06-25-2019, 10:46 AM | #31 | |
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What Amazon's doing is no real difference. Hell, their "page counts" for eBooks are probably more accurate than print, as they use characters to calculate locations and thence pages. Hitch |
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06-25-2019, 11:26 AM | #32 |
the rook, bossing Never.
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And it was always evil. Only word counts count.
Actually I don't that much care about page or word count except to know if it's a short, novella or book. Amazon's page count is meaningless to the general public. |
06-25-2019, 12:13 PM | #33 | |
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Right, booksellers have been using page counts since the dawn of time, and you've decided it's "evil." It's ridiculous, because the BOOKSELLER doesn't know, now, does it? Amazon doesn't KNOW the word count in a paperback. Or a hardcover. Neither does B&N, or any other bookseller, online or otherwise. I suggest you take your suggestions to the publishers, because it is they who would have to provide this information to the bookstores, not the bookstore's job to provide it to you. Hitch |
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06-25-2019, 03:07 PM | #34 |
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06-25-2019, 03:23 PM | #35 |
Wizard
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Yes, page counts can be inflated by use of large margins, font size, wide spacing, etc. and an ebook won't have the same page count as a paper version of the same book. Still, if a store says a paper version of a book is 60, 300, or 1500 pages, that gives me as a potential buyer at least a ball park idea whether it's a novella, regular novel, or the next War & Peace
Not that I would object if they also listed word counts. |
06-25-2019, 04:11 PM | #36 |
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I would suggest that the reason that word count doesn't appear on Amazon (and others) is because there's no field for it on the software that produces the website.
I've been in those website design meetings. So. Many. Times. "How about a field for word count?" "No one would ever want that." said the committee member who'd never read a book. "You can't add a new field now. My design would be ruined!" said the designer, clutching his pearls. |
06-25-2019, 04:14 PM | #37 | |
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For all the books from Random House, etc. how would they even know that figure? It's one thing to talk about books produced by Amazon, via the uploading of a Word file, but what about all the others? What's Random House's upside in providing that info? Hitch |
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06-26-2019, 06:06 PM | #38 |
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Well, I was sort of half joking (but I have been in those meetings - and the subsequent meetings to discuss how the field can be retrofitted into the coding/design. Good times).
Yes, retrospectively, it would be useless or pointless. But for new works it could be thing. Whether it's a good thing or not, I have no idea. But you can bet your boots someone suggested it, just after someone else said "what about page count?" - there followed an offtopic argument way longer than the subject warranted. Thank goodness I'm retired. Also, Norm in Accounting is good with numbers...he could do it in his "spare time". Last edited by skb; 06-26-2019 at 06:07 PM. Reason: Poor Norm. What a life. |
06-26-2019, 06:31 PM | #39 | |
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Hitch |
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07-06-2019, 10:26 PM | #40 | |
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thank you
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07-06-2019, 10:37 PM | #41 | |
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I'd say that half the books that I see at my shop are between 60-70K words. What is more interesting, to me, is that fully 20% or more are now much, MUCH shorter, in that blurry 40-45K word count range. Now, buying a "full-length novel" of 40-45K would probably irritate me. To me, that's not a full-length book; not enough space for decent subplots, mirrored themes, etc. That's even hard to do at 60K; really, from what I see, it takes about 80K to really get good subplotting and depth. Doesn't mean I won't read a good potato chip book, of course; (like those "Tome of Bill" Vampire books--funny as hell) just that I want to know what I'm getting, when I get it. I just wouldn't say that a 60K book is anything less than a novel. I think that's giving short shrift to it. Hitch |
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12-04-2019, 10:59 PM | #42 |
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Just to confuse the issue still further, here are some authentic word counts I have dredged up, all from well-known authors:
Get Shorty (Elmore Leonard): 80,000 Lassie Come-Home (Eric Knight): 55,000 Captain Blood (Rafael Sabatini): 114,000 Shane (Jack Schaefer): 45,000 The Nonesuch (Georgette Heyer): 105,000 A Certain Smile (Françoise Sagan): 31,000 The Executioners, aka Cape Fear (John D MacDonald): 55,000 Beau Geste (P C Wren): 139,000 The Scarlet Pimpernel (Baroness Orczy): 84,000 The Toff and the Stolen Tresses (John Creasey): 55,000 Going Postal (Terry Pratchett): 116,000 The Stars are Dark (Peter Cheyney): 76,000 Lady Chatterly's Lover (D H Lawrence): 117,000 Skylark 3 (E E [Doc] Smith): 83,000 Cakes and Ale (Somerset Maugham): 70,000 Leave it to Psmith (P G Wodehouse): 88,000 The Saint in New York (Leslie Charteris): 72,000 Treasure of the Sierra Madre (B Traven): 112,000 You Only Live Twice (Ian Fleming): 66,000 Unreliable Memoirs (Clive James): 68,000 The Fabulous Riverboat (Philip José Farmer): 85,000 Maigret and the Killer (Georges Simenon): 42,000 The Case of the Footloose Doll (Erle Stanley Gardner): 55,000 Nature Girl (Carl Hiaasen): 95,000 Flying Finish (Dick Francis): 80,000 Farewell My Lovely (Raymond Chandler): 81,000 Cannery Row (John Steinbeck): 50,000 Raise the Titanic! (Clive Cussler): 110,000 Last edited by Pulpmeister; 12-05-2019 at 08:17 AM. |
12-06-2019, 07:16 AM | #43 |
Wizard
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Checking now, my last ebook published is listed on Amazon at 560 pages. That is about what the actual print edition is (566 pages). So, I am not sure what the issue is. Other than the fact that as an author I have no control over what Amazon does or reports. 560 pages is remarkably accurate all things considered.
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12-06-2019, 07:37 AM | #44 |
cacoethes scribendi
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Hi Vincent, I wondered if your last post was an anomaly or the first of many. Nice to see you back again.
I thought Amazon explicitly used the print edition page count where available; I don't know what they do if there is no print edition, or if there are multiple print editions. It's what they appeared to do with my books - and note that my print books are done through Lightning Source (Ingram) not Amazon. The Kobo page counts are significantly higher, I think because my print edition uses a relatively small font. Last edited by gmw; 12-06-2019 at 07:50 AM. Reason: Correction |
12-06-2019, 07:47 AM | #45 | |
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