Size matters

[wodin]

Then there is the insertion of trivia for no obvious reason other than to pad the word count. I'm reminded of one popular fantasy writer who seems obsessed with describing exactly what each character is wearing in excruciating detail every time they change clothes. It adds exactly nothing to the story, but manages to consume hundreds of words.

[Apache]

Writers used to be paid by the word so padding the book increased their pay day. Alexander Dumas was one who was paid by the word.
Apache

[Donnageddon]

I used to always buy my literature based on a weight by dollar ratio. I demand a bigger book by the buck! If someone would ask me, "How was the book?" I could confidently say "10 oz/dollar"

Now with ebooks, I am at loss as how to quantize my reading experience. Word count would be helpful, but if they would tell me how much the paper version weighed, that would be much better! For those ebooks with no paper equivalent, they could decide on a standard font and page weight, and then plug it into a formula for extrapolating the weight of the hypothetical paper book.

Literary connoisseurs, such as myself, would find this to be invaluable!

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Donnageddon

Now with ebooks, I am at loss as how to quantize my reading experience. Word count would be helpful, but if they would tell me how much the paper version weighed, that would be much better! For those ebooks with no paper equivalent, they could decide on a standard font and page weight, and then plug it into a formula for extrapolating the weight of the hypothetical paper book.

Literary connoisseurs, such as myself, would find this to be invaluable!

This clearly would not work as outlined. The "word count to weight" formula would NOT take into account pictures or page breaks.

Obviously what we need is an actual tool, rather than a formula, to give you the ouncage of the book.

[Donnageddon]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

This clearly would not work as outlined. The "word count to weight" formula would NOT take into account pictures or page breaks.

Obviously what we need is an actual tool, rather than a formula, to give you the ouncage of the book.

Excellent point. It will obviously require a more substantial matrix. Even the file size would not properly predict the weightage of the paper equivelant (due to graphic image being made very large or small with the same amount of code)

Perhaps an ISO standard is needed if we are to properly grade literature by the pound in the age of ebooks?

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Donnageddon

Perhaps an ISO standard is needed if we are to properly grade literature by the pound in the age of ebooks?

That seems like the best way, yes. Get the standard set down now, and we can avoid that whole English/Metric nonsense later on.

[Phogg]

well, m
the concept of adopting metric was obsolete by the late eighties, but it staggers on like a zombie hoard anyway.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Phogg

well, m
the concept of adopting metric was obsolete by the late eighties, but it staggers on like a zombie hoard anyway.

You may want to consider countries other than your own!

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Phogg

well, m
the concept of adopting metric was obsolete by the late eighties, but it staggers on like a zombie hoard anyway.

Learning to spell "horde" would be good as well.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

You may want to consider countries other than your own!

I use The Metric System every day and I live in the USA.
Apache

[Daithi]

I have looked at paper book page sizes when making a buying decision, so yeah, I'd like an indication of size.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Phogg

well, m
the concept of adopting metric was obsolete by the late eighties, but it staggers on like a zombie hoard anyway.

I can't tell if you're serious.

It really depends on the situation. I prefer English for casual temperature-readings, but speaking as an engineer, life would be hell without metric.

[theducks]

There is nothing wrong with the metric (SI) system.
What went wrong was the US tried a soft changeover.
Very few tried to learn to think in the New system.
Wholesale and retail should have been prohibited from pricing in the old system. Period.
The could provide handy SI to US units conversion charts (BUT NOT PRICES)
This would make the people do the math. Pretty soon, they would give up doing the PITA conversion.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by theducks

The could provide handy SI to US units conversion charts (BUT NOT PRICES)

Price conversion could be conveniently accomplished by disallowing any cash transactions, leaving it to the credit card companies to handle the conversion, plus of course the usual transaction fee of… say 15%.

[JaneD]

If I'm buying an ebook, it's usually from Amazon (since I have a kindle), and they have stats on each book, including page count. So I know how long it is before I buy it.