Rosina Lippi's Blog, page 30

never buy a pig in a poke: the bookish adaptation

I love all things electronic, but when it comes to buying and selling books on the internet I see room for improvement. To be fair, that improvement is coming along nicely. In most areas.

Don’t make Jane angry. You wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.

I’ll demonstrate with (what else?) Pride & Prejudice. There must be a couple hundred editions of P&P in English alone. Poorly done editions, leather-bound editions (and sometimes those two things aren’t mutually exclusive), editions on paper so cheap it makes your fingers itch just to turn the page, critical editions (put together by academics with special care to detail and authenticity), abbreviated and illustrated and annotated editions. Most people don’t realize how different editions can be, or that one might be better than another. If you’ve read one copy of Pride & Prejudice you’ve read them all, is the general belief. This is a widely held misconception, and one that technology is not doing anything to rectify. Just the opposite.

Before Amazon  if you wanted a specific P&P edition (say, with illustrations by a particular artist, or edited by a particular Austen specialist) you could usually track it down, sometimes easily and sometimes not so. In the present day finding and buying books is infinitely easier, but distinguishing one edition from another is far harder, and sometimes almost impossible.

Consider a few of the numerous editions of P&P. The one on the left is the Norton Critical edition that’s currently in print, which is most likely the edition you would  be asked to read in a serious advanced literature course. They used the original 1813 edition for the text, and it includes biographies of Austen by members of her family and specialists, as well as Austen’s letters, samples of her early writing, and tons of other bits and pieces.  Note there’s another Norton Critical edition with a lovely teal cover, which happens to be out of print — but even if you found it for two bucks on a sale table, you’d be buying something different than the edition above. But how could you know that? Aside from comparing them side by side (books in hand), you’d be hard pressed to figure it out.

If this isn’t complicated enough, consider the Cambridge University Press edition, below. Note the following things: the name of the editor, the ISBN number, the fact that it is 622 pages long (the Norton Critical edition is 423 pages) and the whopping big price tag. The description doesn’t go into as much detail as the Norton edition. So which one is better, truer to the original, with better notes and annotations and essays? The page count and the price tag on the Cambridge edition might influence you. Your Aunt Ruth’s birthday is coming up. She is a Janite of the first order and she would want everything there is to know, so you spring for the expensive version.

CUP Edition

Amazon

Or you try to. Because this is where the real problems start, when you toddle off to Amazon to find a copy of the expensive CUP edition. It comes up without a hitch (as seen here), same cover, same title, same editor. And look at the huge discount…. even better, on Amazon Marketplace there are other copies for sale, for less than twenty bucks, even.

Remember that old chestnut about things too good to be true?

Have a closer look at the pricing information.  What should jump out at you is that there’s a kindle edition. Really? A kindle edition of the 600+ page Cambridge University Press version, for less than a dollar?

The confusion stems from Amazon’s misleading layout. They show you prices not just for the CUP edition,  but for all editions.  The Norton editions, Penguin, and every crappy edition ever put out by Barnes & Noble (Get five classic novels for ten bucks!). You don’t realize this, and money is money, and who are you to turn down a deal? You order a copy that’s priced at $25 and sit back to wait.

Now, if you took the time to follow the links you’d see that what you just ordered is not the CUP edition you wanted. But probably you didn’t take the time — why would you? So when the package comes you are not going to be happy. I would like to tell you that the bad news ends here, but there’s another wrinkle, one you wouldn’t find out about it until too late — unless you read through the reviews before you ordered.

A very kind reviewer (who calls him/herself Kiwi) went to the trouble to explain why you have to be careful ordering this book, even if you order the full priced version from up top. You can read the whole review here, but here’s the abbreviated version:

Check the Publisher carefully before you place your order because….,

One of the versions listed is published by “General Books LLC.” Another reader complained about the tiny and almost unreadable font – you probably bought the version published by General Books LLC – and here’s the reason.General Books LLC is an imprint of VDM Publishing, (google them and take a look at the Wikipedia article on them) and they specialise in publishing books that are free of copyright without doing any editing or quality control. [...]

So what you’re getting if you buy the version published by General Books LLC is a scanned in, unedited, low quality [...] unindexed / No table of contents book at a higher price than many of the good quality imprints available. Basically, VDM Publishing is flooding Amazon with these low quality prints (450,000 of them are listed now) publisher.

and, unfortunately, many of them have the reviews associated with better quality imprints associated with them. The product description is insufficient for the buyer that’s not aware of thisTotally unethical marketing.

‘Buyer beware’ doesn’t really say it strongly enough.

There are book sites that do an excellent job of distinguishing between editions. LibraryThing really works hard on this, but they don’t sell books; and they aren’t worried about a profit. They are concerned with compiling the best, most complete information, book by book, for people who care a lot about books.

Where do ebooks fit into this whole picture? I’ll tackle that question sometime soon.

I’ve been working on this post on and off for a long time, and finally decided to post it today. I finished the corporate taxes, and this is my reward. Really. It’s the INTJ in me, I can’t help it.

Review: Hopeless

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are so many people taking advantage of the possibility of self publication through Amazon that it would be impossible to read even a fraction of the novels that are now seeing the light of day. It’s also true that the majority of those novels are less than ready for prime time. But there are some great novels, as well, and this one took me by surprise.

I thought this would be one of the many young adult love-struck dismayed-by-love will-it-ever-work-out novels, and in fact, I have to admit that that impression stayed with me for until the half-way mark. Who is that boy? Why is he looking at me? He’s got a reputation but he’s so cute. What to do?

And more of the same. Sweet? Yes. Too sweet? Some may think so. Not badly written, mind you, but predictable. Nothing to set it apart … until the author turned on the plot.

I have a lot of experience with fiction — not just reading it, but writing it and publishing it, as well. And teaching it. It’s pretty rare that I don’t see a plot device in the offing, but that’s what happened here. I was truly surprised by the twist in the plot, and it was a good surprise.

The thing is, it takes a long time to get to that twist, almost too long. I might have given up before I got there, if I had had something else to read and if insomnia hadn’t kept me turning the page.

The other problem, and it’s an understandable one for somebody who hasn’t been writing fiction for a long time, is the inclination to make everything work without seams. That is, it all fits together too neatly. What happened to one person happened to other people, and it all came together in a way that feels at least a little contrived. Then it all gets resolved in a way that’s a little too quick and clean and convenient.

I’m not going to be more specific here because I really don’t want to give anything at all away, but if you’ve read it, you will almost certainly know what I’m talking about.

If you haven’t read it and you like relationship stories that veer off into the unexpected, then you will probably like this. I certainly did. Here’s the proof: I’ve given it four stars, despite the flaws, because it’s better than the three star (or even two star) story I was sure it was going to be for a long time.





View all my reviews

heidi

o! my eyes! my eyes!

Pardon me while I melt down.

If you’ve read Homestead or know anything about it, you will also know that there is nothing Heidi-like about it. Not a thing. But today I discovered that the Hebrew language edition has a Heidi cover. Yes, it’s true. And here’s the proof.

homestead is up on kindle

Kindle edition of Homestead

[It's up and available here.]

After a lot of fussing (OCD is a life-long companion, like living with Felix and if you don’t know who that is, never mind) I have edited Homestead for publication as an ebook with Kindle. It should go live sometime tomorrow and at that point I’ll post the link here. In the meantime, here’s the cover.

Lots of good news:

1. I’ve slightly revised most of the chapters, which makes me happy to get rid of little niggles and clarify some things.

2. I’ve added illustrations and photos, as well as a map. I may add more, if the response is positive. And if I do, anyone who has already purchased Homestead/Kindle can download it again at no additional cost.

3. I’ve moved the clan charts to the front of the book, for those people who needed them but didn’t think to look in the appendix. If there’s any complain about Homestead it usually has to do with the complicated relationships between the characters, and I’m hoping easy access to the clan charts will solve this problem.

4. It’s priced at 4.99, and there will be at least one “download for free” promotion day in the next week. Check back here or on my FaceBook page for that announcement.

And two requests:

1. Reviews are very important on Amazon, as you are probably aware, in terms of sales. Homestead has a lot of really excellent critical reviews from big places, but not so many personal reviews. If you have read it and liked it and have a moment to post a short review, I would very much appreciate the support.

2. Please spread the word. Oh and, if you know of a good marketing strategy that doesn’t cost money, please leave me a note. I’d love to hear about it.

Homestead Delay

Kindle edition of Homestead

[Edited to add: due to a technical issue I have to take Homestead off Kindle; it will be back in about 24 hours or so. Sorry for the confusion.]

After a lot of fussing (OCD is a life-long companion, like living with Felix and if you don’t know who that is, never mind) I have edited Homestead for publication as an ebook with Kindle. It should go live sometime tomorrow and at that point I’ll post the link here. In the meantime, here’s the cover.

Lots of good news:

1. I’ve slightly revised most of the chapters, which makes me happy to get rid of little niggles and clarify some things.

2. I’ve added illustrations and photos, as well as a map. I may add more, if the response is positive. And if I do, anyone who has already purchased Homestead/Kindle can download it again at no additional cost.

3. I’ve moved the clan charts to the front of the book, for those people who needed them but didn’t think to look in the appendix. If there’s any complain about Homestead it usually has to do with the complicated relationships between the characters, and I’m hoping easy access to the clan charts will solve this problem.

4. It’s priced at 4.99, and there will be at least one “download for free” promotion day in the next week. Check back here or on my FaceBook page for that announcement.

And two requests:

1. Reviews are very important on Amazon, as you are probably aware, in terms of sales. Homestead has a lot of really excellent critical reviews from big places, but not so many personal reviews. If you have read it and liked it and have a moment to post a short review, I would very much appreciate the support.

2. Please spread the word. Oh and, if you know of a good marketing strategy that doesn’t cost money, please leave me a note. I’d love to hear about it.

Homestead now available on Kindle

Kindle edition of Homestead

[Edited to add: as of about midnight, Pacific Time,  Homestead is listed on Amazon, here. However, the book description was mangled; I've submitted corrections but it may take a while for them to show up. Also, there is a new ISBN for this edition that is not showing up on the Amazon page at the moment.]

After a lot of fussing (OCD is a life-long companion, like living with Felix and if you don’t know who that is, never mind) I have edited Homestead for publication as an ebook with Kindle. It should go live sometime tomorrow and at that point I’ll post the link here. In the meantime, here’s the cover.

Lots of good news:

1. I’ve slightly revised most of the chapters, which makes me happy to get rid of little niggles and clarify some things.

2. I’ve added illustrations and photos, as well as a map. I may add more, if the response is positive. And if I do, anyone who has already purchased Homestead/Kindle can download it again at no additional cost.

3. I’ve moved the clan charts to the front of the book, for those people who needed them but didn’t think to look in the appendix. If there’s any complain about Homestead it usually has to do with the complicated relationships between the characters, and I’m hoping easy access to the clan charts will solve this problem.

4. It’s priced at 4.99, and there will be at least one “download for free” promotion day in the next week. Check back here or on my FaceBook page for that announcement.

And two requests:

1. Reviews are very important on Amazon, as you are probably aware, in terms of sales. Homestead has a lot of really excellent critical reviews from big places, but not so many personal reviews. If you have read it and liked it and have a moment to post a short review, I would very much appreciate the support.

2. Please spread the word. Oh and, if you know of a good marketing strategy that doesn’t cost money, please leave me a note. I’d love to hear about it.

Audiobook drawing winner: Becky Preston

Becky Preston’s comment jumped out of the hat, and the audiobooks of Into the Wilderness, Dawn on a Distant Shore and Lake in the Clouds will be winging their way to her as soon as she gets in touch with her contact info.

Hope you enjoy them, Becky. Thanks to all of you for participating.

back in print (sort of), and highly recommended

Bride of the Wilderness (original cover)

One of my favorite historical novels is Charles McCarry’s Bride of the Wilderness which has been out of print forever, it seems. A review I wrote sometime ago is below.

And then I discovered (just yesterday) that it has been re-released for Kindle and in unabridged audiobook form, which is great news for everybody who hasn’t read it yet. And for the rest of us, too.

Right now if you get the Kindle edition first you get the unabridged audio for about five bucks They are promoting this as a part of the technology push that allows you to listen to the audiobook and then pick up automatically with the print version where you left off with the audio. I haven’t tried to use that feature yet, but I’ll let you know when I do, and how it works.

The older review:

McCarry is best known for his political novels and for a series of espionage novels focusing on the Christopher family (there’s a good article about him here). One day he decided to sit down and write a historical novel about the founding of that family, set in the early eighteenth century in London, Canada, and the wilderness that would one day be Connecticut. There are an abundance of well drawn and striking personalities that move this story along, as well as great events from the Great Fire of London to the French and Indian War. The title is very romance-like, and in fact there is an incredible love story (‘incredible’ just doesn’t do it, and I would insert a lot more adjectives here but I’m holding back) at the heart of this novel, but its scope is broad.

return to sender: inspiration

Gee’s Bend Quilts Stamp (click)

Postage and envelopes (called covers by collectors) have always been hugely interesting to me. I appreciate stamps for their cultural and historical significance, and also, in many cases for the incredible feat of turning such a small canvas into something beautiful.

Return to Sender: 27 June 1941

It used to be — it may still be the case — that if you went to a stamp show and spent time going through the boxes of covers you could find envelopes that had gone through the mails not only with interesting postage stamps and cancellations and handwriting, but also with letters and enclosures still intact. I guess people sometimes just sell everything in an estate, including correspondence, and as a result I have come across (for example) a letter written to an Aunt Caroline in Iowa in 1949 that included photos and drawings. Whole stories — whole novels — can jump out at you from something as simple as an envelope. Like this one, which comes from The British Postal Museum & Archives weblog. Taken together, the stamps and handwritten notations are quite somber. It’s the “addressee reported prisoner of war” that strikes home.

There’s no lack of inspiration out there when it comes to storytelling.

looking for the audiobook giveaway?

click here