How many use Calibre and / or Apprentice Alf [POLL ENDED]

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cybmole

and they , the publisher, will always provide a very nice cover image for amazon to display on the amazon web site, to encourage a purchase ( which is where calibre will download it from ) .

So claiming that they don't have the "right" to push that same image to K reader / Kindle for... whatever... app , with the kindle book is a pathetically weak excuse

It's almost deliberate deception. trade descriptions, what you see is NOT what you get, but I am sure the publishers' smarmy lawyers have said they can get away with it. and its not like it saves them any money. it seems like deliberate mean-ness. They would not dare ship a hardback book with a generic " this is your dustcover" cover , would they ?

PS Amazon are not the only culprit. it happens sometimes with Overdrive epub library loans also: - nice picture on library web page - generic cover on the download.

maybe if we collectively all used Amazon's generous 7 day returns policy to send back every book that lacked a proper cover image, they'd get the message.

anyway, that's one very good reason to de-DRM.

Another is that it is a rare book indeed that does not contain at least one typo or formatting error, ( same is true of my posts )and I like to compulsively fix those so that if I re-read the book then I don't get annoyed all over again.

My point is that NONE of this has ANYTHING to do with Amazon. It's the publisher who is responsible for the cover and for typos.

[cybmole]

not so - lets talk basic distance sellling - you see a book with a pretty cover on a web site - you buy it but it arrives without the cover - you take that up with the retailer, not the manufacturer.

if it were a hardback book, or some other physical object, you expect to receive what you see on the web site.
I bet that if you received a hardback with a missing dust jacket , you'd not be a happy bunny !

you can go to the specific KINDLE EDITION page for that book, & you will be shown a cover image, which you will NOT receive, so you have to hack the DRM, download it yourself, modify the book yourself - sideload it back onto the reader... then finally it looks like it did at the shop... what a farce...

it is the retailer who is posting the misleading images. an honest retailer should at least have a big warning sticker saying this book will be delivered with NO COVER IMAGE.

PS I mentioned the typos because this thread is about valid reasons to de-drm, and that is also one. Amazon, to their credit will refund for a book that is full of annoying typo - been there done that, have the refund - but it needs more people to do that in order for publishers to bother with quality control.. As end-users our only real recourse to publishers is via the retailers & wholesalers who make up the rest of the supply chain.

[DiapDealer]

Can't say as I follow your reasoning at all. The publisher makes the ebook and provides all the necessary errata and files to sell it.

In an ebook, a missing cover image is no different than a missing page in the middle of the text. If you bought a physical book that had page missing (not printed), whose fault is it? Surely you don't think it's the retailer's job to peruse each and every ebook they sell to see if the publisher left out a page?

[cybmole]

my reasoning or Harry's ?

my reasoning is simple. publisher give amazon 1) the story text. 2) a cover image, which amazon use to promote the book

now to be fair, mostly nowadays when you buy form Amazon you do get both of those things delivered, but not always & you are buying blind. Unless you download a sample first you have no way of knowing in advance what if any cover you will receive.

I suppose it takes x years at law school to lean how someone can have the right to display a ( freely copyable) image on a web page but not have the right to transmit that same image with a book purchase.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cybmole

my reasoning or Harry's ?

my reasoning is simple. publisher give amazon 1) the story text. 2) a cover image, which amazon use to promote the book

No, that's where you're going wrong. The publisher does not give Amazon "the story text". The publisher is responsible for creating the complete eBook. Amazon simply sell it. Any errors in the book are the publisher's responsibility, not the retailer's.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by cybmole

my reasoning or Harry's ?

I was referring to yours.

The publisher gives Amazon the image it wants displayed on the website, and it gives amazon the complete (and finished) ebook it wants customers to buy/read. It's totally on them (the publisher) to get it right.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

The publisher gives Amazon the image it wants displayed on the website, and it gives amazon the complete (and finished) ebook it wants customers to buy/read. It's totally on them (the publisher) to get it right.

Precisely. It has nothing to do with Amazon; they simply provide a portal allowing publishers to upload the book and the associated blurb and cover image. Whether or not the book actually contains that cover image is entirely down to the publisher.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Precisely. It has nothing to do with Amazon; they simply provide a portal allowing publishers to upload the book and the associated blurb and cover image. Whether or not the book actually contains that cover image is entirely down to the publisher.

And what's more, to my knowledge, there is no mechanism in place for Amazon to "slide" a new cover image into an existing ebook.

Now through the KDP process (small press and indies), Amazon will build the ebook for them from source material. But the onus is still on the "publisher" to ensure that the source material provided will produce an ebook with a proper cover image when it's put through the automated grinder.

[nynaevelan]

I honestly do not understand what is going on with your purchases when you state one cover shows on the website and an entirely different one shows up on your device. I have purchased close to 3800 books from Amazon and I have less than 10 where the same cover doesn't show up on the device.

[ProfCrash]

I like to add a description, cover, and name the series something that makes sense to me. Some books in a series include series information and others do not. I want to make sure that my series are ordered correctly. I also change the title to include the series title and number so that if I ever send the undrmed copy to my Kindle, it will display by series name and number.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

I honestly do not understand what is going on with your purchases when you state one cover shows on the website and an entirely different one shows up on your device. I have purchased close to 3800 books from Amazon and I have less than 10 where the same cover doesn't show up on the device.

Penguin books are a prime example. They show up with a proper cover in the Kindle bookstore, but generally have a generic "Penguin" cover inside the book. Of course, the same applies to every other bookstore too - the fault lies with Penguin.

[FacebookVirus]

For my money, it's irrelevant who is at fault. The book gets returned. I have better things to do than police publishers and retailers.

I also have the luxury of having an interest in many topics and types of fiction. This means a bazillon publications in my to read pile, so I can toss them and move on to the next.

[jojoba]

I buy ebooks from a range of different places, use a stand alone app to get rid of any DRMs and organise everything in calibre. I don't mess much with meta data except tag everything to keep the books thematically organised.

[Josieb1]

I buy DRM free ebooks from multiple publishers and retailer, load them all into Calibre, then send 'a selection' to Amazon for my Kindle.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

I honestly do not understand what is going on with your purchases when you state one cover shows on the website and an entirely different one shows up on your device. I have purchased close to 3800 books from Amazon and I have less than 10 where the same cover doesn't show up on the device.

i don't track percentages , & I don't buy lots of kindle books nowadays, so maybe I have been unlucky, but is did happen sometimes i.e. some books are sold with a bland "placeholder" generic cover. I'd post an image but I've replaced them all already. maybe it happens less often with newer books...

a quick google fiinds this ( oldish) thread on missin cover art , proving that it is not just me...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/forum/kindle/TxFOF2T0TKD4YM

I do borrow a lot of epub format library books & I say it still happens there with ~20% of covers

as to the wider debate, seems i lost the argument for blaming Amazon vs blaming publishers- it was fun but as they say- when you a e already in a hole it's time to stop digging