Joe Hill's NOS4A2 - discounted but problems.

[Section8]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, but since this was a discounted ebook, I've posted this here.

Yesterday, I picked up the epub of Joe Hill's NOS4A2, discounted at $1.99, as reported here in the Deals forum in a couple of other threads. As I was going thru my usual CSS tweaking & cleanup session in Sigil, I was shocked when the "Delete unused image files" tool picked up 29 unused images. These looked like some pretty nice drawings and illustrations, all unreferenced in the book's html. Looking through amazon's online preview of the print version of this book confirmed this - these are illustrations in the print version, omitted from the epub text.

This kind of thing infuriates me. With the exception of tweaking font sizes, margins and such for my ereader, I want to experience the same content as the pbook when I read an ebook. Based on the image file names (most are named page_NNN.jpg, where NNN is the page number in the pbook), and performing text searches on the amazon online pbook, I was able to figure out where they go and restore them. I did email the publisher and ask them why all these images were omitted from the ebook.

[Dr. Drib]

I'm moving this to the General Discussion Fourm, since it concerns an issue that (apart from the initial purchase as a discounted item), deserves a wider forum for discussion and critique.



Don
(Moderator)

[kennyc]

Hmmm....doesn't seem right.....but I know that because of the limitations/requirements of ebook formating many poetry books end up pretty mangled.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Hmmm....doesn't seem right.....but I know that because of the limitations/requirements of ebook formating many poetry books end up pretty mangled.

Yeah, I can understand that, but why should there be any issue with an image?

I think most of the nonfiction ebooks I've bought have included photos that appear in the paper copies, but I recall that the ebook of Bugliosi's Helter Skelter didn't include any of the photos.

[DiapDealer]

Yeah, including all those images without referencing them in the book just seems like someone's brain-fart to me.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Yeah, I can understand that, but why should there be any issue with an image?

I think most of the nonfiction ebooks I've bought have included photos that appear in the paper copies, but I recall that the ebook of Bugliosi's Helter Skelter didn't include any of the photos.

There shouldn't really.

Doesn't really make sense unless someone decided that size, delivery costs (which Amazon and others charge) or something like that was an issue.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Yeah, including all those images without referencing them in the book just seems like someone's brain-fart to me.

and if the images were in the download/delivery the 'delivery charges' would have applied anyway....

I think you're right, someone just screwed up in formatting it.

[Plumadona]

I just checked my edition on the iPad and also found no illustrations, but did find this buried at the end of the book:

"Exclusive to the print editions of NOS4A2 are more than 15 illustrations by award-winning Locke & Key artist Gabriel Rodríguez."

Out of curiosity, how many folks here would have bought the print edition instead had they known? I would have been tempted to go print, but the ability to enlarge font would probably sent me to the ebook anyway, not to mention the bargain price. Still, there's no reason why the ebook should not have had the illustrations as well.

[Section8]

Originally Posted by kennyc

and if the images were in the download/delivery the 'delivery charges' would have applied anyway....

I think you're right, someone just screwed up in formatting it.

I agree, and I'm pretty sure the mistake was that they failed to remove the jpegs from the ebook before distributing it - I hadn't thought about the issue being charges based on file size. For example, one of the images is a business card. In the corresponding html text, that card is just centered text.

[DiapDealer]

Interesting. It sounds as if the images were always intended to be exclusive to the print edition. I've seen that sort of situation before. But never where the images were still included in the ebook's package--just unmanifested. Weird. Probably still a slip-up (if not downright incompetence), though.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Interesting. It sounds as if the images were always intended to be exclusive to the print edition. I've seen that sort of situation before. But never where the images were still included in the ebook's package--just unmanifested. Weird. Probably still a slip-up (if not downright incompetence), though.

Were the ORIGINAL Book images all in one place? Maybe that Section went into the bit bucket accidentally because of a malformed Syntax.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by Plumadona

Still, there's no reason why the ebook should not have had the illustrations as well.

Sure there is. The print publisher needs to find a way to sell more pbooks. It might also be a jab at ebook libraries, because their customers won't have the option of checking out the pbook with the illustrations.

Although not bothering to strip them from the ePUB is criminally lazy. A scurvy scalawag sailing the briny seas might decide to re-enable them and distribute them as "authentic plus" or something like that.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by teh603

Sure there is. The print publisher needs to find a way to sell more pbooks. It might also be a jab at ebook libraries, because their customers won't have the option of checking out the pbook with the illustrations.

Although not bothering to strip them from the ePUB is criminally lazy. A scurvy scalawag sailing the briny seas might decide to re-enable them and distribute them as "authentic plus" or something like that.

This.....given what Plumadona said....

[Section8]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Interesting. It sounds as if the images were always intended to be exclusive to the print edition. I've seen that sort of situation before. But never where the images were still included in the ebook's package--just unmanifested. Weird. Probably still a slip-up (if not downright incompetence), though.

I'm fairly certain these images were manifested, they just weren't linked anywhere in the html text. When I import a new book into calibre, I usually run Quality Check and check for unmanifested files, but may have missed this book - I'll double check this evening. However, I have a vague recollection (probably from a thread in these forums) that Sigil will totally ignore unmanifested files when opening an epub. If that's true, these definitely were manifested.

[Barty]

Sounds like OP got an unintended bonus. I say enjoy