Poorly formatted books

benjaminsolah · 02-04-2011, 12:14 AM

I bought Cell by Stephen King a few months ago from Borders.com.au which is powered by Kobo Books and loaded it into my Sony Reader to find that the margins were really wide leaving a small column of text in the centre. It's basically unreadable.

After filing a support ticket, it got moved to level 2 and I haven't heard back since.

zoran · 02-04-2011, 12:56 AM

Heh! I assume they would say how much they liked it the way it was.
Seriously, if you feel adventure in your blood, just use Calibre to re-
iterate the book, or Sigil to change css by the hand. Why spend eons
in conversation? It takes minute or less to handle the stuff.

Canorka · 02-04-2011, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benjaminsolah

I bought Cell by Stephen King a few months ago from Borders.com.au which is powered by Kobo Books and loaded it into my Sony Reader to find that the margins were really wide leaving a small column of text in the centre. It's basically unreadable.

After filing a support ticket, it got moved to level 2 and I haven't heard back since.

Had the same problem with Don Quixote. It felt like I was reading a poem.

Stripped the DRM, converted to mobi, converted back to epub, and all is well.

A pain, but it works.

sabredog · 02-04-2011, 02:29 AM

A very common issue really.

i puchased two ebooks recently where I had to run through Sigil (after removing DRM) to fix the border width. They both looked like reading from a shop receipt.

benjaminsolah · 02-06-2011, 01:35 AM

The problem is I can't remove DRM. Do you know how to do that?

WT Sharpe · 02-06-2011, 02:26 AM

Our policy is that we permit the discussion of DRM removal in the abstract, but not the provision of detailed instructions for DRM removal, or direct linking to sites where such instructions or tools are hosted.

-- WT Sharpe [Moderator]

winsomnia · 02-06-2011, 05:19 AM

I've only made myself familiar with the world of e-books, since 2010.
I know e-books have been around for over a decade (and perhaps portable e-readers as well).

I've found some of the e-books I've bought to have large margins on the right and left, making the text look like a fat centered column on my kobo. I might be exaggerating, but there is way too much "white space" and not enough text on my "page."

I would really like to know if this is peculiar to new e-readers, or if this has been the case for years on earlier portable e-readers. I want to know why this wide-margin formatting is the way it is. Is it because these e-books were originally formatted for machines that were much wider (for instance, a 13" netbook)? Or is the kobo doing something to the margins of these files that other e-readers are not?

Are the publishers even aware that there is a problem? Or do they see extra wide margins as simply an odd but acceptable authoring choice? And who in their right minds believes that extra wide margins is good for small electronic screens?

I bought into this world of e-books to read, and I prefer more text than blank space on my small kobo screen. And that is merely one point (of many points) of poor formatting I have frustrations with.

benjaminsolah · 02-06-2011, 06:37 AM

Ok, so I will look into cleaning the DRM but it really isn't a solution. Why can't eBook suppliers make their files formatted properly?

winsomnia, I think it's just cheapness. They don't want to hire people to format their files properly (or offer proper support) so just dump these files onto stores and forget about us.

People can whinge about Amazon as much as they like but at least the Kindle works and the books on there are readable.

digiSara · 02-06-2011, 09:43 AM

I'm finding that if I download the book using Kobo's software, then it is pretty well formatted (e.g. less margins) but if I download the same book from Kobo's website in ePub and sideload it using ADE, then I get enormous margins (and also no cover page).

I understand that they are different formats that are handled in different ways by the Kobo, but it is still frustrating. Kobo's software seems buggy (twice when I've bought books so far, it has messed up my Kobo to the point where a factory reset is the only option) so I would prefer to sideload - but I prefer the way the Kobo books are formatted instead of the ePub.

I understand I could in theory strip the DRM and use Calibre - but that seems like a lot of steps when I've purchased a finished product.

3d0g · 02-06-2011, 05:59 PM

I think a lot of it has to do with publishers still not taking eBooks seriously. They take a pre-proofed Word doc from the writer (which is why ePubs have sooo many misspellings), slap it through some cheap-ass tool that converts Word to XML/ePub, and ship it out to the eBook distributers of the world without a single human eye proofing it.

sabredog · 02-06-2011, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benjaminsolah

The problem is I can't remove DRM. Do you know how to do that?

Google is your friend in this regard.

pholy · 02-07-2011, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabredog

Apprentice Alf is your friend in this regard.

Fixed that for ya...

JSWolf · 02-07-2011, 10:24 AM

What I do is strip the DRM, edit the CSS and I am good to go. I remove margins and any spaces between paragraphs. Works very well and makes the ePub quite readable.

02-04-2011, 12:14 AM	#1
benjaminsolah Marxist Horror Writer Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Sony Reader Touch PRS-650	Poorly formatted books I bought Cell by Stephen King a few months ago from Borders.com.au which is powered by Kobo Books and loaded it into my Sony Reader to find that the margins were really wide leaving a small column of text in the centre. It's basically unreadable. After filing a support ticket, it got moved to level 2 and I haven't heard back since.

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02-04-2011, 12:56 AM	#2
zoran himself Posts: 576 Karma: 11226 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Kobo	Heh! I assume they would say how much they liked it the way it was. Seriously, if you feel adventure in your blood, just use Calibre to re- iterate the book, or Sigil to change css by the hand. Why spend eons in conversation? It takes minute or less to handle the stuff.

02-04-2011, 02:29 AM	#4
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,629 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	A very common issue really. i puchased two ebooks recently where I had to run through Sigil (after removing DRM) to fix the border width. They both looked like reading from a shop receipt.

02-06-2011, 01:35 AM	#5
benjaminsolah Marxist Horror Writer Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Sony Reader Touch PRS-650	The problem is I can't remove DRM. Do you know how to do that?

02-06-2011, 02:26 AM	#6
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	Our policy is that we permit the discussion of DRM removal in the abstract, but not the provision of detailed instructions for DRM removal, or direct linking to sites where such instructions or tools are hosted. -- WT Sharpe [Moderator]

02-06-2011, 05:19 AM	#7
winsomnia Groupie Posts: 164 Karma: 190082 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: BC, Canada Device: kobo Touch, kobo Aura	I've only made myself familiar with the world of e-books, since 2010. I know e-books have been around for over a decade (and perhaps portable e-readers as well). I've found some of the e-books I've bought to have large margins on the right and left, making the text look like a fat centered column on my kobo. I might be exaggerating, but there is way too much "white space" and not enough text on my "page." I would really like to know if this is peculiar to new e-readers, or if this has been the case for years on earlier portable e-readers. I want to know why this wide-margin formatting is the way it is. Is it because these e-books were originally formatted for machines that were much wider (for instance, a 13" netbook)? Or is the kobo doing something to the margins of these files that other e-readers are not? Are the publishers even aware that there is a problem? Or do they see extra wide margins as simply an odd but acceptable authoring choice? And who in their right minds believes that extra wide margins is good for small electronic screens? I bought into this world of e-books to read, and I prefer more text than blank space on my small kobo screen. And that is merely one point (of many points) of poor formatting I have frustrations with.

02-06-2011, 06:37 AM	#8
benjaminsolah Marxist Horror Writer Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Sony Reader Touch PRS-650	Ok, so I will look into cleaning the DRM but it really isn't a solution. Why can't eBook suppliers make their files formatted properly? winsomnia, I think it's just cheapness. They don't want to hire people to format their files properly (or offer proper support) so just dump these files onto stores and forget about us. People can whinge about Amazon as much as they like but at least the Kindle works and the books on there are readable.

02-06-2011, 09:43 AM	#9
digiSara Groupie Posts: 158 Karma: 153344 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Kobo wifi	I'm finding that if I download the book using Kobo's software, then it is pretty well formatted (e.g. less margins) but if I download the same book from Kobo's website in ePub and sideload it using ADE, then I get enormous margins (and also no cover page). I understand that they are different formats that are handled in different ways by the Kobo, but it is still frustrating. Kobo's software seems buggy (twice when I've bought books so far, it has messed up my Kobo to the point where a factory reset is the only option) so I would prefer to sideload - but I prefer the way the Kobo books are formatted instead of the ePub. I understand I could in theory strip the DRM and use Calibre - but that seems like a lot of steps when I've purchased a finished product.

02-06-2011, 05:59 PM	#10
3d0g I make fjords. Posts: 304 Karma: 11192 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Colorado Device: kobo 1 (retired), kobo 2, iPad, G2, Galaxy Tab 7+	I think a lot of it has to do with publishers still not taking eBooks seriously. They take a pre-proofed Word doc from the writer (which is why ePubs have sooo many misspellings), slap it through some cheap-ass tool that converts Word to XML/ePub, and ship it out to the eBook distributers of the world without a single human eye proofing it.

02-07-2011, 10:24 AM	#13
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,235 Karma: 145488788 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	What I do is strip the DRM, edit the CSS and I am good to go. I remove margins and any spaces between paragraphs. Works very well and makes the ePub quite readable.

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