Omnibus editions or separate books for Reader content?

[HarryT]

As some people may have noticed, I've created a fair few "omnibus" editions of various authors for the Sony Reader, in the "Book Uploads" forum section because personally I like to have all the books in a series in one handy volume, rather than having to remember which order I should read things in.

I was wondering, though, whether perhaps it's only me that likes this, and people might prefer a series to be uploaded as a set of single books.

Which do you prefer? All the books in a series as a single volume, or to have them as separate books?

Could you spare a moment and answer this poll to let me know? I'll abide, in the future, by whatever the majority decision is.

Thanks!

[slayda]

If the Omnibus is a series & they are in correct order then it makes sense. However many publishers create an Omnibus of two or more old books by a famous author, apparently just to "suck us in" to think it is a new book. That type I do not like.

[NatCh]

Either way is fine from my perspective -- the omnibus file is easier to manage, but the individual volumes take up less space if I don't want to load the whole thing.

BTW, I almost selected the fourth option just to be contrary.

[Hadrien]

Hmm... I'm thinking about creating some really cool feature for Feedbooks in the future: the ability to create lists, like on Amazon, but with another feature too, the ability to turn these lists into a single e-book file.

This way people could create omnibus, reading list etc... Or download a single book if they don't need an omnibus edition.

[RWood]

Originally Posted by NatCh

... I almost selected the fourth option just to be contrary.

NatCh, you are always contrary, that's what we love about you.

If possible I would rather have the omnibus editions.

There are times; however, when the single volumes are the way to go. An example of this is the Arsene Luprin series where I have found less than one-half of the twenty volumes published by Maurice LeBlanc. Since I was missing so many volumes (as is Project Gutenberg) and I did not know the exact sequence of the books when I started, it made no sense to put them in a single volume.

Others, like the H. Rider Haggard Anthologies make perfect sense. Dickens would be far too large if packed into a single volume. We have to remember that some people are still downloading via modems and dial-up connections.

Omnibus editions like the Sherlock Holmes collection could be offered either in published sequence (I have one hardbound set that way) or in the order they are believed to have happened (I have another in that order.) When I did straight through reading in the latter I was sometimes bothered by the unevenness of the writing as Doyle's writing style evolved over the years and when they are put back-to-back it can be a bit jarring.

[Leaping Gnome]

I prefer single volumes, but with the title having a number in front so you can tell what the order is on the Reader.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by RWood

NatCh, you are always contrary, that's what we love about you.

One does try, RWood, one does try.

[Dr. Drib]

But you've created a problem for me, Harry!! :

I have 217 listings on my Reader, but I now have no idea how many separate novels and short story collections are on this device!!!!

240? 256?

Yes, Harry - YOU ARE TO BLAME!!!!!!!

[astra]

I am for An omnibus edition

[dhbailey]

What I would like, rather than an omnibus edition, for those times when I want to have a lot of books on the reader but not use a memory card, would be single books.

To solve the issue of the correct reading order, I suggest that when people create their lrf files to put the series number into the title.

So that books in a series be named for the series, as follows, for the Richard Hannay series by John Buchan:

Hannay 1 -- The Thirty Nine Steps
Hannay 2 -- Greenmantle
Hannay 3 -- Mr. Standfast
Hannay 4 -- Three Hostages
Hannay 5 -- Island of Sheep

That way they will list alphabetically right next to each other and it will be obvious what sequence to read them in.

For those who want to be able to find the correct sequence but also to look up the books by title, you could simply reverse the sequence in my proposed titles:

The Thirty Nine Steps -- Hannay 1

And then the titles could be searched, and if the books are listed by author the sequence could be learned easily.

But one thing that the omnibus editions don't allow for is the removing of books already read, thus wasting available storage space, so if there's an omnibus edition of 4 or 5 large books and you're reading the final book, you're still stuck carrying around the first 3 or 4 needlessly.

[pitolee]

I also like omnibus editions... Find myself making quite a few trilogy books... I asked this before and got the answer that the number of pages (several thousand) in the reader didn't make much difference in page turning speed...

[HarryT]

Thank you very much everyone who's responded. A clear (5:1) majority in favour of omnibuses, so that's what I'll stick with for series!

[UncleDuke]

omnibus, fewer books to lose

[Andanzas]

I am currently reading your omnibus edition of Sherlock Holmes and I am enjoying it immensely.

It's my first read on the Reader, by the way.

[JSWolf]

The cons of an Omnibus is that it takes longer to prepare. So you have to wait longer for the books to be ready whereas if I do them separately, I can upload as they are ready. I would have to say though if they are not in order then no to an omnibus. Like say we have book 1,2,4,5 without 3, don't do it. It's ok though if we have 1,2,3,4 and not 5 since they are all in order.

The pros are all in one so you have it right there in one file.