MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Some perspective on why ebooks are so filled with errors.

Rob Lister · 10-23-2011, 08:33 AM

I kinda get where Hitch is coming from.

I doubt a publisher of any repute is going to risk allowing a low-wage proof reader with little or no culpability to be what amounts to the final say of a published work.

From their point of view, if they have some demand for the ebook version and they just take a straight OCR conversion (mistakes be damned) then they know pretty much what the output is going to look like. They can accept the reality of OCR-type errors without worrying that some idealist proof-reader decides to make actual editorial changes to the actual book...or worse.

So the reality is that the now-proofed work is going to have to be thoroughly reviewed by at least one and maybe more higher level full-fledged editors just to ensure that nothing untoward was 'proofed into' the work. How much does that cost?

But all that aside, lets say they go that route, trust the low-wage proofer, and just output that product directly. If a publisher takes a low-level backlist book from some obscure author with a minor following and spends $1000 to get it proofed, they need to sell at least 100 just to break even (gross, not net). That might take 20 years, if ever. Their business model likely requires the return in no more than 5 years.

In a perfect world, the publisher would/should stand on principle and not release the non-perfect ebook work. The world isn't perfect so they decide to make the quickest buck with the lowest risk. Thus, your crappy e-book.

10-23-2011, 08:33 AM	#37
Rob Lister Fanatic Posts: 532 Karma: 3293888 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Virginia Device: Nook Simple Touch	I kinda get where Hitch is coming from. I doubt a publisher of any repute is going to risk allowing a low-wage proof reader with little or no culpability to be what amounts to the final say of a published work. From their point of view, if they have some demand for the ebook version and they just take a straight OCR conversion (mistakes be damned) then they know pretty much what the output is going to look like. They can accept the reality of OCR-type errors without worrying that some idealist proof-reader decides to make actual editorial changes to the actual book...or worse. So the reality is that the now-proofed work is going to have to be thoroughly reviewed by at least one and maybe more higher level full-fledged editors just to ensure that nothing untoward was 'proofed into' the work. How much does that cost? But all that aside, lets say they go that route, trust the low-wage proofer, and just output that product directly. If a publisher takes a low-level backlist book from some obscure author with a minor following and spends $1000 to get it proofed, they need to sell at least 100 just to break even (gross, not net). That might take 20 years, if ever. Their business model likely requires the return in no more than 5 years. In a perfect world, the publisher would/should stand on principle and not release the non-perfect ebook work. The world isn't perfect so they decide to make the quickest buck with the lowest risk. Thus, your crappy e-book.