The problem with audiobook editions?

[A.J.]

I have two 'pet peeves' with audiobook editions on Goodreads that always kept me from selecting that edition when adding a book, even when I was listening to the audio version.

The first are the covers- they usually are stretched out to regular book cover size instead of their general square size and because of that look terrible. I have found though that correct non-stretched square audiobook covers on Goodreads are possible as I've seen them. So why aren't all, or even the majority of, audiobook covers sized correctly?

The second are the the page numbers. Why are hundreds-of-pages long books often listed as, say, 14 pages for the audiobook version? I'd be ok with a pure zero or even a one if zero isn't possible but these random numbers like 14 make no sense.

I'm asking about these because I want to start choosing the correct version and I've started listening to a good bit of audiobooks. But especially seeing the stretched out covers on my currently reading every time I come to Goodreads is perturbing.

[☕ Lachgas ♿]

The page number is not random.
Per goodreads standards it shows the hours of the audio book.

[A.J.]

Ah, thanks, now I know. I have a feeling that anyone who doesn't frequent this group would have no idea though since it still says pages. The main thing though is the issue with the covers.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

You might post in the Book Covers thread, the titles you have problems with. It's possible a librarian could find a better cover. But sometimes, that's just how the system interprets the file it gets, that is, from one system to another.

[Cathy]

Lachgas wrote: "The page number is not random.
Per goodreads standards it shows the hours of the audio book."

Wouldn't it make more sense to show minutes?

[Cathy]

For example, I am listening to Neverwhere: BBC Dramatisation, it is 3 hours and 48 minutes long. Currently it shows no pages or hours at all. It would make sense to me if it showed 348 pages, for example. It wouldn't be entirely accurate, but better than nothing. Say 3 for 3 hours would be a bit basic.

[Paula]

It has been discussed numerous times before in the GR Feedback group. You can search that group for the most recent discussions on it

[lethe]

Cathy (cathepsut) wrote: "It would make sense to me if it showed 348 pages, for example. It wouldn't be entirely accurate, but better than nothing. Say 3 for 3 hours would be a bit basic."

It's the hours rounded up, so 3 hrs 48 mins would be a "page" count of 4. The actual listening time can be listed in the description.

As Paula says, if you want to discuss this, the Feedback Group is the place to go.

[A.J.]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "You might post in the Book Covers thread, the titles you have problems with. It's possible a librarian could find a better cover. But sometimes, that's just how the system interprets the file it ge..."

So, for instance, what about this one?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Here is the Amazon page showing its proper sizing:

https://www.amazon.com/Queen-Lucia/dp...

If it can be fixed, why wasn't it done so in the first place, and if it can't then what's the point of asking for every audiobook edition I come across here? It's just a bit frustrating because it seems almost every audiobook here is this way and is an eyesore, yet I'm sure audiobooks are widely enough used that this really shouldn't be happening. I know that, even if it can be fixed, I won't look forward to having to post asking for help on the cover for every single audiobook I add from now on.

[Krazykiwi]

Any user can add a book, and any user adding a book can add a cover at the same time. There's literally nothing we can do about people who do this, other than either fix it when it's noticed, or ignore it.

[Paula]

Because the only way for them to be fixed is for some one to report it. Then a librarian can fix it.


If you don't want to report them don't

[A.J.]

I suppose what I'm trying to get to the bottom of is, what is it about the audiobook cover that if a random person adds it it doesn't work right but a librarian can fix? What does a librarian do especially to fix the problem that all the people adding them don't do?

Or rather, is it even fixable? Why is basically every audiobook here like this? Can anyone fix the one I posted; is that possible? It's just perplexing to me because a lot of people use audiobooks and these stretched covers look terrible. It just seems like it's something that would've in general been corrected at some point by now.

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~]

As has already been explained, anyone can add a book and book cover to the database. Some people don't take the time to grab a high-res pic for the cover. Sometimes the system does it. The only way for it to get fixed is for someone to post about it, and there is a folder just for book covers (this is not the space for asking requests for updates). With millions of books, it's impossible for the librarians to know which books need cover corrections unless they're told.

Here is the Book Cover Help section where you can ask for book covers to be updated/added:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

[Krazykiwi]

I think you are experiencing a confirmation bias. I have no idea why you seem to encounter it regularly, but it's actually pretty unusual.

I listen to quite a few audiobooks, and I've seen one of the editions I listened to in the last couple of years with a busted cover (which I fixed). I librarian edit tons of books, and rarely see this, and when I do, it's as likely to be a stretched e-book cover as an audiobook.

[Carin]

I see the stretched cover frequently in the Currently Reading section on the app. But only there. The image itself isn't messed up--it's the way that field displays the images. Maybe something for the Feedback Group?

[A.J.]

Thank you Krazykiwi; I think it might be confirmation bias too now that you've brought it up. I had seen it time and again, given up looking up audiobook versions, then came back to it and the few I looked up recently all had the problem again (including the one I'm currently reading). Now, going to look at some other random ones I do indeed see that it seems a larger percentage than I'd thought may be formatted correctly (though of the random ones I looked up, I still saw some more stretched ones too again). As it does seem something correctable and not a problem with every single audiobook, I'm fine with asking for help fixing the cover whenever I see a problem. But beforehand, and what the other replies seemed to not grasp from my post, is that it felt like a Sisyphean task ahead of me if almost every single audiobook had incorrect images, no one else had ever bothered to correct any of them, apparently no one else seemed to really care and it might not even be possible to correct. If that were the case I just wasn't going to bother and was going to switch back to non-audiobook editions on GR. Now that I see that's not the case so much it feels more manageable.

Also thank you to whoever fixed the cover for the one I linked to! :D

Carin, yes, this also contributed to it! I'm using the app and you are correct, even after someone fixed the cover I linked to, it still shows as stretched in the currently reading section of the app! Not good!

[Mimi]

sun surfer wrote: "is that it felt like a Sisyphean task ahead of me if almost every single audiobook had incorrect images, no one else had ever bothered to correct any of them, apparently no one else seemed to really care and it might not even be possible to correct."

A Sisyphean task? clearly, you haven't encountered some of the volunteer librarians, lol.
No task too big ;) (just take a look at the 'looking for a project?' part of the boards, there are projects that take way more time and effort ;) )

It's not that we don't care, most librarians probably didn't know about the problem (like Paula mentioned), or those who know, just haven't gotten around to fixig them.

If you encounter covers with a problem, just post the link in one of the appropriate threads, and it'll get foxd in no time.

[Krazykiwi]

I tend to use the "currently reading" only for things that are sort of on hold, and I never look at it on the app, which possibly explains why I don't see it as often, or had never noticed it there.

As mentioned, welcome to librarian land, Sisyphean tasks 'r' us! It's actually the kind of easy fix I like to do, even if there's a bunch of them, because I don't have to think about it too much and it's satisfying to see it fixed.

The only note I'd add is, we do have to use the exact right cover - the one you linked was to an audible copy, and although they're usually the same as the downloadable/cd version, it's not a given, so to fix that one I had to hit up the publisher's page. That can mean that when the cover has changed in the meantime and the publisher only has the new version and the old one isn't on Amazon, it's actually not possible to find a legit usable copy of the right cover that isn't stretched. That's a pretty rare case though, I just thought I'd mention it.