Please no more omnibus edition and de-omnibusing the ones we have

[JSWolf]

I've just found out that Goodreads treats an Omnibus edition as one book. This is not good. So can we say no more omnibus editions since that just makes a mess on sites that are used to track reading?

Also, can the people who made the omnibus editions please unmake them?

[Elfwreck]

I like omnibus editions; I don't want to wade through half a dozen to a couple-dozen books of an author on my e-reader. How Goodreads treats them is not my concern. People who don't like Goodread's treatment of omni editions are free to avoid those reviews.

If Goodreads doesn't have an effective way of dealing with omnis, the best solution isn't "make those editions go away." Pester Goodreads to change their tracking methods, not authors and editors to change the editions--which match how many readers want to read them.

[dwig]

I to dislike the type of omnibus editions that have been posted here lately. I much prefer individual books and, in general, prefer individual short stories.

When a classic book was originally published as a collection (e.g. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes) its appropriate to create a matching ebook collection. But when the works were originally standalone books I see no purpose for collecting them in a single ebook.

[jgaiser]

Or just track each book you read individually. I doubt that the good folk at Goodreads really care if you read them separately or as part of an omnibus.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I like omnibus editions; I don't want to wade through half a dozen to a couple-dozen books of an author on my e-reader. How Goodreads treats them is not my concern. People who don't like Goodread's treatment of omni editions are free to avoid those reviews.

If Goodreads doesn't have an effective way of dealing with omnis, the best solution isn't "make those editions go away." Pester Goodreads to change their tracking methods, not authors and editors to change the editions--which match how many readers want to read them.

I agree. I have actually asked how we should handle Omnibuses, over at Goodreads, and their suggestion is to make a "Bundled" shelf where you add the individual books and then mark those as "read" once you are done with that section of the omnibus; so that is what I am doing.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by dwig

I to dislike the type of omnibus editions that have been posted here lately. I much prefer individual books and, in general, prefer individual short stories.

When a classic book was originally published as a collection (e.g. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes) its appropriate to create a matching ebook collection. But when the works were originally standalone books I see no purpose for collecting them in a single ebook.

I agree. I don't care for an omnibus that was never originally released that way.

[JSWolf]

I don't think it's only GoodReads that has an issue with omnibus editions. But I cannot be sure of that.

But this other issue is that I actually don't like them. I prefer the books to be individual if that's how they were originally released.

[jgaiser]

Download the book as epubs. Install Sigil. Break the omnibus into individual books. Everybody's happy.

[ficbot]

So just because *you* don't like them, they shouldn't be allowed? Wow.

I like them, personally. I have so many ebooks, I find it easier to have something like the Sherlock Holmes series all in one book so that I have fewer titles to keep track of. I don't really care about Goodreads, so that is not an issue for me, but if you do care, it seems like it would be easy enough to just enter it as an individual book using another edition. And if you do want individual books, you can break them up yourself or download them through Project Gutenberg. So, why deprive others of the omnibus books just because you yourself don't want them?

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by ficbot

So just because *you* don't like them, they shouldn't be allowed? Wow.

I like them, personally. I have so many ebooks, I find it easier to have something like the Sherlock Holmes series all in one book so that I have fewer titles to keep track of. I don't really care about Goodreads, so that is not an issue for me, but if you do care, it seems like it would be easy enough to just enter it as an individual book using another edition. And if you do want individual books, you can break them up yourself or download them through Project Gutenberg. So, why deprive others of the omnibus books just because you yourself don't want them?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've just found out that Goodreads treats an Omnibus edition as one book. This is not good. So can we say no more omnibus editions since that just makes a mess on sites that are used to track reading?

You can of course SAY whatever you wish. Whether or not anyone will take any notice of you is a different question.

Also, can the people who made the omnibus editions please unmake them?

Personally, no; I like omnibus editions, which is why I create them. If you don't like them you are entirely free to create whatever type of books you wish.

It's a matter of complete indifference to me what "Goodreads" (a site which I've never visited, and have no interest in) does or does not do to omnibus editions.

[unboggling]

I prefer to read omnibuses in certain cases, like Doyle (Holmes), Doyle (notHolmes), Shakespeare (plays), Shakespeare (poetry). For most authors I keep both in my library when I can find them. For me the separates (individual stand-alone books/elements) are better for tagging/id/research purposes while the omnibuses are more convenient to read in ebook form if it's formatted well enough with links to elements and element chapters. (HarryT's were good, I thought.)

[Freeshadow]

+1 pro omnis
they keep books meant to be read "cover to cover" a nice single entry w/o cluttering your filelist.

the decision how a book was once splitted ( as a paper ed.) wasn't only content- but printing-/binding-dependent too.

best example as known to me: the dragonbone throne series by tad williams
I was astonished finding out that the english ed is 3 books, since the german is 4.

Addendum: I read (and reread) because I want to read, and not count, I give a damn ST whose ehm... shelf is longer or shorter than mine
so +1 to HarryT

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

+1 pro

best example as known to me: the dragonbone throne series by tad williams
I was astonished finding out that the english ed is 3 books, since the german is 4.

Well, Book 3 is split into Book 3 part 1 and Book 3 part 2, so there are 4 physical books to buy.

[Freeshadow]

nope - it looks like a genuine 4 book series - To Green Angel Tower is split and named The Norn Queen and Angel Tower. they gave no indication of splitting.