Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Yup.
Even after tradpub "went digital" they didn't.
Their idea of archival copies were pdf files, one per edition. At most. That is why many paperbacks were reduced size replicas of the hardcover. Version control? Non-existent. Revision tracking? Feh! Keeping editable versions exposed them to authors demandijg changes be walked back.
Besides, if it was good enough for Dickens...
As recently as 2011-12 publishers complained that doing ebook editions of the backlist was expensive because they had to recreate the file from print copies. Apparently, they deleted the pdfs after a few years. Or the floppies got corrupted.
(We've all seen the result of the typical backlist workflow: scanned, OCR'ed and shoveled out without proofing.)
What went digital in the 90's was typesetting, btw.
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Why would the publishers keep editable copies of all their books? They don't own the copyright. It's the author's property. If the author doesn't keep copies and backups of the final manuscript, that's the author's bad, not the publisher. Oh, I forgot, the point is to bash the publishers.
