Could this be Ebooks, 3 Years from now?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Well, all I can say is somebody ought to be concerned with document quality here!

Without a doubt. Some of the errors I've seen are just stupid & would have been found with a basic spell check. I just don't think the companies that own the various formats have any control over stuff like that, it rests with the publishing house.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Other threads on this site have questioned the staying power of the current dedicated readers, and suggest that any system based on them will fail as the devices do (if not sooner). However, as (or if) the devices bring more people to the e-book market, we may finally see publishers taking their own steps to secure that market beyond the short-term market that dedicated readers may represent.

This could mean universal (non-proprietary) formats, new readers designed to more universal specifications, or new sales models that serve to remove DRM from the equation. Hopefully, the publishers will see how proprietary formats will not help them in the long run, and take action to ensure interoperability with as many devices as possible.

Amen brother...you are certainly preaching to the choir here. Has there ever been anything beyond some niche market that ever survived with a proprietary format that could only be used on a specific device? I mean anything that survived more than a handful of years? Not that I can recall.

I keep trying to type more details but it all ends up a rant...suffice to say the only way it all works is for both the device AND the format to be transparent to the buyer. There is no learning curve to buying a used paperback for $2...all books must be readable on 99% of the devices out there and new devices need to be as simple looking as the Sony but with the built-in download deal of the Kindle. I imagine people are scared off by the whole keyboard part of the Kindle.

There can easily be more advanced devices for those with more intensive needs. But it all has to be simple, reasonably priced and universal. Now that is not all that much to ask for right? I mean not as if I am asking for world peace or anything....

[tompe]

Concerning quality, for DVD releases there are web sites that reviews the technical quality of the release. If there were something similar for ebooks maybe the publisher would take notice and enhance their products.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by tompe

Concerning quality, for DVD releases there are web sites that reviews the technical quality of the release. If there were something similar for ebooks maybe the publisher would take notice and enhance their products.

Certainly if those technical reviews were made part of the general review, much as they are with DVDs (i.e., "a great movie, but the soundtrack was spoiled by Warner Brothers' terrible transfer to DVD," etc), publishers would have to take notice.

Books have gone for too long without such critiques... maybe because, in the past, quality was generally so high as to make it a pointless exercise. But this is no longer the case, and it should be addressed. Highlighting e-book quality should help the better publishers, and encourage the lesser ones to improve their product.

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by tompe

Concerning quality, for DVD releases there are web sites that reviews the technical quality of the release. If there were something similar for ebooks maybe the publisher would take notice and enhance their products.

Not a bad idea but who is going to do it?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Liviu_5

Not a bad idea but who is going to do it?

We at the MobileRead Wiki maybe?

[JSWolf]

I highly dislike eReader format ebooks. The line spaces are annoying and the reader for Windows is not good. You open the book and get the last window you had open as well. BAH!

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I highly dislike eReader format ebooks. The line spaces are annoying and the reader for Windows is not good. You open the book and get the last window you had open as well. BAH!

Sounds more like you do not like the Reader but the format has very little to do with your complaints.

Dale

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Sounds more like you do not like the Reader but the format has very little to do with your complaints.

Dale

The line spaces in the books is due to the formatting. And they use that to demote a new paragraph instead of proper indents.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The line spaces in the books is due to the formatting. And they use that to demote a new paragraph instead of proper indents.

The line spacing is not specified in the format of the file. It does have paragraph markers but the program determines what to do with them. there is no explicit size data in the PML that is used in these files. They are very simple.

Dale

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Liviu_5

Not a bad idea but who is going to do it?

Preferably the same people who review the books themselves. The only downside of that comes with multiple formats... who wants to review a book, then add comments about the quality of the Kindle edition, the Sony edition, the Feedbooks edition, the Mobi edition, the ePub edition, etc, etc...

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Preferably the same people who review the books themselves. The only downside of that comes with multiple formats... who wants to review a book, then add comments about the quality of the Kindle edition, the Sony edition, the Feedbooks edition, the Mobi edition, the ePub edition, etc, etc...

I think that is a bad idea. A lot of people do not want to review books but they would be perfectly willing to give a comment about the techical quality of the book. Especially since it is such an annoying thing to have a badly proof read book so they want to tell everybody about it.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Preferably the same people who review the books themselves. The only downside of that comes with multiple formats... who wants to review a book, then add comments about the quality of the Kindle edition, the Sony edition, the Feedbooks edition, the Mobi edition, the ePub edition, etc, etc...

I think it has more to do with the fact that most presented books are older, had been released way before and that since all the reviews were out years ago, they were too lazy or under staffed to properly re-release the works.

I haven't bought a newer ebook yet but I suspect most of them have been correctly checked and processed. All that has to be checked is the formating for the different devices. If they do have to reread for all device formats, there is something terribly wrong with their format conversion process that should be addressed immediately.

When I hear of major OCR errors, I can't help thinking that those resellers might have simply taken a CD full of books or, God forbid, a Black Mask DVD to simply redistribute previously scanned works.

We also have to keep in mind that each read can take well over ten hours of time and more to annotate. That is a lot of money they rather woulkd keep.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Books have gone for too long without such critiques... maybe because, in the past, quality was generally so high as to make it a pointless exercise. But this is no longer the case, and it should be addressed. Highlighting e-book quality should help the better publishers, and encourage the lesser ones to improve their product.

Actually, books have suffered from such critiques when they have been particularly bad. I remember reading a review many years ago where the reviewer started off soemthing like this: "I loathe the editor who was responsible for editing this book and the publisher who published it, forcing me to read it. When I want toilet paper I buy it and use it; this book is too expensive and too rough for that use."

Up until 10 years ago, publishers paid editors and proofreaders relatively well and demanded a relatively high level of both competency and work output. But in those days and before, publishing houses were often family owned businesses, not small cogs in a conglomerate that requires a positive quarterly return.

I've been in the editing business for 25 years and I can tell you that until a publisher looks at long-term results rather than next quarter results, it will only get worse, not better. The whole publishing model has been turned inside-out as a result of consolidation, and there are limited areas where cost-savings can be squeezed -- unfortunately, editorial is an obvious one.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Up until 10 years ago, publishers paid editors and proofreaders relatively well and demanded a relatively high level of both competency and work output. But in those days and before, publishing houses were often family owned businesses, not small cogs in a conglomerate that requires a positive quarterly return.

Yes, quality has been slipping. I'm on a list populated largely by publishing types, and there was a discussion not that long ago about it. One was an editor at a major publisher. The other was co-proprietor of an editorial production house that provided copy editing and proofreading services on a contract basis. The editor said "But such things are part of the basic budget for the book, and are always done!" The editorial production contractor said "In your house, maybe, but much less so elsewhere. I'm the one dealing with clients who no longer think it's necessary to do what they used to pay me for..."

I've been in the editing business for 25 years and I can tell you that until a publisher looks at long-term results rather than next quarter results, it will only get worse, not better. The whole publishing model has been turned inside-out as a result of consolidation, and there are limited areas where cost-savings can be squeezed -- unfortunately, editorial is an obvious one.

Part of the problem is that consolidation. Book publishers have become part of media conglomerates whose measuring stick is movie grosses, and are under extreme pressure to become more profitable. Unfortunately, there's no way a book publisher can be that profitable. On the other hand, a book publisher won't go belly up if it doesn't have a bestseller for a while. A movie studio can.

A friend who was an editor at the book arm of one of the conglomerates described getting a visit from someone on the movie side who pointed at the midlist titles, and said "Why did you publish those? Why not just publish the best sellers?" The appropriate response would be "Why did you green light notable bombs W, X, and Y? Why not just release $100 million grosser Z?", but it would be best to have one's resume up to date before doing so...
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Dennis