The Proper Response to a Butchered EBook?

[JDK1962]

[WARNING: RANT AHEAD]

I'm a big fan of the work of Richard Brautigan. Back in August of 2011, I noticed that some omnibus ebooks of his work had become available, and I recommended to my local library (Denver Public) that they purchase them. When they did, I checked one out, an omnibus with Revenge of the Lawn, The Abortion, and So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away.

I started reading, and gave up at 8%. Here are the errors my casual reading found (to make sure they were errors, I checked against my p-book edition):

• The; classrooms – in “Elmira”
• place for mc to hunt – in “Elmira”
• I won’t She left the kitchen. – in “Coffee”
• Cup “of coffee – in “Coffee”
• Take your head cut of your – in “The Lost Chapters of Trout Fishing in America”
• At tie poor -- in “The Lost Chapters of Trout Fishing in America”
• Picnic basket? – in “The Lost Chapters of Trout Fishing in America”
• Mu:h meat. – in “The Weather in San Francisco”
• “I don’t wan: any – in “The Weather in San Francisco”

Clearly, the publisher did an OCR scan, and not only didn't have a human proof it...they didn't even run a basic spellcheck.

I wrote a very angry letter to the publisher (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), complaining of their shoddy work. No answer.

I just checked the Kindle edition out of the library tonight--five months later--and (you guessed it) the errors are still there.

Usually I can deal with typos. But for some reason, this issue with the Brautigan omnibus really pisses me off. Brautigan's been dead for a long time, and obviously can't check his proofs. But his literary executor can't have a look? The publisher can price it at $8.80, but can't be bothered to perform their job at even a cursory level? Maybe they could dig up his body and see if there's any jewelry in the casket, or a dollar or two tucked away and forgotten in his funeral suit. I mean, clearly Brautigan's just a way of generating some income. They clearly don't give a rat's hindquarters for his literary legacy.

One of those situations where I have no doubt that, if the book were in the public domain, a MUCH MUCH better edition would exist. Because it would be stewarded by someone who gave a damn about the work.

Any suggestions on a better, more productive response? Mail them a dead fish via parcel post?

[ProfCrash]

Return it to Amazon and let them know that there are problems. Normally they can get a better response then a lowly customer that we are.

[JDK1962]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Return it to Amazon and let them know that there are problems. Normally they can get a better response then a lowly customer that we are.

I didn't buy it. I've lost no money on it. But it's art in their care, and they're doing a rubbish job looking after it. It pains me.

[The Terminator]

Originally Posted by JDK1962

I didn't buy it. I've lost no money on it. But it's art in their care, and they're doing a rubbish job looking after it. It pains me.

Do you mean you are complaining about pirated books?

[Rhialto]

Originally Posted by The Terminator

Do you mean you are complaining about pirated books?

Helps to read the first post in the thread. He clearly said that both editions were checked out of a library.

"I recommended to my local library (Denver Public) that they purchase them. When they did, I checked one out, an omnibus with Revenge of the Lawn, The Abortion, and So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away."

and:


"I just checked the Kindle edition out of the library tonight--five months later--and (you guessed it) the errors are still there."

[JDK1962]

Originally Posted by The Terminator

Do you mean you are complaining about pirated books?

Are you seriously responding to a post you didn't even read? Like the part where I said I asked my local library to buy it? Or the part where I said I checked it out a second time from the library to see if any corrections were made?

[elemenoP]

You could also complain to Overdrive. Either directly, or ask your librarian in charge of ebook purchasing to do so. I don't know if Overdrive will take responsibility for the quality of their ebook editions or not, but they might! If you pursue this, I would be interested in hearing what their response is.

eP

[JDK1962]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

You could also complain to Overdrive. Either directly, or ask your librarian in charge of ebook purchasing to do so. I don't know if Overdrive will take responsibility for the quality of their ebook editions or not, but they might! If you pursue this, I would be interested in hearing what their response is.

Cc'ed library on my original letter to the publisher. They didn't respond either.

Maybe my email got caught in everyone's spam filters.

[AlexBell]

I share your outrage, but I'm afraid I don't have any useful suggestions. I started a thread ages ago entitled 'Hall of Shame' in which I gave examples line by line as you did, and encouraged people to also give examples, and more importantly copy the review to the publisher. There was little response from the people on the forum, and very little response from the publisher or the vendor. Amazon did acknowledge, in one particularly flagrant example, that there were problems with the ebook and promised to fix it. But they haven't.

I'm almost ready to believe that the big companies and Amazon just don't care, and are in fact trying to discourage us from reading ebooks so they can get back selling print books.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by JDK1962

I didn't buy it. I've lost no money on it. But it's art in their care, and they're doing a rubbish job looking after it. It pains me.

Sorry I misread the post. I thought the second time you had bought it. I would still complain to Amazon. Many of the books that I bought that had formatting errors ended up being fixed a few months later. Probably because people wrote in and complained and Amazon passed on the complaints.

[JDK1962]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I'm almost ready to believe that the big companies and Amazon just don't care, and are in fact trying to discourage us from reading ebooks so they can get back selling print books.

I think Amazon cares about the quality of what they publish as e-books...but I think you're right about traditional publishers secretly wishing that the whole e-book thing would just go away.

[Kumabjorn]

How about a horse's head in the publisher's bed?

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

How about a horse's head in the publisher's bed?

You're a poet and didn't know it . Sorry couldn't help myself.

[Kumabjorn]

Guess it should have been formatted better.

[JDK1962]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

How about a horse's head in the publisher's bed?

While I admire the poetry (the threat would be going to a publisher after all...they'd appreciate the literary touch to the threat, I'm sure), it would involve an innocent horse who would probably prefer to be excluded from what is clearly a non-equine matter.

I appreciate the spirit of the suggestion, though.