Can't keep a Dietgirl down!

I have been good so far this month and haven't mooched anything, but I just got a book I mooched in April in the mail -- and I'm almost tempted to say it shouldn't count, since it isn't even out in the U.S. yet! That book is THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF DIETGIRL by the health and fitness blogger of the same moniker, and it is out now in the U.K. but will be published by HarperCollins here in 2009.

I haven't started the book yet but I'm a little disappointed (naturally) by the publishing strategy which delayed it Here's why: Most of the time, it doesn't matter that the book I read today was out in, say, Switzerland or Australia six months ago. But all the readers of Dietgirl's blog, no matter their country of origin, read the same posts and see the same website. We all knew when the book was put out there, even if it wasn't for us.

Anyway, some shrewd folks have caught onto this and are selling other editions of THE AMAZING ADVENTURES... on Amazon Marketplace here in the U.S. This is good -- except that the lovely author probably isn't making a royalty on those, since they're being sold second- or even thirdhand. (Thirdhand?) At the same time, by my mooching the book I am not giving her any money either, though my copy appears to be a not-for-sale proof from the British market. The proper thing to do would be to buy it directly from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.ca. (That's right, Canada gets it before we do. Yuk it up, Canucks.)

But if HarperCollins had the option to put the book out earlier, even a few months after the UK release... why didn't they? They could be cashing in right now. I'd be happy to read around references to, oh, "biscuits" and "rubbish" and whatever else needs to be "translated" between an English and American version if I can get a book sooner. I hope the delay wasn't due to a suit by the Superman estate for that amazing cover design. Copyright law is not super sometimes.