Hey everyone. I just purchased the new Jim Butcher book, Changes, from Sony's site last night. Guess what, it doesn't have a cover. It looks like a manuscript. Um..what gives? I paid $12.99 for this book and they couldn't take the extra 1 minute to add the cover picture!!?? I know there's a few people out there like me who convert Project Gutenberg books and add cover art, author pictures, and sometimes cool little filigree at the beginning of each chapter.
I'm able to do that, spell check, correct paragraphs, broken sentences etc and convert to Sony ebook in about an hour. If I can do that, I don't understand why Penguin Group isn't able to do that. I just sent them an email with the following:
"To whom it may concern,
I’m taking time out of my busy day to file a complaint about the quality of the eBooks I’ve purchased from Penguin Group. Just last night I purchased “Changes: A Novel of the Dresden Files” by Jim Butcher, Published by: Penguin Group, Inc., Publish Date: April 06, 2010, Print ISBN: 9780451463173, Filesize: 444.86 KB. The book I just spent $12.99 for has no cover. It looks like a printed manuscript. It’s as if I went to a book store and purchased a “strip”. I paid good money for this book, and I don’t appreciate a product that you couldn’t seem to spend time on to make complete. I see the cover on Sony’s site, I don’t understand how you can sell a book like that. You don’t have to print it, and I know for a fact that it’s easy to put a picture in an eBook. I’ve downloaded a few books from Project Gutenberg and I’ve converted them to Sony BBeB book by using a free program. It takes me less than an hour to convert the book, correct spelling errors, and add a color cover, as well as a color picture of the author!! In less than an hour! If I can do that, I can’t understand why the actual publisher who creates the book can’t seem to find the technical know-how to figure out how to include the cover of a book in the book you charge money for! I mean really??!! This isn’t the only eBook I’ve purchased that didn’t have a cover. It happens more often than not. If you are unable to complete a project in time, don’t try to pass it off as a complete book and charge money! Wait until you have reached the level of technological expertise before releasing and charging for a book. Would you put a physical book on the shelf at Borders without the cover? I think not! To treat consumers who purchase eBooks as something other than real customers spending their hard earned money on your product, is unconscionable.
To add a little insight into what kind of person purchases eBooks and whether or not eBooks will kill the book industry, I own 2492 physical books. Most are on shelves, and some are waiting for me to build more. No, eBooks will never replace a physical book for me, however, there are some situations where an eBook is much more convenient than carrying around a physical book, such as when I’m at work or on vacation. However, that doesn’t mean that an eBook should be something less than the physical book. I’ve spent literally tens of thousands of dollars on books, both physical and “electronic”, and I’m sure I’ll keep spending money on both formats. Please take the time to fix this issue, I’m sure there are lots of us out there that would appreciate it.
Please pass this on to the proper people who make these kind of decisions.
Sincerely,
Dave Morrison
Allen Park, Michigan"
It just frosts my cake that I'm able to do something that a publisher is unable to do...
Sorry to vent...
Dave