Gollanz to launch world's biggest SFF library

[Graham]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I just know I'd have a much, much easier time correcting an ebook than I would revising, reprinting and rebinding a physical book.

And I should say that noting down proofing errors while reading on a Sony PRS-650 is very easy - a quick double tap on the offending word, then a tap to highlight - so I'd class this as distracting rather than disruptive.

Graham

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Graham

Except it wasn't crap. Or anything close to crap.

I'm probably more sensitive to it than most people, have done quite a lot of scanning and proofing, but personally I'd call an error per page crap. It certainly wouldn't be acceptable in a book submitted to PG, and a proofer on PGDP who was missing an error per page wouldn't ever be trusted to do more than first round proofing.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I'm probably more sensitive to it than most people, have done quite a lot of scanning and proofing, but personally I'd call an error per page crap. It certainly wouldn't be acceptable in a book submitted to PG, and a proofer on PGDP who was missing an error per page wouldn't ever be trusted to do more than first round proofing.

I absolutely agree.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Graham

As long as they do fix the errors, as their tweets suggests they will, then I'm happy to contribute to what could mean that these books remain in print for decades, or even centuries. Conceivably, for millennia...

But how do you get a new enhanced version? Will it just be to re-download? And how do you know an enhanced version exists? I have bought some ebook but only new book that hopefully is not scanned.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I'm probably more sensitive to it than most people, have done quite a lot of scanning and proofing, but personally I'd call an error per page crap. It certainly wouldn't be acceptable in a book submitted to PG, and a proofer on PGDP who was missing an error per page wouldn't ever be trusted to do more than first round proofing.

Oh, no doubt about it, the proof-reading was crap.

My point was that it didn't make the eBook purchase itself crap. I still enjoyed the book. The proofing errors may, of course, annoy you more than they annoyed me.

Graham

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by tompe

But how do you get a new enhanced version? Will it just be to re-download? And how do you know an enhanced version exists? I have bought some ebook but only new book that hopefully is not scanned.

At the Kindle store you get a note that an ebook has been updated, giving you the opportunity to download the new version. I think it's similar elsewhere.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

So we pay for crap and like it?
Again, we are not talking perfect, that is a strawman argument.
We are talking some human proofreading. That is a long way from perfect.
Again, if they were reprinting these as paperbacks, would you be happy to pay money for this quality?

There is some human proofreading... not enough but as I said earlier, if you want perfect then do not complain about backlists taking time to appear and do not complain about lack of enthusiasm for publishing backlists... proofreading costs and takes time, lots of time. Also, with the book quoted, unless the proofing was done by somebody who knows the book inside out, it's not unusual for a non-standard word (such as a name) to get through the process as the proofer doesn't know it's wrong. That's why the proofed work generally goes back to the author for a final check - names etc - and it's a bit difficult to do that with DEAD authors...

And what is it with this damn "strawman" argument that people keep raising... you said that it was crap proofing at an error per page so it's reasonable to think that you don't want errors - no errors = perfect - now your implying that some errors would be acceptable as "perfect" = "strawman" so how many errors are acceptable to your standards??? If you don't like or disagree with a statement, it doesn't make it a "strawman" when you started defining things... if you want everyone talking about precisely the same thing as you then tell us what you are talking about precisely as well...

[Graham]

Originally Posted by tompe

But how do you get a new enhanced version? Will it just be to re-download? And how do you know an enhanced version exists? I have bought some ebook but only new book that hopefully is not scanned.

A good question, and one area where the eBook retailers can really work to differentiate themselves.

I can redownload my book purchases any time from Waterstone's, but I don't know whether they'd let me know if there was a new version available.

I buy a lot of gaming pdfs from e23.sjgames.com and they are brilliant: you get an email whenever a title you've bought is updated.

This is actually the first title I've bought (as opposed to public domain works or library ebooks), out of hundreds, that has this level of proofing errors. I'll follow this one up specifically and see what happens via Gollancz and Waterstone's.

Graham

[Apache]

Good grief — they have all the Dumarest books by E C Tubb!

Great to know. I have all of them in paperback.
Apache

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by elcreative

That's why the proofed work generally goes back to the author for a final check - names etc - and it's a bit difficult to do that with DEAD authors...

There is already a print version to check against, the one they scanned from.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

There is already a print version to check against, the one they scanned from.

And why do you assume that the proofer gets the print version??? More proofing is done by freelancers than in-house talent these days... and guess what, they get sent files by email - the OCR'd files, not necessarily the scans as well. Now this method obviously has flaws in its methodology but we again come down to costings. You can put the book by the computer and do a few pages when you feel like it and have the time... professionals don't work like that and they don't get paid to compare paper/jpgs to text... they get paid to proof the text they're given... proofing ISN'T a comparison task, that's a new job altogether and should probably have a new name to distinguish it from proofreading...

[jgaiser]

To add to this discussion of errors, I had picked up the first two books in the Dumarest saga but hadn't looked at them yet. Opened Calibre reader and looked through the first dozen pages of book 1. I found *no* errors (obvious ones, anyway) in those pages. No guarantee that there not errors further on or in other books. Even Baen has had scanning errors in some of their backlist books.

[HarryT]

Baen are not particularly hot when it comes to proofreading. I'm reading one of their books now, "Return to the Moon" and it's full of minor errors. Things like "that" instead of "than".

[whitearrow]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

At the Kindle store you get a note that an ebook has been updated, giving you the opportunity to download the new version. I think it's similar elsewhere.

It depends -- sometimes a publisher will pull an older version and upload the new version with a new ASIN. Then the people who've already paid don't get to re-download for free, and they certainly don't get any notice about the new version.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by whitearrow

It depends -- sometimes a publisher will pull an older version and upload the new version with a new ASIN. Then the people who've already paid don't get to re-download for free, and they certainly don't get any notice about the new version.

Yes, that can happen if there's a new edition. It shouldn't happen for revisions to an edition. Although the line between the two is a bit fuzzy.