Speaking of Kindle and, therefore, Amazon, I have been trying to discover if Amazon cares...at all... about the quality of the e-books they sell... A number of previous contacts have gone unanswered, until I posted a question on Amazon Books on Facebook... Below is what had been posted...It is now...also gone and not responded to...
Am I the only one who cares about ensuring books are handled correctly in book publishing? Many of the books I've read over the last several months have been filled with proofreading errors. One in particular, should never have been published! Soooo, what I did was send in every single problem with this book and provided the correction... This was a test, because most have not so many errors...
The thing is, not only does the Kindle report correction process work, but it also says that I will be notified on my profile of what occurred...Nothing has been reported and no responses have been made...
Sooooo, I figure, if nobody cares... I won't either...What I will be doing with my reviews, is providing ranking based upon the quality of the book as well as the quality of presentation. I will be providing information in my review about what I find in relation to the overall quality of the book and reducing the rank due to those flaws...since I have tried and failed on reporting problems... In particular, I will review the book that should never have been published, and any others like it...and rate purely on quality of content...
My point is, that many of the authors which I normally read have worked in response to my concern to improve the quality of their books. If YOU do not care about the quality of the book, I will make my appropriate response as I find...
When I started submitting corrections via Kindle, I hoped to help authors...It is obvious that Amazon has NO desire to help. They say they review the submissions...Obviously they have no intent to notify the individual who submits and expects to have corrections made... I have no idea why they would provide this option if they didn't intend to use it to improve their product.
As you may know, they give you 7 days to return a book...That is almost an impossible deadline... If you buy a book because they have sent you info on it...but then don't allow you to read them, except all in one week from purchase...their rules are ridiculous.
Thus, most of us just ignore the inferior quality, read the book, or not...and...go on with our lives...Amazon does not provide the normal repair/replace activity to occur based upon "actual use" which is "actual reading." Note my comment below about Audible books...
I have in the past tried to let authors know of problems...If it happens once, fine...if it happens twice... note that there will be a mention in your review ranking on Amazon...
I am still receiving requests for reviews. I am sorry I can no longer accept new requests. And, in line with this, I can no longer take the responsibility for ensuring your book is adequately proofread and formatted...I will proceed to review...
Why? I really have retired...What I read will be what I want to read. I hope readers will continue to support my blog as I have been handling it for the last month or so...
Google will be stopping their group sharing activity in the near future. I may find that there is no longer an audience for my blog. It appears that many of those for whom I review do not bother to support my blog...at least not sufficient enough to make it worth my time to continue to produce a book page for each book... That decision will be up to you, readers, as to whether you do anything to support the blog, such as following, sharing and...re-sharing...across the web...
In response to that, I have taken on some fun projects re books for individual authors with whom I've been working for years...
One final point, if you have earlier submitted a book for a request and it was never done...let me know...Many books have been sent automatically as attachments. There is no way I could handle the hundreds of ebooks I now have...However, if I said I would review a book...please let me know. I have not purposely not responded...merely, the numbers of books submitted have been overwhelming. Be assured that if you contact me, I have the book, then I will immediately read and review it...and express my regret for not doing it sooner...
Snow outside again today...days without electricity and heat left me cranky, it seems...or not...the fact is I am disgusted that nobody (authors) has taken on the issue of ebook price... I do not believe it is fair to price a book at 99 cents up to $14.99 for the same type of book. It should be clear to anybody that paperbooks should cost more than ebooks, simply due to materials and printing costs... As long as prices range so widely, I and many other readers will not be buying ebooks that are not cost-effective...especially when the quality of 80% (estimated) of the books that come to me do not reveal the quality expected for published books...
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to comment or write me personally...
GABixlerReviews
Hello, could you tell me the purpose of "report a content error" on your Kindle?
I read about you not taking any new requests for book reviews. I've wondered what reviewers experience, and you've confirmed that I made the right choice years ago to hire professional editorial assistance to ensure my work is in the best shape possible. No person, no author, especially me, can do everything. An unbiased outside eye sees things I don't or can't see. As I note both jokingly and seriously: Who wants the literary equivalent of a bad movie? "I want two hours of my life back!"
ReplyDeleteHowever, there's a cost to professional help, and I'm not sure everyone has the financial means. Without the necessary money, it’s easy to diminish the importance. I've not regretted it, but I also recognize that I have the final say and it's up to me to deliver something entertaining. I'm reminded of an old saying: "I would rather read a good story poorly written than a bad story well written." One still has to have a good story, but it's still one's responsibility to ensure the mechanics of writing (copy edit, proofreading) have been dealt with.
Thanks for the article. I consider it an honor to have somebody read my work. As a consequence, I consider it my responsibility to deliver something worthwhile, including professional editorial assistance. I can’t please everyone, but so far, nobody’s asked for two hours of their life back.
I enjooyed reading your post
ReplyDelete