The Halloween freebies from Gryphonwood Press

[ficbot]

Has anybody reads these yet? Are they any good? I just loaded them all into Calibre for the first time, and the 'author' was listed as Gryphonwood Press for all of them! I understand putting that in the publisher field, but they completely left out the author names, and I had to open up my web browser, go back to the Smashwords site, find them all again and change the tags myself. Not a very professional first impression they've left me with. I have so much else to read right now, so if these aren't any good, I can read other thing...

[kindlekitten]

could you link the source?

[ficbot]

Smashwords, as I said. It was a one-day sale.

[BearMountainBooks]

I haven't started on any of the freebies I downloaded from them, but I have read Terry Irvin's short stories (couple of them published in online zines, one was up for an award last year...or maybe this year.) --it was quality. I don't think I tried any of the other authors.

[carlobee]

I never got the chance to have it. Too bad it left them with bad impression. tsk3.

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Has anybody reads these yet? Are they any good? I just loaded them all into Calibre for the first time, and the 'author' was listed as Gryphonwood Press for all of them! I understand putting that in the publisher field, but they completely left out the author names, and I had to open up my web browser, go back to the Smashwords site, find them all again and change the tags myself. Not a very professional first impression they've left me with. I have so much else to read right now, so if these aren't any good, I can read other thing...

I wonder how this compares to other Smashwords ebooks - do they all have the publisher where the author belongs?

Also, I find A LOT of ebooks are badly formatted, with lots of mistakes. This doesn't surprise me.

It is pretty bad if it's a Smashwords issue, though.

Update: I checked some other epubs I got from Smashwords and the author's name is in the right place. It's related to the way the specific books were done, not Smashwords.

It really doesn't reflect on the quality of the content.

[BearMountainBooks]

I think it was probably a mistake done by whoever uploaded the books. Gryphonwood may have paid a service for the upload (I know that happens a lot with Amazon; can't say with Smashwords).

[cmbs]

I've never posted a book to Smashwords. These were on the Gryphonwood Press page, maybe it is a Smashwords issue if the person signed in as "Gryphonwood Press" and that automatically became the author's name on the ebook files?

[BearMountainBooks]

CMBS,

Dunno, I checked my books on Smashwords, and my name shows as author. My screen name is BearMountainBooks and THAT shows up during a download in the "by" field. But I guess I"m not sure where the OP is seeing what he's seeing.

You're right though--that doesn't affect the quality. Gryphonwoods has made a name for itself as a small publisher so I'd expect the quality, both from a formatting and from content, will be there!

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

CMBS,

Dunno, I checked my books on Smashwords, and my name shows as author. My screen name is BearMountainBooks and THAT shows up during a download in the "by" field. But I guess I"m not sure where the OP is seeing what he's seeing.

You're right though--that doesn't affect the quality. Gryphonwoods has made a name for itself as a small publisher so I'd expect the quality, both from a formatting and from content, will be there!

So in the metadata for the book, your sign in name, which is "BearMountainBooks" does show up as the author name?

That's a problem if it's true. What if someone is searching by author at Smashwords or any of the stores they are now distributing to? The author's name isn't showing in the metadata if they use a different sign in name at Smashwords.

[BearMountainBooks]

I don't know what you mean by "Metadata". My name is the author name wherever I expect it to be. The ONLY place I see "bearmountainbooks" is the SCREEN name--so when I am downloading my own stuff, there's a message that says, "Catch an Honest Thief" by BearMountainBooks -- but that is only at the Smashwords SITE--not inside the book itself anywhere (not inside the download.)

Sorry I wasn't clear.

[ficbot]

I saw the problem in the 'author' field of Calibre when I loaded them in. When I download multiformat books from Fictionwise, I do not have this error.

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I don't know what you mean by "Metadata". My name is the author name wherever I expect it to be. The ONLY place I see "bearmountainbooks" is the SCREEN name--so when I am downloading my own stuff, there's a message that says, "Catch an Honest Thief" by BearMountainBooks -- but that is only at the Smashwords SITE--not inside the book itself anywhere (not inside the download.)

Sorry I wasn't clear.

Why should a download say your book is by "bearmountainbooks" if that's not the name you intended to be the author name?

Can you open an epub of one of your books, downloaded from Smashwords, in adobe digital editions and on the left where there is a cover image, the book title, and author, and see if your name is there or your Smashwords sign-in name? That's displaying the author's name that is in the metadata.

[BearMountainBooks]

Yes, I can see the epub in Adobe reader and it is my name--looks exactly like you would expect. The .mobi file looks fine in mobipocket reader too--cover, title and author name.

I think the reason I see it as BearMountainBooks on that one spot is just because I am logged in. Like I said, it isn't ON or IN the book itself, it's on a smashwords selection page. I don't think it would look that way to anyone else.

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Yes, I can see the epub in Adobe reader and it is my name--looks exactly like you would expect. The .mobi file looks fine in mobipocket reader too--cover, title and author name.

I think the reason I see it as BearMountainBooks on that one spot is just because I am logged in. Like I said, it isn't ON or IN the book itself, it's on a smashwords selection page. I don't think it would look that way to anyone else.

OK, thanks. It must be that Gryphonwood Press just put their name where the author name belongs. Good to know it's not a Smashwords issue.