04-21-2009, 08:08 AM | #1 |
Wizard
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Mistakes in The Hobbit
In an earlier post I wrote that HarperCollins had done an excellent job of turning the Hobbit into an ebook.
Now that I am about 2/3 of the way through the book I have changed my mind; it's just a very good job. I have found three occasions in which a sentence has been broken and restarted - for example, early in chapter 11 the text 'where the Front Gate stood...' appears as 'where the Front Gate stood...' This may seem a minor quibble, but HarperCollins is a big publisher with high standards. They certainly would not have permitted that to occur in a print book; why should we accept it in an ebook? When I have finished the book I am going to send them an email complimenting them on their general standards, but pointing out the mistakes and asking them to correct them in future versions and to have the same quality standards in ebooks as they do in print books. I encourage everyone who finds similar mistakes to email them in a similar way. Regards, Alex |
04-21-2009, 08:13 AM | #2 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Actually, I remember seeing several mistakes in a few of the print versions I have.
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04-21-2009, 12:20 PM | #3 | |
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Quote:
I wonder if this is a device specific problem or if it has a problem no matter what device is displaying it. Is it screwed up in the Mobi desktop software or just on the Cybook? |
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04-21-2009, 12:23 PM | #4 |
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In the "Workshop" forum there's a person who's bought it in six different formats. They'll be able to tell you.
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04-21-2009, 12:43 PM | #5 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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Looking at the HTML from the Mobipocket version, it actually starts a new paragraph at "Gate". Checking my paper copy, there should not be a new paragraph there.
This is a definite mistake in the ebook code, and should have been caught in proof reading. I suspect the same fault in also in the other ebook formats. I have already sent them a note about the missing illustrations and the uneven indents. It is disappointing that a major release should have such errors. Quote:
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04-21-2009, 01:37 PM | #6 |
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Tom Clancy's "Patriot Games" was even worse. Every instance of the word "corner" was spelled "comer" among other mistakes, line breaks etc.
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04-21-2009, 01:54 PM | #7 |
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04-21-2009, 03:10 PM | #8 |
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I just bought the LIT version from FW and it's got the same problem for sure. The "Gate stood." part shows up as the start of a new, indented, paragraph.
Last edited by AnemicOak; 04-21-2009 at 03:14 PM. |
04-21-2009, 04:33 PM | #9 |
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That annoys me so much when you pay good money for a poor product. The thing is, that after a while you get used to the errors and rarely spoils the enjoyment of the book.
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04-21-2009, 04:43 PM | #10 | |
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If this exists (and perhaps it already does when you re-download an ebook), I don't have a real problem with that. Of course, errors shouldn't occur in the first place if proper proof-reading and editing is in place as part of their workflow. |
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04-21-2009, 05:57 PM | #11 |
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What I do when I find errors is bookmark the page and then I can go back later and fix the errors. The easiest to fix is ePub unless I have the source in Book Designer.
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04-21-2009, 06:16 PM | #12 |
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Years ago I bought a really nice leatherbound omnibus of The Lord of the Rings from Houghton Mifflin. You'd think that would be carefully proofread. Not so. The thing is riddled with punctuation errors and broken type. So it's not just ebooks. Every time I reread it (which I do from time to time), I get annoyed all over again. And then I get into the story and stop paying attention to the mistakes.
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04-21-2009, 08:55 PM | #13 |
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04-21-2009, 10:05 PM | #14 |
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They really should address submitted errors immediately and release 'revisions' which update the ebook on your device, like companies release software revisions. There is no reason these mistakes should stand other than laziness by the publisher.
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04-22-2009, 12:40 AM | #15 |
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