What happened to the cover and author?

HarleyB · 07-22-2010, 06:47 AM

I have downloaded a couple of books from kobobooks.com and also another from borders.com.au via ADE that are missing their covers.
On the website when I purchased them they had nice covers (that looked like a real book) but when I downloaded them they ended up with a very boring generic looking title page.
One of the books also says that the author is unknown despite the fact that the author was listed on the website when I purchased the book. Does anyone know why this would happen?

I attempted to fix this using Calibre but the books are all DRM restricted and I haven't found the courage to do the removal thing yet.
None of this really matters (cos as far as I can tell all the content is there) but with unknown authors and absent covers I feel like I am reading second rate pirated versions when I paid for the real thing.

Has anyone else experienced this? Should I be doing something different to make sure I get a cover and the author?

soup · 07-22-2010, 07:57 AM

another story that proves that DRM does nothing except hinder the legitimate user.

I wish you the best of luck fixing it, I don't know enough about DRM books, but, be brave.

Pookeysgirl · 07-22-2010, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarleyB

I have downloaded a couple of books from kobobooks.com and also another from borders.com.au via ADE that are missing their covers.
On the website when I purchased them they had nice covers (that looked like a real book) but when I downloaded them they ended up with a very boring generic looking title page.
One of the books also says that the author is unknown despite the fact that the author was listed on the website when I purchased the book. Does anyone know why this would happen?

I attempted to fix this using Calibre but the books are all DRM restricted and I haven't found the courage to do the removal thing yet.
None of this really matters (cos as far as I can tell all the content is there) but with unknown authors and absent covers I feel like I am reading second rate pirated versions when I paid for the real thing.

Has anyone else experienced this? Should I be doing something different to make sure I get a cover and the author?

I have 3 books like that. 1 Stephen King, 1 Dean Koontz and 1 Stieg Larsson. I have other Stephen King and Dean Koontz books and they were fine. I don't get why it affects some, but not others.

Duiker · 07-22-2010, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarleyB

Has anyone else experienced this? Should I be doing something different to make sure I get a cover and the author?

I had the same issue. I e-mailed Kobo over a week ago asking them to send me a new file with the cover that they advertised on their site. No one even bothered to respond. I ended up downloading the book that I had already purchased from the darknet so that I could have a cover (it also runs a lot faster without the DRM).
I chose not to buy the second book in the series from Kobo because of this.

Mimzy · 07-22-2010, 04:22 PM

This happened to one of the books I bought too. I've pretty much decided that I'm going to have to strip the DRM off of it because I want the book's actual cover rather then the plain and ugly cover the ebook seems to come with.

Samantha45 · 07-22-2010, 09:56 PM

Just happened to me too!

Not happy!

Samantha45 · 07-22-2010, 10:23 PM

My bad. I misunderstood how the books appear in the "I'm Reading" section when you have more than one. Apparently they only show one cover at at time. When I opened it the cover is there.

StealthyScribe · 07-23-2010, 12:38 AM

I downloaded a three series set from Kobo, two had really nice covers, the second in the series had a plain black boring cover. I figured since the series was free I won't complain...but a week ago I emailed Kobo about this and haven't heard back yet. There's a series of 8 books I want to buy (they only have 7 of them, which is weird, and I've asked Kobo about that as well), of the 7 they have available two of them are missing covers. I've asked them to look into adding covers for the series as well as getting the last book in the set. I won't buy them until it's fixed. I don't know much about this stuff, but if they can have covers for one book, why not all?

And as for the missing author thing...I saw that today on their site as well. The author was listed as the publishing company.

asmodeus · 07-23-2010, 02:50 AM

double post..

asmodeus · 07-23-2010, 02:53 AM

I've bought eBooks from places other than Borders or Kobobooks.com where there was no cover, or a very basic cover, but the website displayed the paperback edition's cover. It would be good if these sites included a note for those books that have no cover - I haven't yet seen anywhere actually warning about it.

When I used ADE to download one book from Borders it had no cover - as a test I then used the Borders branded Kobo desktop to download it, and it used the low resolution cover that was on the website (for the book that was lacking a cover).

My understanding is that the lack of covers is due to the publisher - they didn't have rights to the cover for the eBook edition and either didn't want to pay or couldn't get them. Other online stores will also have the same issue with those books.

If you're using Calibre to manage your library, I've seen it not display the author on some books that other software has no problems with.

HarleyB · 07-23-2010, 08:22 AM

Thanks for the responses. It's nice to know I'm not alone but frustrating to find that this issue seems rather common.
I agree that if a book is not available with a cover it should be obvious before you purchase it. It's false advertising to show something that isn't what you are purchasing.

Duiker · 07-23-2010, 10:24 AM

Here's my response from Kobo re covers.

"Thank you for contacting us.

We have escalated this issue our level 2 support team to investigate it further.

Sincerely

The Kobo Team"

We'll see what happens next...

SameerH · 07-23-2010, 01:56 PM

Hmm... the covers you get with the ePub version come straight from the publishers, I don't believe we have too much creative control over them. I'll look into this for you .

Duiker · 07-23-2010, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SameerH

Hmm... the covers you get with the ePub version come straight from the publishers, I don't believe we have too much creative control over them. I'll look into this for you .

In that case it would be good to know in advance of purchasing if the cover shown on the site actually comes with the file.

Thanks for checking, I think we all appreciate how much attention Kobo pays to this site.

SameerH · 07-23-2010, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duiker

In that case it would be good to know in advance of purchasing if the cover shown on the site actually comes with the file.

Thanks for checking, I think we all appreciate how much attention Kobo pays to this site.

Still waiting to hear back from the content wizards. Will let you know as soon as I have.

To (sort-of) address your concern though, if you sync using the desktop application, you will get the books in Kobo format, which will have the correct cover art associated with it.

07-22-2010, 06:47 AM	#1
HarleyB Fanatic Posts: 565 Karma: 1113286 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast Australia Device: Kobo (RIP), iPad, iPhone 4, Kobo Touch x2, Kobo Glo	What happened to the cover and author? I have downloaded a couple of books from kobobooks.com and also another from borders.com.au via ADE that are missing their covers. On the website when I purchased them they had nice covers (that looked like a real book) but when I downloaded them they ended up with a very boring generic looking title page. One of the books also says that the author is unknown despite the fact that the author was listed on the website when I purchased the book. Does anyone know why this would happen? I attempted to fix this using Calibre but the books are all DRM restricted and I haven't found the courage to do the removal thing yet. None of this really matters (cos as far as I can tell all the content is there) but with unknown authors and absent covers I feel like I am reading second rate pirated versions when I paid for the real thing. Has anyone else experienced this? Should I be doing something different to make sure I get a cover and the author?

07-23-2010, 02:50 AM	#9
asmodeus Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kobo	double post.. Last edited by asmodeus; 07-23-2010 at 04:32 AM. Reason: double post

07-23-2010, 02:53 AM	#10
asmodeus Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kobo	I've bought eBooks from places other than Borders or Kobobooks.com where there was no cover, or a very basic cover, but the website displayed the paperback edition's cover. It would be good if these sites included a note for those books that have no cover - I haven't yet seen anywhere actually warning about it. When I used ADE to download one book from Borders it had no cover - as a test I then used the Borders branded Kobo desktop to download it, and it used the low resolution cover that was on the website (for the book that was lacking a cover). My understanding is that the lack of covers is due to the publisher - they didn't have rights to the cover for the eBook edition and either didn't want to pay or couldn't get them. Other online stores will also have the same issue with those books. If you're using Calibre to manage your library, I've seen it not display the author on some books that other software has no problems with. Last edited by asmodeus; 07-23-2010 at 03:11 AM.

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07-22-2010, 07:57 AM	#2
soup Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kobo	another story that proves that DRM does nothing except hinder the legitimate user. I wish you the best of luck fixing it, I don't know enough about DRM books, but, be brave.

07-22-2010, 04:22 PM	#5
Mimzy Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Houghton Device: Kobo	This happened to one of the books I bought too. I've pretty much decided that I'm going to have to strip the DRM off of it because I want the book's actual cover rather then the plain and ugly cover the ebook seems to come with.

07-22-2010, 09:56 PM	#6
Samantha45 Connoisseur Posts: 58 Karma: 43456 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Edmonton AB Canada Device: Kobo, Kindle 3	Just happened to me too! Not happy!

07-22-2010, 10:23 PM	#7
Samantha45 Connoisseur Posts: 58 Karma: 43456 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Edmonton AB Canada Device: Kobo, Kindle 3	My bad. I misunderstood how the books appear in the "I'm Reading" section when you have more than one. Apparently they only show one cover at at time. When I opened it the cover is there.

07-23-2010, 12:38 AM	#8
StealthyScribe Feverish Posts: 70 Karma: 42 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Alberta Device: Black Kobo	I downloaded a three series set from Kobo, two had really nice covers, the second in the series had a plain black boring cover. I figured since the series was free I won't complain...but a week ago I emailed Kobo about this and haven't heard back yet. There's a series of 8 books I want to buy (they only have 7 of them, which is weird, and I've asked Kobo about that as well), of the 7 they have available two of them are missing covers. I've asked them to look into adding covers for the series as well as getting the last book in the set. I won't buy them until it's fixed. I don't know much about this stuff, but if they can have covers for one book, why not all? And as for the missing author thing...I saw that today on their site as well. The author was listed as the publishing company.

07-23-2010, 08:22 AM	#11
HarleyB Fanatic Posts: 565 Karma: 1113286 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast Australia Device: Kobo (RIP), iPad, iPhone 4, Kobo Touch x2, Kobo Glo	Thanks for the responses. It's nice to know I'm not alone but frustrating to find that this issue seems rather common. I agree that if a book is not available with a cover it should be obvious before you purchase it. It's false advertising to show something that isn't what you are purchasing.

07-23-2010, 10:24 AM	#12
Duiker Addict Posts: 258 Karma: 30680 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Toronto, Canada Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Here's my response from Kobo re covers. "Thank you for contacting us. We have escalated this issue our level 2 support team to investigate it further. Sincerely The Kobo Team" We'll see what happens next...

07-23-2010, 01:56 PM	#13
SameerH Product Manager Posts: 487 Karma: 590887 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura H2O	Hmm... the covers you get with the ePub version come straight from the publishers, I don't believe we have too much creative control over them. I'll look into this for you .

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