, which compares pretty favourably to something like Amazon’s “no shipping cost on paper books within the US” package and offers me hassle-free online shopping for digital goods.
Hey,
I hate to ask 🙂 Is there any news on Tripoint, Finity’s End and so on..
Where can I preorder ,)
Cheers
Alas, it’s just how much time I have to get them ready. OTOH, I am hoping for more. We are finally getting some organization around here, as some big projects make their way onto Closed Circle.
🙂 I should not complain. IN fact I have absolutely no idea how much work this is. Probably a lot, as these books are old enough to have not been written on a computer?
Not that old. The last book written on anything approaching a regular typewriter (a cell-writer) was Downbelow Station. But there are weeks of process between immaculate typescript and our multiple formats with cover and front matter, let alone whether I determine a rewrite is in order.
This may be a bit off topic, but can you tell us which of your books you have electronic rights to?
Does DAW have electronic rights to everything you’ve published with them?
What about Harper Collins (Gene Wars and Fortress books)?
Warner (you do have Heavy Time and Hellburner, so will you be able to publish Tripoint, Finity’s End, the Finisterre books and Rimrunners?)?
Did your contracts with any of these publishers include electronic rights?
If so, does that mean that they have the right to publish electronic editions, and you will not be able to get that right for yourself?
I’m asking because another author didn’t get her fourth book in a series, that was supposed to wrap it up, published and she mentioned that the rights would revert to her in five years (Nothing has come of that fourth novel yet. It’s been seven years.).
Is that a normal period in which the publisher has the right to replicate the work?
A general article about copyright and what you “own” yourself would be interesting and enlightening for what might be coming to Closed Circle in the coming years.
Thanks for writing fiction for us all to read.
ericf
It varies by publisher and date. Baen was very forward in claiming all sorts of rights; DAW began to ask for e-rights after a certain date. Certain other publishers are trying to claim that obscure indefinite clauses in their earlier contracts cover e-rights, and some authors are ignoring them while others are worried. In point of law, you can’t decide that something ‘covers’ something when it’s as vague as that was. Getting rights back may not be as automatic as your friend hopes: in effect, you may ask and some publishers will ignore you, or say they still have 50 unsold copies in warehouse they never sent out so you have no rights and your book is still ‘in print’. There are all sorts of vile tricks.
I recommend the following in any modern contract: 1) in any year the Work shall cease to make 300.00 in sales, all rights shall revert to the Author.
2. Electronic publication shall not constitute publication for the purpose of Paragraph (number) [ie, whatever paragraph of the contract defines publication.] A book in electronic publication shall not be deemed to be in print for the purposes of (paragraph that defines ‘in print’ and ‘reversion of rights.’
3. All heirs, successors, and assigns shall be bound by the terms of this contract.
4. A clause giving the publisher license to print for a specific number of years.
If it’s an e-book contract, you definitely need to stipulate the dollar amount that will trigger reversion of rights.
3.
CJ, I don’t know if this is relevant, but it was in today’s Yahoo! News feed.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-amazons-sellers-unhappy-fee-110816194.html
I know you’ve expressed displeasure at Amazon’s tactics in the past, and I hope that whatever you decide to do with the books you’ve got in the publishing queue, that it’s to your better benefit than Amazon’s.
We readers need to support our authors, they depend on us to prod the publishers to bring more books to us.
Hi there,
I’ve been a long-time fan of your work, especially the Foreigner and Chanur series.
I recently discovered Cloud’s Rider. The suspense build up in it, and the ending really made me love it. So I decided I need to write a review of it and try to get friends and family to read it. But my biggest question was how to make it easy for people to read it once I’ve convinced them.
Now that I’ve found Closed Circle, that becomes a lot easier. And finding out that you are making a go of e-book publishing gives the answer.
So a couple specific questions:
Any advice for writing a review of Cloud’s Rider?
Is it available as an E-book?
Facebook and direct e-mail is probably the way I’m going to go to contact friends and family.
Would you mind editing it, and if so, would you rather I post it here, or in direct e-mail?
Robert
So grumpy. Convergence has been available as a Kindle edition from Amazon US since April 2017 but is only available from Amazon Australia as an Audible as of July 13th. I appreciate there is probably nothing that can be done CJ but I just wanted to vent some steam. I even tried to VPN but my Kindle is registered in Oz so Amazon shut me down. Pfff’
I bought a couple ebooks (Alliance series) on here years ago but since have gotten both a new Kindle and iPad. How can I download the books again? I’m very glad to see you are writing some more books in the Alliance series, I enjoyed the Foreigner series but Alliance is my favorite and Cyteen is my all time favorite book.