15 Jun, 2022
2022-6-15 4:35:39 AM UTC
It appears that a Kindle edition of vol 12 ("Peoples of Middle Earth") is available nowhere.
But Kindle editions of vol 10 ("Morthoth's Ring") and 11 ("War of the Jewels") are available internationally, just not in the USA. I don't have the words to describe how cryptic (and annoying, to be honest) I find this.
Anyone have any idea why the USA release of these titles generally lags 6+ months or more behind international availability? Anyone have any idea when vols 10/11 are due out for Kindle/USA? Does anyone have any idea when "People's of Middle Earth" will be available on Kindle, anywhere?
Trying to read the tea leaves here... for instance, the Kindle publication date in the UK for vol 1 ("Book of Lost Tales", Part One") is given as February 2011, and in the USA as February 2012, with different publishers. The other volumes are similarly skewed (dates and publishers, both at variance). I am assuming this is just the usual "distribution rights" schizophrenia... the Tolkien estate selling print and electronic publication rights to the highest bidder in each market. Mere consumers (you, me, et al) are effectively helpless, and at any given point in time even the publishers themselves may not "know" when they will be going to market with a particular title.
Anyway, if anyone can share a clue, I would be appreciative. As it stands, I don't even know which publisher to contact (Harper Collins, William Morrow, Mariner, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt?... if I had to guess, it would be Mariner for Kindle/USA... they seem to have produced the Kindle editions for vols 6/7/8/9, with a lag on the order of 6 months after Harper Collins released the equivalent Kindle/UK editions... though of course it has been more like 10 months since Harper Collins released vol 10 for Kindle/UK, so there may in fact be no Kindle/USA publisher at the moment).
Thanks.
26
2166