Kindle eBooks will have PUBLIC Warnings for spelling/formatting errors!

[Hitch]

Yo, my fellow MR'ers:

Granted, my interest in this is hardly unbiased, but:

http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-n...bad-formatting

The tl/dr version is: starting February 3rd, 2016, Amazon will begin showing customers a warning message on the eBooks sales pages, alerting customers that some books have validated quality issues, specifically spelling and formatting errors.

Amazon has begun emailing publishers, alerting them of the upcoming changes. Books with minor/moderate spelling issues will receive a warning, and the publisher will be able to still sell the book--although whether or not the reading public will buy, given the warning, remains to be seen. Badly formatted books, however, that are considered "unreadable" (standard for that decision unknown) will be removed from sale, until fixed.

Personally, I think that both are long overdue. Yes, there will be some problems with Americans reporting Brit Spellings as "wrong," etc., but that's why this is for "validated" issues.

Hitch

[Yolina]

We'll have to see how it works in real-life, but for now:

[eschwartz]

Oooohh, time to rustle up some of my old tradpub ebooks and have some fun...

http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/0...error-message/

EDIT: JFTR, I read "good"ereader's story, and as I suspected he has a swelled head about it, seems to think it was in response to his article.
And of course he is reporting two pieces of news despite that the first piece is very old news indeed.
But kudos for catching the new first tier (before Nate, which is news too).


I know we all hate "good"ereader here, but.... Let it not be said that I don't give credit where credit is due.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Oooohh, time to rustle up some of my old tradpub ebooks and have some fun...

http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/0...error-message/

EDIT: JFTR, I read "good"ereader's story, and as I suspected he has a swelled head about it, seems to think it was in response to his article.
And of course he is reporting two pieces of news despite that the first piece is very old news indeed.
But kudos for catching the new first tier (before Nate, which is news too).


I know we all hate "good"ereader here, but.... Let it not be said that I don't give credit where credit is due.

I asked him directly about his source, and he replied that it's Amazon, and quoted emails that Indy-pubs had already received, which state:

Starting February 3, 2016 we will begin showing customers a warning message on the Amazon.com Kindle store detail pages of books that contain several validated quality issues. We will remove this message for a book as soon as we receive the fixed file from you and verify the corrections – typically within 2 business days.

We understand that even with the best quality controls,
defects sometimes make it through. That’s why we’ve limited this messaging to books with several issues. Books with more serious quality issues will continue to be suppressed from sale.

We've already had two phone calls from people who had conversions done at another, now-out-of-business-converter of some note. I don't know what anyone else is doing, but we're implementing "Same Day Salvation" plans (for those with disasters) and "Same Week Salvation" (for those with nastygrams visible on the sales pages). {sigh}.

As a reader--I'm damned glad of it. It's about frakking time.

As a converter--I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I know--I KNOW--we'll get books back. We've seen some real doozies go through here. (Some of you may remember the paranoid schizophrenic fellow? That drove across two states to find us because we 'changed the wording of [his] book'? Insert delicate shudder here.) OTOH, it may be new work. Ya never know.

I'm also glad to see SOME emphasis on formatting, at long last. We've been the red-headed stepchild for far, far too long, IMHO.

Hitch

[Cinisajoy]

I am glad to see it too.

[GeoffC]

Wow !

[HarryT]

An interesting change to the previous practice of withdrawing from sale books with content issues. At least the customer now has a choice of whether or not to proceed with the purchase.

[meeera]

Will it only be verified purchasers who are allowed to report errors, or will you be able to report them from the sample or the Look Inside?

[Catlady]

It seems silly to me. Other than the most egregious formatting screw-ups, how is Amazon going to objectively verify actual errors?

An author might choose to have characters speak in dialect, for example, or to have an unconventional first-person narration. Even regarding formatting, an author might decide to be nonstandard. These may be stupid and annoying editorial choices, but they may be choices, not mistakes.

If, say, a dozen people incorrectly report something as an error, is Amazon going to decide it's an error?

[GeoffC]

Let's hope common sense plays a part.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Catlady

It seems silly to me. Other than the most egregious formatting screw-ups, how is Amazon going to objectively verify actual errors?

Why do they have to objectively verify it? If they think it is an error they mark the book as containing errors. If the publisher tells them it was no error they remove the marking. They are forcing the publisher to react. Which is a very good thing.

[ottdmk]

I see some potential for abuse here. Any warning is going to cause lost sales. Should someone troll particular books, there could be multiple warning periods, multiplying the income loss.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by tompe

Why do they have to objectively verify it? If they think it is an error they mark the book as containing errors. If the publisher tells them it was no error they remove the marking. They are forcing the publisher to react. Which is a very good thing.

If the author of the self-pubbed book is able to ignore the error reports, whether they're valid or not, then what's the point?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Catlady

If the author of the self-pubbed book is able to ignore the error reports, whether they're valid or not, then what's the point?

It is marked as containing errrors so people can avoid buying it.

And I thought all books will be marked. Not just self-pubbed. Is that not correct?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by meeera

Will it only be verified purchasers who are allowed to report errors, or will you be able to report them from the sample or the Look Inside?

It's verified purchasers with KF8 e-ink devices--PPW and Voyages for in-app reporting, primarily, although formatting errata may also be reported through the relevant link on the Amazon sales page for the book in question. Presumably, Amazon's only interested in feedback from actual purchasers, right? I mean, given what's happened previously with people abusing reviews (in both directions), etc., I'm sure that they'll be careful.

Originally Posted by Catlady

It seems silly to me. Other than the most egregious formatting screw-ups, how is Amazon going to objectively verify actual errors?

With human validation.

An author might choose to have characters speak in dialect, for example, or to have an unconventional first-person narration. Even regarding formatting, an author might decide to be nonstandard. These may be stupid and annoying editorial choices, but they may be choices, not mistakes.

If, say, a dozen people incorrectly report something as an error, is Amazon going to decide it's an error?

Just like they do now. A reader or reader reports a mistake. Amazon looks into it. They send you an email, to which you may respond. Trust me, I'm acquainted with this process from our clients. It's NOT, repeat, NOT the automated spellchecker's results, or anything like that.

Originally Posted by ottdmk

I see some potential for abuse here. Any warning is going to cause lost sales. Should someone troll particular books, there could be multiple warning periods, multiplying the income loss.

Indeed, which is why Amazon has specifically stated that they will only occur for VALIDATED errors.

Originally Posted by Catlady

If the author of the self-pubbed book is able to ignore the error reports, whether they're valid or not, then what's the point?

Because if they continue to ignore it, the book WILL be removed from sale. And really--other than someone who knows about the author's style, and who is determined to ignore it--who'll buy the book if they know it has significant quality issues? Isn't that the entire point?

Originally Posted by tompe

It is marked as containing errrors so people can avoid buying it.

And I thought all books will be marked. Not just self-pubbed. Is that not correct?

I don't factually know. My current understanding, which is hearsay, is Indy-pubs only, at this moment in time. I don't see the need, if you think about it, for a trade-pubbed book (Big whatever-the-number-is-now). After all, as I believe I've pointed out previously, trade pubs simply won't do it. They'll have printed volumes out there with (generally) the same issues. They're not going to reprint the bloody book for 3 typos.

(Anyone here who hasn't read my rants about instant gratification and snotty readers won't know this, but I think that it's absurd to insist that a KDP publisher INSTANTLY run around and fix 3 bloody typos. Random House wouldn't do that; don't know why an eBook publisher should have to, either. Not to mention--what worked for an upload in, say, 2010, won't work now. It'll be interesting to see how that's all sorted.)

Amazon's announcement specified KDP-published eBooks. Trade pubs don't use the KDP, so...presumably, not trade-pubs. Will it eventually become that? Possibly, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

All in, I expect that this won't be abused BY AMAZON. I seriously doubt that they'll Scarlet Letter a book for 3 typos, or even 5. I would tend to think that they are targeting the worst offenders; illiterate grammar and egregious amounts of typos, and horrible formatting. That's my take, FWIW.

Hitch