Does "Did Muhammad Exist" exist?

[karlpov]

I saw this morning that Robert Spencer's new book "Did Muhammad Exist" was available for Kindle. I checked B&N and saw that there was a Nook edition (i.e. an epub) available as well. I later checked back with the intention of purchasing the ebook, but it was no longer shown as available. What's going on? Was some agreement made that the Kindle edition should be available for some defined period earlier than other electronic editions?

[BrandieC]

@karlpov:

I can't speak with respect to this particular book, and I don't have any insight as to how this situation may relate to any deal with Amazon.  However, I can say that, on several occasions, I have had ebooks on my wishlist that suddenly became unavailable.  The most recent I recall was the first book in the Silver Bear series by Derek Haas; at first, all three books in the series were available for the NOOK, but now I only see books 2 and 3.  B&N, and Mr. Haas, may ultimately end up losing a purchaser for the entire series because I am unlikely to begin a series when I can't easily get the first book, and while I'm sure I could purchase a DTB for the first book, a big reason for my purchasing a NOOK was the storage issues I face with my current DTB library.

I do recall some other discussions suggesting that books may sometimes disappear temporarily, either to correct errors found in the ebook or to work out licensing (?) issues with the cover art, but I don't know whether either of these situations accounts for the ebooks you and I can no longer find.  I clicked the "request this book as a NOOKbook" button for Silver Bear, so I guess I'll see what happens.

Have you tried checking Sony, Kobo, or other .epub vendors to see if they have your book?

EDIT:  OK, so I tried my own suggestion and checked Kobo, where my book (Silver Bear) is still available with the original cover I saw on B&N.  I didn't find your title, but that doesn't mean that I didn't misspell something, and I didn't check any other vendors.

[karlpov]

Well, heck, I guess they just ran out of copies....

[whiteginger]

I've also had titles disappear--suddenly no longer available or just vanish. One title reappeared two weeks later, so there is hope.

If the book is nonagency or unavailable on B&N, I always check Kobo, too.  Kobo's search engine sometimes takes a bit of finessing.  For instance,

• I have found it better to type in the entire title rather than choose the pop-up auto complete title, even if they are spelled exactly the same way
• Usually the short version of a title yields the best results--Hot Pink rather than Hot Pink: A Novel of Love
• Sometimes an author search will succeed when a title search fails
• Sometimes calling Customer Service is the only way to find the title.  If any form of the title shows up as an "autocomplete" option as I type in the title, but I cannot find the title using any of the steps above, I call customer service.  Only once in the five to six time I've finally resorted to this, have I been told the title is actually unavailable.  Usually a customer service rep sends me an email link and  VOILA!  I am able to order the title. 

[BrandieC]

@whiteginger:

You must have the magic touch with Kobo, then.  I have tried repeatedly to purchase Silver Bear, which is showing as available on their site for $7.99, but each time I have gotten an error code and a message to contact Customer Care.  When I did so, they said that the error code was because I was using an invalid password (really?  I'm having no trouble buying any other title using my password!), and they suggested that I sign out and then sign back in using a web browser other than Internet Explorer.

I suspect that the ebook has been pulled by the publisher, since I can't find it anywhere else, but Customer Care just doesn't know it, yet.

[whiteginger]

In my previous post, I was talking about books which do not seem to be available on the site at all, books for which I cannot find a listing with a "buy now" button.   If I can get the book cover to pop up  and click the buy now button, everything seems to work.  (Glad to know I have a magic touch at something! )

For the past month or so, however, there has been a slight glitch with purchasing on Kobo.  I hit the "buy now" button, am taken to the check out page and actually hit the button to complete the purchase.  Then POOF!  Instead of a purchase confirmation page with download button, I get an error message page telling me there has been a problem.  (I don't remember.  It may also tell me to contact customer service.)  

The first time this happened, I immediately wanted to check if the purchase had gone through and would be charged to my credit card.  So I left Kobo, logged back in (I'm using Chrome)  and went immediately to my account and my purchase history.   Sure enough, the book had been purchased. Then I went to My Library.  The book was listed and the download button worked just fine.   This has now happed to me four times.

If you got as far as the checkout page with a purchase, are you sure the book isn't in your library ready for download? 

[karlpov]

Just FYI to everyone, "Did Muhammad Exist" has reappeared in its Nook edition.

[BrandieC]

@whiteginger:

Yes, I did double-check my library, as I (like you) had received a few "Oops, there was a problem with your purchase" messages where purchases had, in fact, gone through.  On this title, though, I never get past the purchase page; the error message appears at the top.

Thus far, Kobo's Customer Care has been useless.  When I told them that I was having the problem not only using Internet Explorer on my laptop, but also using the web browser on my Android phone, the e-mail response I got asked me whether I was trying to make the purchase using a gift card.  Huh?  I responded that I was trying to purchase using the same credit card which has been stored in my account and used for repeated purchases for ages.  Since then, I have received no reply from Kobo, and I still can't buy the book.  I guess they really don't want to make this sale!

[ProfReader]

Better be careful if you read this some Imam will issue a fatwah against you.