Mini Rant lol

[crich70]

Ah, but there has been some sort of advertizing about other books included since I don't know when. In some older books they even had ads for other books the publisher sold printed on the inside flap of the dust cover.

[meeera]

Oh, advertising other books is just fine with me! I like it, so long as the books are related. I just don't like the (unintended, but annoying) deception about the book's length and finishing spot that you get when there's a whole chapter or more appended at the end.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by meeera

Oh, advertising other books is just fine with me! I like it, so long as the books are related. I just don't like the (unintended, but annoying) deception about the book's length and finishing spot that you get when there's a whole chapter or more appended at the end.

Ditto. If the book is one from the same series, or even an unrelated book by the same author, then whether I want it or not has already been decided from what I thought of what I've just read. I don't need, and won't read, the chapter provided in the book and would rather it wasn't there. (Not that it's a huge deal for me, it won't stop me from buying a book I want, I just find that it upsets my fragile sense of what's neat and proper. )

[Katsunami]

One of the books I've bought recently actually doesn't have anything in it besides the cover image (which is a Ballantine Books generic one), story, and a page "About this author". The text is not justified and it has whitespace between every paragraph. There is a HUGE style sheet, but the coders / automated system forgot all the dots in front of the style classes.

It feels like an OCR-ed pirate version, but it isn't.

I'll have to put the dots in front of the classes and replace the cover image, and see how the book will look then. To some extent I came to expect the front and back matter in books in such a way that they now feel incomplete if it's not there.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

One of the books I've bought recently actually doesn't have anything in it besides the cover image (which is a Ballantine Books generic one), story, and a page "About this author". The text is not justified and it has whitespace between every paragraph. There is a HUGE style sheet, but the coders / automated system forgot all the dots in front of the style classes.

It feels like an OCR-ed pirate version, but it isn't.

I'll have to put the dots in front of the classes and replace the cover image, and see how the book will look then. To some extent I came to expect the front and back matter in books in such a way that they now feel incomplete if it's not there.

You should've complained to the publishers -- Amazon you can give feedback about a book, and they will take down the book until the publisher fixes it. If it's bad enough. Which this certainly is. I don't know how that translates to other distributors, though.

I bet someone somewhere would be feeling pretty red.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

You should've complained to the publishers -- Amazon you can give feedback about a book, and they will take down the book until the publisher fixes it. If it's bad enough. Which this certainly is. I don't know how that translates to other distributors, though.

I bet someone somewhere would be feeling pretty red.

This is the case with the two DemonWars saga's (and the bridge book Mortalis) by R.A. Salvatore. The entire series is faulty like this.

Fortunately I paid only €0.87 for each book, courtesy of some huge Kobo codes. (Normal price: $7.99 at Kobo US, €5.99 at Kobo NL, or €8.99 for the paperback.)

If I had paid full price, I would have complained, but the story is correct and complete (as far as I can see), and the books contain all the maps. I'll just fix the CSS myself. I have to do so in most books anyway, either to justify the text, or to remove some sort of weird .3em margin that publishers just *MUST* put between paragraphs.

By the way, Amazon version

Same problems as my Kobo version, except that this version does not have the line of whitespace in the body text.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

This is the case with the two DemonWars saga's (and the bridge book Mortalis) by R.A. Salvatore. The entire series is faulty like this.

I've started fixing these books.

Putting dots in front of all the classes (which I find by looking for non-default CSS) fixed up the crappy layout. adding a p-tag with "text-align: justify" and "margin: 0px" in it at the top justified the text and removed the white space; where other justifications and margins are needed, the later CSS overwrites them. (Fortunately, this doesn't happen in the body text.)

Then I replaced the default cover image with a real cover and inserted a file at the start of the book to use it.

Now it actually looks like a proper book. (Without any front or back matter such as recommendations, acknowledgements, or anything, apart from "About this author" as the last page.)

Just six more to go. The wonderful world of e-reading

[Tarana]

An advantage of having those added chapters in the back is that it is much harder and more time involving to cheat to find out who the killer is.

[Fbone]

It is somewhat annoying when I go to read a sample and see it is entirely filler.

[OtterBooks]

only thing that kinda bugs me is marketing material for the book, before the book.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

only thing that kinda bugs me is marketing material for the book, before the book.

Praise for Stephen King.

*page*
*page*
*page*
....
*page*
....
*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page *page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page *page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page

Damn.

Hehe. I have a few like that with many screens of praise quotes. In a paper book it would normally be 4-5 pages or so.

[jersysman]

I actually just finished a non-fiction book and 46% of the book were Notes and Index. Of course I didn't realize that as I was reading the book. The only clue to me was when I was approaching 50% read of the book, the main subject of the book was on his deathbed.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by jersysman

I actually just finished a non-fiction book and 46% of the book were Notes and Index. Of course I didn't realize that as I was reading the book. The only clue to me was when I was approaching 50% read of the book, the main subject of the book was on his deathbed.

That would happen in the pbook as well...

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

That would happen in the pbook as well...

Could do. But I am sure I would notice a lot sooner or more often with a paper book. 46% index and notes seems high but not unheard of. Even non-fiction I tend to read more linearly with an ebook even if there is a link to a footnote. Can't just stick your thumb in the page you are at and rifle around, and bookmarks are a PITA to me.

Helen

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Praise for Stephen King.

*page*
*page*
*page*
....
*page*
....
*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page *page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page *page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page*page

Damn.

Hehe. I have a few like that with many screens of praise quotes. In a paper book it would normally be 4-5 pages or so.

I find Stephen kings books to be relatively praise free. Maybe I am reading his crappy ones.

I actually don't recall seeing anything with more than 5 ebook pages of praise, which would equal about 2-3 paper pages at the lowest font settings I can read. I guess few praise the books I read.

Helen