Penguin is the most cheapskate publisher

[JSWolf]

I do strip the DRM and put in a proper cover. But the issue is for people who don't do that and have multiple eBooks from Penguin with the penguin cover, they'll get the same exact thumbnail for each eBook.

[Piper_]

Of all the publishers I learned to dislike when I got my kindle, penguin was the first and has held the position for 3 years.

For pbooks, they were my favorite ..

For ebooks - argh. They overprice and underperform.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And we shall include pBooks as well and not even allow MR members to read for free because that's giving into Penguin.

And stop having Penguin avatars?

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by Quexos

I've seen that thread and in it there are pictures of the books ... with actual covers, not a penguin, what gives ?

At least 4 of the Dresden books came with the generic cover. I have every one in the series except Cold Days (just released).

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I do strip the DRM and put in a proper cover. But the issue is for people who don't do that and have multiple eBooks from Penguin with the penguin cover, they'll get the same exact thumbnail for each eBook.

I would do it if I had a one-step way of inserting the cover into the existing file rather than running everything through a conversion process.

I've got a few Hachette books that don't have proper covers either.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It IS a cheapskate thing.

Why, because you declare it to be so? Are you privy to some contractual details we don't know?

Oh, and here apparently is the answer: They don't have the digital rights to some of the illustrations.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33452

It's possible that if you re-download some of those titles, they've sorted out some of the rights.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

And stop having Penguin avatars?

That's Tux. He's from Linux. That's nothing to do with books and eBooks.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Why, because you declare it to be so? Are you privy to some contractual details we don't know?

Oh, and here apparently is the answer: They don't have the digital rights to some of the illustrations.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33452

It's possible that if you re-download some of those titles, they've sorted out some of the rights.

It is a cheapskate thing because they don't want to negotiate for the rights. They'd prefer not to pay and use a generic cover.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fluribus

I would do it if I had a one-step way of inserting the cover into the existing file rather than running everything through a conversion process.

I've got a few Hachette books that don't have proper covers either.

You do have a way of a doing it if you have an AZW3 version of the eBook. I know you have a Kindle and there is no way of doing this with a Mobipocket eBook. But with the AZW3 version, you can use Tweak eBook in Calibre to replace the generic cover with a cover image of your choice.

ePub is even easier as all you do is edit the eBbok's metadata, replace the generic cover and use the Modify_ePub plugin to replace the cover. That does it without converting the ePub.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Oh, and here apparently is the answer: They don't have the digital rights to some of the illustrations.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33452

Except they, and other publishers, are still providing generic covers on ebooks just being released now. That post seemed to deal more with older titles where they didn't get the rights way back when.

[JSWolf]

I downloaded a Penguin eBook from the library that's from 2010 that has the generic penguin cover with no text.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by Synamon

Penguin is angryface.

I already try to avoid Penguin books because of their public library conditions, and reading these letters make me all the more determined to avoid them.

[Quexos]

Come to think of it I have the "Earth Children" series by Jean M. Auel and 5 out of the 6 books came with a generic cover. It seemed strange but after I start a book I don't really look at the cover anymore so I kind of shrugged it off and forgot about it.

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

At least 4 of the Dresden books came with the generic cover. I have every one in the series except Cold Days (just released).

[Piper_]

What offends me most are their unreadable maps and other important images, like family trees, along with insane pricing. :thumbdown:

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You do have a way of a doing it if you have an AZW3 version of the eBook. I know you have a Kindle and there is no way of doing this with a Mobipocket eBook. But with the AZW3 version, you can use Tweak eBook in Calibre to replace the generic cover with a cover image of your choice.

Cough... there used to be no easy way to do this for Mobipocket books. But now there's my Python script and AppleScript wrapper that make replacing the cover on a Mobipocket book extremely simple on Mac and relatively simple on Windows/Linux.