Smashwords Formatting is terrible!!

jhempel24 · 11-01-2010, 04:50 PM

Everytime I seem to get a book from Smashwords, the book seems to be formatted pretty un-professionally. I don't know what the deal is. Even on B&N, the free books are coming from Smashwords alot of the time.

Take some books that were recently offered for free by Schott Nicholson:

Cover is not the right book for Ashes....there is an ENTIRE STORY missing as well.

Excessive spacing between paragraphs....I have to edit these, it's more of a personal preference, but I think there should be SOME standard in the way e-Books are created (I do this because I HATE paragraph spaces, when there is alot of conversation going on, it's really really annoying)

mr ploppy · 11-01-2010, 05:15 PM

I like spaces between paragraphs, and usually have to put them in myself.

yakuzaboss · 11-01-2010, 05:20 PM

I downloaded Ashes this morning. After going through the contents, all of the stories are there and the cover is correct.

jhempel24 · 11-01-2010, 05:22 PM

I only like them if they are separating a scene or if it makes sense. Otherwise it just looks bad. I guess on the bright side, I'm learning how to use Style sheets to make the quicker edits.

jhempel24 · 11-01-2010, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yakuzaboss

I downloaded Ashes this morning. After going through the contents, all of the stories are there and the cover is correct.

I downloaded it just a few minutes ago...again...it's missing "Silver Run" and the cover is Flowers LOL.

ATDrake · 11-01-2010, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhempel24

Everytime I seem to get a book from Smashwords, the book seems to be formatted pretty un-professionally. I don't know what the deal is.

The joys of automatic conversion. Same thing tends to happen with Fictionwise's MultiFormat stuff, although it tends to give slightly better results than Smashwords' Meatgrinder, because it seems to be Calibre-based.

This, among other things, is why I wait until the 50% discount coupons appear to buy stuff at FW, because I like to have a proper TOC and separate chapters and no-indent for the first line of a paragraph and other typographical niceties and I know I'll have to do it myself.

I wish places would allow authors/publishers to upload and label hand-optimized versions for particular formats, while still generating the rest which the a/p doesn't feel like doing themselves. It'll improve the rep of e-books in general and multiformat books in particular, if they're not all dependent on untweakable auto-conversion from a single source file.

Hellmark · 11-01-2010, 05:56 PM

If things are missing, then it isn't the fault of Smashwords. They take what they're given, convert it into different formats and make it available. If the author gives them a shoddy file, the end result from smashwords will never be good. Think of it this way; junk in, junk out.

GraceKrispy · 11-02-2010, 12:58 AM

Most of the books I've gotten from Smashwords have been fine for me; very few have been formatted in a way that is irritating to me. I'm possibly pretty lax on my demands for formatting, though. What I hate and find supremely irritating are excessive typos or grammar mistakes in a book. I've run across too many of those lately.

jhempel24 · 11-02-2010, 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GraceKrispy

Most of the books I've gotten from Smashwords have been fine for me; very few have been formatted in a way that is irritating to me. I'm possibly pretty lax on my demands for formatting, though. What I hate and find supremely irritating are excessive typos or grammar mistakes in a book. I've run across too many of those lately.

Granted some have been pretty good, as a matter of fact I just downloaded a couple that were fine, but I've just had a string of really bad ones.

Funny you should say that about the grammar mistakes...I actually don't mind those LOL. As long as I can understand what the heck is being said in one pass, I'm okay.

yakuzaboss · 11-02-2010, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhempel24

I downloaded it just a few minutes ago...again...it's missing "Silver Run" and the cover is Flowers LOL.

Thats very strange. When I checked, pages 62-70 was 'Silver Run'. What story falls on those pages for you?

jhempel24 · 11-02-2010, 01:21 AM

I've found that there are TWO versions. There is one from Smashwords, which has 12 stories, and one from Kobobooks, which has 19 (even though there are 20 listed).

I sent a PM to the author since he posts here to ask him about that.

But this is how the book goes that I got from KoboBooks:

Introduction: The Horror Of It All by Jonathan Maberry
1. Timing Chains Of The Heart
2. Dog Person
3. The October Girls
4. The Endless Bivouac
5. Murdermouth
6. Sung Li
7. In The Family
8. The Night Is An Ally
9. Work In Progress
10. She Climbs A Winding Stair
11. Watermelon
12. The Meek
13. The Weight of Silence
14. The Hounds of Love
15. You’ll Never Walk Alone
16. Penance
17. Scarecrow Boy
18. Last Writes
19. Sewing Circle

starrigger · 11-02-2010, 01:43 AM

It might be worth noting that Smashwords gives the author the choice of converting with spaces between paragraphs (no indent recommended) or no spaces between paragraphs (indent recommended). You're getting whichever the author chose.

I recently put three of my o.p. books up on SW, and as far as I can tell from spot-checking the conversion was excellent. They emphasize how important it is to follow the SW style guide assiduously to get good conversion results. I did, and that's what I got.

You're welcome to download free samples of mine to see what the results look like to you.

Changes introduced in transmission to the other retailers may be a different matter.

jhempel24 · 11-02-2010, 01:56 AM

Yeah, yours is excellent, no doubt!! I'll have to put these on my To Buy list, the books seem to be pretty interesting.

astra · 11-02-2010, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhempel24

Everytime I seem to get a book from Smashwords, the book seems to be formatted pretty un-professionally

It have put it very politely.
I don't download their ePubs anymore. Only RTF.

MrPLD · 11-02-2010, 06:43 AM

Judging from a couple I've dealt with, I get the feeling some people are just submitting their raw manuscripts and hoping for magic.

I still prefer to do my own ePub/mobi generation.

11-01-2010, 04:50 PM	#1
jhempel24 Wizard Posts: 2,157 Karma: 7068605 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, B&N Nook Colro	Smashwords Formatting is terrible!! Everytime I seem to get a book from Smashwords, the book seems to be formatted pretty un-professionally. I don't know what the deal is. Even on B&N, the free books are coming from Smashwords alot of the time. Take some books that were recently offered for free by Schott Nicholson: Cover is not the right book for Ashes....there is an ENTIRE STORY missing as well. Excessive spacing between paragraphs....I have to edit these, it's more of a personal preference, but I think there should be SOME standard in the way e-Books are created (I do this because I HATE paragraph spaces, when there is alot of conversation going on, it's really really annoying)

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11-01-2010, 05:15 PM	#2
mr ploppy Feral Underclass Posts: 3,622 Karma: 26821535 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Yorkshire, tha noz Device: 2nd hand paperback	I like spaces between paragraphs, and usually have to put them in myself.

11-01-2010, 05:20 PM	#3
yakuzaboss Groupie Posts: 171 Karma: 58 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Richmond, BC Device: Sony PRS-650	I downloaded Ashes this morning. After going through the contents, all of the stories are there and the cover is correct.

11-01-2010, 05:22 PM	#4
jhempel24 Wizard Posts: 2,157 Karma: 7068605 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, B&N Nook Colro	I only like them if they are separating a scene or if it makes sense. Otherwise it just looks bad. I guess on the bright side, I'm learning how to use Style sheets to make the quicker edits.

11-01-2010, 05:56 PM	#7
Hellmark Wizard Posts: 2,549 Karma: 3799999 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: O'Fallon, Missouri, USA Device: Nokia N800, PRS-505, Nook STR Glowlight, Kindle 3	If things are missing, then it isn't the fault of Smashwords. They take what they're given, convert it into different formats and make it available. If the author gives them a shoddy file, the end result from smashwords will never be good. Think of it this way; junk in, junk out.

11-02-2010, 12:58 AM	#8
GraceKrispy It's Dr. Penguin now! Posts: 3,909 Karma: 4705733 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: (USA) Device: iPad mini, Samsung Note 3, Sony PRS-650 (rarely used now)	Most of the books I've gotten from Smashwords have been fine for me; very few have been formatted in a way that is irritating to me. I'm possibly pretty lax on my demands for formatting, though. What I hate and find supremely irritating are excessive typos or grammar mistakes in a book. I've run across too many of those lately.

11-02-2010, 01:21 AM	#11
jhempel24 Wizard Posts: 2,157 Karma: 7068605 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, B&N Nook Colro	I've found that there are TWO versions. There is one from Smashwords, which has 12 stories, and one from Kobobooks, which has 19 (even though there are 20 listed). I sent a PM to the author since he posts here to ask him about that. But this is how the book goes that I got from KoboBooks: Introduction: The Horror Of It All by Jonathan Maberry 1. Timing Chains Of The Heart 2. Dog Person 3. The October Girls 4. The Endless Bivouac 5. Murdermouth 6. Sung Li 7. In The Family 8. The Night Is An Ally 9. Work In Progress 10. She Climbs A Winding Stair 11. Watermelon 12. The Meek 13. The Weight of Silence 14. The Hounds of Love 15. You’ll Never Walk Alone 16. Penance 17. Scarecrow Boy 18. Last Writes 19. Sewing Circle

11-02-2010, 01:43 AM	#12
starrigger Jeffrey A. Carver Posts: 1,355 Karma: 1107383 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Massachusetts, USA Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+	It might be worth noting that Smashwords gives the author the choice of converting with spaces between paragraphs (no indent recommended) or no spaces between paragraphs (indent recommended). You're getting whichever the author chose. I recently put three of my o.p. books up on SW, and as far as I can tell from spot-checking the conversion was excellent. They emphasize how important it is to follow the SW style guide assiduously to get good conversion results. I did, and that's what I got. You're welcome to download free samples of mine to see what the results look like to you. Changes introduced in transmission to the other retailers may be a different matter.

11-02-2010, 01:56 AM	#13
jhempel24 Wizard Posts: 2,157 Karma: 7068605 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, B&N Nook Colro	Yeah, yours is excellent, no doubt!! I'll have to put these on my To Buy list, the books seem to be pretty interesting.

11-02-2010, 06:43 AM	#15
MrPLD Author's pet-geek Posts: 933 Karma: 1040670 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: North Queensland, Australia Device: Kindle 3 Wifi, Onyx Boox M96	Judging from a couple I've dealt with, I get the feeling some people are just submitting their raw manuscripts and hoping for magic. I still prefer to do my own ePub/mobi generation.

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