No erotica before ten - at least in Germany

Something I find endlessly fascinating are the differences between cultures and countries on this fair planet of ours; the varieties in aesthetics, practices and outlooks is a great reminder to take nothing for granted. However, sometimes you're left boggled by decisions made in parts of the world.

Germany have now introduced a law that prohibits ebooks aimed at adults to be sold before 10 PM and after 6 AM, local time. The German Publishers & Booksellers Association has been told by the Youth Protection Authority that all ebooks are now subject to the same controls that have existed for print media since 2002, which limits the sale of hardcovers, paperbacks, magazines, and graphic novels to minors when those material are clearly aimed at adults. From now on all publishing houses and self-publishers will need to fill in a new field in the metadata calling out if the content is for an adult audience.

The oddness of this decision is mitigated by the fact that it may not in fact be enforced; Germany have a number of rules around what can and can't be sold or shown but these aren't always followed. With the fine being €500,000 for breaking the law though it will be surprising if new adult sections don't start popping up in online book stores across Germany.

From my time in the DVD world, I know that similar rules exist for rated 18 and up movies and TV, to the point where even buying them abroad can result in them being confiscated by customs until you prove your age (though it's a rare occurrence). But books are an odd medium to put these kind of age limits on; reading isn't as easy as sitting back and watching a movie, or playing a video game. Britain doesn't currently (and hopefully never will) have an age rating on books. Graphic novels are also not rated, though there may be an argument for that given they're much more of a visual medium then books. I'm not sure where I stand on this; I read a lot of non-age appropriate books and comics growing up, but then again my mum bought those for me after checking them... 

Is it okay to sell a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey to an eight-year-old, without a guardian present? Do we control the distribution of books by a person's age? And why does the idea of  that make a shiver go down my spine? Worth puzzling over, but I suspect there are no easy answers; and in the meantime each culture will do what works (or seems to) for them. See, I told you cultural variety is interesting.

Getting (almost) anything onto your Kindle

Hey folks, it's time for another of those "I just discovered something that everyone probably knows about but it was news to me" posts. Specifically this is about the Amazon Kindle and how to get non-amazon ebooks onto it. As much as I love my Kindle my one complaint has been having to buy eBooks only from Amazon. Though I think their pricing is pretty good, I've always been uncomfortable with having no choice. Well that problem was solved when I discovered a little downloadable programme called "Calibre".

Marketing itself as the ultimate eBook organiser I watched the short introduction movie and was pleased to see how simple the tool is to use. You simply add your eBooks to Calibre and they are stored with editable meta-data (so if you don't agree with the genre listing you can change it to something else), with the option to add more metadata if you want. The layout is simple but attractive, with a list of your books in the middle and the details about the one you have currently selected shown on the right, front cover and all. When I first added my books to it one of them had no image but this was easily solved with the edit metadata option, which lets you "download a cover". After it searches the inter web it will show you what covers it found and allow you to select one to be shown in your library. Voila! One attractive book cover added.

The reason I sought out Calibre was more to do with buying a lot of books in ePub format for a lot less than they would have cost at Amazon (from Angry Robot, who have some really original Fantasy and Horror titles). But the Kindle only accepts Mobi files, so what's a girl to do? The answer is find a programme that will convert the file into a format the Kindle will accept. Calibre does this, and is super easy to use; you simply add your device to the programme (again this is incredibly easy and intuitive) and you click and drag your book to the device icon. It asks immediately if you want to convert the file and hey presto - one ePub book added to your Kindle. So far this seems to have worked perfectly and all the books I've converted look spot on.

I have to say I've been incredibly impressed with Calibre and am now using it as my eBook back-up system. I'm in the process of adding all my Kindle store purchases to the Calibre library, so I can see them on my Mac, and edit the details to make it easier for me to find things. I particularly like the ability to "tag" your books so I can add whatever phrases make sense to me, rather than having to stick to just dull "Drama", or "Funny" genres. Instead I'll have "Dragons", "Intellectual Stuff", "Slow Builder" and "Brainless Fun" among others. The only downside I can see with Calibre is it doesn't track where you've put your eBooks, but as I'm currently only using one eBook reader I don't think that will be a problem for me, though I could see it causing confusion where multiple devices are used. This is a really minor issue though, and I really recommend Calibre if you need to convert some ePubs or other formats, or even if you just want to have your eBook library stored in one easy to use place.

And the best part of it all? It's entirely free (though they are more than grateful for donations!)

Bookstores - Done and Dusted?

Poor Borders. They're really not having a good 2011. Though they didn't have a very good 2010 either, or 2009, 2008, 2007... they've been struggling for a while and it's arguably only due to the overall unstable economy throughout the world that made everyone see just how bad things were for them. And they're not alone - other book chains are also suffering and we face the very real possibility that within a few years there will be no book stores on the high street.

Recent news about Borders has been that another 16 stores are closing in Australia, following the closure of many stores in the U.S., and it seems that even publishers have lost faith in the company and are no longer willing to give them books to sell unless they can pay for them immediately. Personally I think this is all terrible news for readers and authors both. What's happening at Borders now is likely going to happen to other bookstores soon, and this is not good for anyone.