Amazon removing ebooks with TOC at end of book

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Wait a minute. You mean you don't read the exact same things/way that I do? Well, this changes everything!

Thank Gawd!

[artig]

Originally Posted by kennyc

What do you even mean by the 'navigation built in?' Next page? Precious Page? Search for xxxx?

A 'Precious Page' navigation feature. Now that is something I would update my e-reader to get.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by artig

A 'Precious Page' navigation feature. Now that is something I would update my e-reader to get.

But how do you decided which page is the most precious!

I do like a HTML TOC as the start of my book. Especially a nice TOC, which doesn't only show numbers, but actual chapter titles. It wets the appetite, so to speak.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by artig

A 'Precious Page' navigation feature. Now that is something I would update my e-reader to get.

Isn't that what bookmarks are for?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

But how do you decided which page is the most precious!

You don't; someone else decides

[rkomar]

My biggest beef with TOC for fiction is that it can contain spoilers if it has titles for the chapters. I'd rather not see those at all if I'm starting a new book.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by rkomar

My biggest beef with TOC for fiction is that it can contain spoilers if it has titles for the chapters. I'd rather not see those at all if I'm starting a new book.

That can be and often is a significant and very interesting part of the story.....

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by rkomar

My biggest beef with TOC for fiction is that it can contain spoilers if it has titles for the chapters. I'd rather not see those at all if I'm starting a new book.

I find it teasers, not spoilers. If I see that there's a chapter "The death of X", I wonder, who is X, why does he have to die, how will that death occur? And while reading the part before that chapter, I will probably get to know X, maybe start to like him and really don't want him to die, so I'll start dreading the time I'll get to that one chapter. Or I'll hate him so much, I'd have loved to help in killing him and start anticipating that chapter.

And a TOC at the end of the book, I've never understood. Just leave it out completely then...

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I find it teasers, not spoilers. If I see that there's a chapter "The death of X", I wonder, who is X, why does he have to die, how will that death occur? And while reading the part before that chapter, I will probably get to know X, maybe start to like him and really don't want him to die, so I'll start dreading the time I'll get to that one chapter. Or I'll hate him so much, I'd have loved to help in killing him and start anticipating that chapter.

And a TOC at the end of the book, I've never understood. Just leave it out completely then...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by kennyc

That can be and often is a significant and very interesting part of the story.....

It was the normal thing in the 19th century for a chapter title (or, more accurately, subtitle) to actually contain a summary of the events in the chapter.

Eg, from Dickens' "Martin Chuzzlewit":

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

MARTIN DISEMBARKS FROM THAT NOBLE AND FAST-SAILING LINE-OF-PACKET SHIP, 'THE SCREW', AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK, IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. HE MAKES SOME ACQUAINTANCES, AND DINES AT A BOARDING-HOUSE. THE PARTICULARS OF THOSE TRANSACTIONS

So you know roughly what's going to happen in the chapter before you read it .

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It was the normal thing in the 19th century for a chapter title (or, more accurately, subtitle) to actually contain a summary of the events in the chapter.

Eg, from Dickens' "Martin Chuzzlewit":



So you know roughly what's going to happen in the chapter before you read it .

Yep, kindofa 19th century teaser...

[rkomar]

Reading a teaser just for the chapter you're about to start isn't too bad, especially in those books that were originally serialized potboilers. Seeing all of the teasers for the book pretty much tells you the whole story, removing most of the suspense. Since there are only so many stories to tell, it's not hard to fill in the holes. With a paper book, it's easy to skip past the table of contents. With NCX navigation, I just don't press the menu button and I'm safe. But if I have to page over the table of contents, I'm in danger of finding out the whole story before I start reading. I'm generally a slow reader, but I'm inexplicably a speed-reader when I see a page with stuff I don't want to read yet. Anyway, I don't expect to change anyone's mind on this; I just wanted to vent about it. Damn you, Amazon! Damn you all to hell!

[murg]

MURG POSTS AN ATTEMPTED HUMOUROUS REPLY. DOESN'T REALLY HAVE A POINT. RAMBLES A BIT. USES ALL CAPS. HE'S NOT REALLY SURE WHY. PADS THE POST WITH EXTRANOUS SENTENCES.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by murg

MURG POSTS AN ATTEMPTED HUMOUROUS REPLY. DOESN'T REALLY HAVE A POINT. RAMBLES A BIT. USES ALL CAPS. HE'S NOT REALLY SURE WHY. PADS THE POST WITH EXTRANOUS SENTENCES.

I think you need a table of contents for that post.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by murg

MURG POSTS AN ATTEMPTED HUMOUROUS REPLY. DOESN'T REALLY HAVE A POINT. RAMBLES A BIT. USES ALL CAPS. HE'S NOT REALLY SURE WHY. PADS THE POST WITH EXTRANOUS SENTENCES.

...you the man