Ebook Stupidity

[BookBint]

This hurt my brain...

Had one of my authors ring up. Her book had just come out and I foolishly thought she might be ringing to thank me, because it came out really well. I did a really thorough edit, found lots of extra pictures and bullied the design department into a fantastic cover design. Silly silly me...

Background: Nowadays we publish many of our titles as ebooks as well as hard copy.

BB: BookBint. Moi. One and only.
FA: Foolish Author.

FA: Hi BB, I haven't received some of my free copies.
BB: Oh, well that's no good. How many have you got?
FA: Six.
BB: Oh, well according to your contract that's how many you are entitled to. If you want more I'd be happy to tell the sales department and they'll send more over at a 50% author discount.
FA: No, I mean I haven't got my ebooks.
BB: Excuse me?
FA: My ebooks haven't arrived.
BB: Well you should have got an email from sales with the link to get your free ebook download at around the same time as your hard copies arrived...
FA: I got an email, but I didn't get any more books!
BB: So... you have 6 hard copies and you got an email about ebooks...?
FA: Yes!
BB: Well you can get your ebook download through that email.
FA: What?
BB: You download the ebook copy of your book through the link in the email and can then put it on an Ipad or Kindle.
FA: What? Look, I just want my ebook.
BB: Sorry, do you know what an ebook is?
FA: A book. Obviously.
BB: Yes. An ELECTRONIC book. A digital version. It comes in a computer file to load onto smart pads or your computer.
FA: So it's not a book.
BB: It is a book, just not on paper.
FA: That's stupid.

You're telling me...

Keep in mind, this author is under 40 and having worked with her on digital pictures and some complicated spreadsheets for her book, is clearly not a technology virgin. Just a bit... special.

[sms001]

eFail.

[Moirae]

lol. I've never understood how people younger than me can't understand simple technology.

[Lachrymose]

She needs a little more kindling in her nook.

I wonder what the heck she thought an ebook was.

[MoonCat]

Or some nookie in her kindle.

Did I say that out loud?

[PepperElf]

It's also stupid that she should be against ebooks.
If I'm not mistaken, with some companies, the authors actually get a higher percentage of each ebook sold because there's less overhead cost.

[Bandit]

eFail. iFail

Fixed it for you!

And sorry you had to go through that BookBint - almost sounded like my (l)users escaped. Then I realized they can't put two coherent sentences together.

B

[It's me]

What would she even do with an ebook version anyway? Doesn't she have the full text in digital form anyway?

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

What would she even do with an ebook version anyway? Doesn't she have the full text in digital form anyway?

I am so glad I'm not the only one who wondered that.

[LillFilly]

eGads!

My brain is now ebroken.

[Seshat]

What would she even do with an ebook version anyway? Doesn't she have the full text in digital form anyway?

But not the text paginated, edited, indexed, with final diagrams (if any), all footnotes in their proper pages...

There's actually quite a lot of post-author work in a book. Even an ebook.

The diagrams I sent in (for my book) as 'this is what the diagram should convey' were produced in a program called 'dia', which can produce professional-quality diagrams for a variety of things (circuit diagrams, data flow diagrams, etc). They were nice and professional and clear. But the ones the actual artists produced were technically identical - as in, they used the same symbols, same connectors, etc. But they looked a thousand percent better!

I'd want a copy of the ebook. My folder of chapters & my folder of labelled diagram designs just doesn't equal a finished book.

[Nyoibo]

Geez, get some eKnoweldge or I'm gonna put my eFoot up your eAss.

Things we can't say to customers and clients.

[BookBint]

There's actually quite a lot of post-author work in a book. Even an ebook.

Thanks for mentioning that... But I'd argue with the 'quite'. Many books are re-written! At the very least the text in Word is completely reformatted, it is paged, edited, proofed, designed, indexed...

As for an ebook, exactly the process is used as for a hard copy book. The only difference in the work that I have to do is that at the end I can't use the result as a doorstop.

[thansal]

She needs a little more kindling in her nook.

My head, which is already hurting today, hates you now.




I'm as boggled as the rest of you. A youngish author not knowing wth an E-Book is?

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

(snipping some author delirium)
FA: So it's not a book.
BB: It is a book, just not on paper.
FA: That's stupid.
You're telling me...
Keep in mind, this author is under 40 and having worked with her on digital pictures and some complicated spreadsheets for her book, is clearly not a technology virgin. Just a bit... special.

Someone recently (was it here?) said "whatever in technology was invented before you are 15 is part of your life; what is invented when you are between the ages of 15 and 35 is cool and a possible career opportunity; what is invented after that is bad, wrong and unholy".
I know, it is not STRICTLY related, but it came back to my mind thanks to this post.

Now, on the actual topic: I can understand if one doesn't *like* eBooks. I am one of those - I like the smell of paper and the feel of a book in my hands. But still... if you don't know what an eBook is and have been told you'll get one... ask what it is! Or, if you prefer not to look ignorant... GOOGLE!