09-01-2009, 08:51 AM | #46 |
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As others have said, the ADE page numbers tend to be fairly close (+/-10%) to the page numbering in the paper versions of the same books. For instance, in the book I'm reading now, the chapter I'm on starts on page 429. Looking up the same book in Google Books shows that the chapter starts on page 434 in the print edition. Close enough for me!
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09-01-2009, 09:04 AM | #47 |
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Word count would seem to be the best of all suggestions, since it's usually available. Many publishers, including Fictionwise, list it, since it's often tied to payment. As to sizes and nomenclatures:
SFWA Nebula Award Categories: Novel — 40,000 words or more Novella — 17,500–39,999 words Novelette — 7,500–17,499 words Short Story — 7,499 words or fewer As an aside: Flash Fiction <750 words (or 1000 or 300 or ...) Note that 40,000 words is short for a novel nowadays. Some wrist rupturing megavolumes turgid with the author's inviolable prose approach 300,000 words. Regards, Jack Tingle |
09-01-2009, 09:08 AM | #48 |
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Actually, it's not so much the length of the book that I find absent in ebooks, it's the length of chapters. It's nice to put a book down at chapter breaks and I find it impossible to know if I have to fight off sleep for another minute or two or an hour when I'm readying an ebook. It's dead easy to flip ahead and eye-ball a chapter break with a paper book. It would be nice if ebooks had some sort of progress bar for chapters.
BTW, it would also be nice if the spell checker on a forum about ebooks would stop trying to correct the spelling of ebook! |
09-01-2009, 09:27 AM | #49 |
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09-01-2009, 09:32 AM | #50 | |
Exwyzeeologist
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Quote:
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09-01-2009, 09:33 AM | #51 |
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09-01-2009, 09:35 AM | #52 |
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Nope, there is a spellchecker on the forums, if you reply to a thread, there is in the upper right corner of the editwindow a check mark with abc over it. That says "Check spelling" if you hover over it
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09-01-2009, 09:37 AM | #53 |
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Not with me, so you must have a plugin!
Last edited by Sweetpea; 09-01-2009 at 09:40 AM. Reason: Added proof |
09-01-2009, 09:48 AM | #54 |
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Maybe it's a browser-specific thing? I don't get it in Firefox on the Mac. *shrug*
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09-01-2009, 11:11 AM | #55 | |
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Quote:
Its a far more accurate measurement than page numbers of a paper books, where one knew the approx length only from experience, yet this was not very accurate because page numbers changed based on font size and margins. With word count/ETR that is a fixed value that will be consistent across books. Just my 2 cents. =X= |
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09-01-2009, 11:12 AM | #56 |
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Nice thoughts. I don't pay attention the size of the book, but I do for the chapter. As Superlucky I like to know if I should start a new chapter or wait for the next day.
Paulo |
09-01-2009, 11:14 AM | #57 | |
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09-01-2009, 11:26 AM | #58 |
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I often check on amazon the book's paperback version page count. Also, if the font is standard, I check the number of pages on my Sony reader. An average length novel (300-400 pages in paperback) will be around 600 pages on my Sony. Longer novels are around 1000-1500 pages long. The Pillars of the Earth is 2258 pages long on my reader.
I googled about the word count in books and found out that amazon sometimes has a text stats page (search for "text stats" on the book page). Click here for an example. Oh and the number of characters would be even more accurate than the number of words to describe a book's length (what if someone decides to write a book using only lengthy words?!). Sorry, I'm an engineer . |
09-01-2009, 01:37 PM | #59 |
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I guess the problem I've always had with page numbering in a fiction ebook is that if I'm so bored by the story that I feel compelled to discover just how far I've read and how far it is to the next chapter - then that's a good sign the story isn't worth the read.
There are far too many GOOD novels out there which suck me into the story deeply enough that I don't even really notice what chapter I'm on. And with all these great reads out there, I don't have time to waste on a story that doesn't reach that level. Now if you want to talk about non-fiction books and page-numbering, well, the situation is completely different! Derek |
09-01-2009, 02:02 PM | #60 |
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I read junk for pleasure. A large minority is written badly. I like being able to judge how far I have left, to see if I can hold my nose and finish. I have actually been pleasantly surprised a couple times in my life, so I feel obligated to finish every book I start. Of course, I have a huge number of books I have started, just like knitting projects that don't stop me from starting something new.
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