7 ms·

If someone genuinely spent the time to help catch errors in my manuscripts, I'd be thrilled. Editors are expensive! That the automated system as described can

If someone genuinely spent the time to help catch errors in my manuscripts, I'd be thrilled. Editors are expensive! That the automated system as described can be abused is a real problem, and that needs to be addressed. But that is a separate issue from the generally bad state of what passes for final edits in many books nowadays. That the author in question can't be bothered to keep a current copy of their manuscript leaves me lukewarm on the issue.

morelisp 7y ago
> That the author in question can't be bothered to keep a current copy of their manuscript ... Why should the author, rather than the publisher, be expected to produce a public-upload-ready file on demand? (If the deadlines other authors are reporting in the thread are accurate, I wouldn't even reasonably expect a full-time major publisher to hit them - and during the last week of the year?!)
- wizzwizz4 7y ago
  In this case, the author is the publisher. (Well, technically Amazon is the publisher, but in Amazon's lexicon it's self-published.)
  - morelisp 7y ago
    The author might be managing the Amazon account, and I don't see the specific book mentioned so I can't check if Amazon says it's Red Wombat or something else, but she mentions getting the file back from Argyll (https://argyllproductions.com/ https://argyllproductions.com/) at one point. I'm pretty sure they are the actual publisher in the sense of preparing the final file, regardless of what Amazon thinks.
    - Baeocystin 7y ago
      Argyll, Smashwords, and their ilk are self-publishing platforms. Think fanfic and the like. The author is ultimately responsible for everything. The publishers offer services in the $10-$50 range for style-setting an entire book, and you get what you pay for. Example: https://www.smashwords.com/list https://www.smashwords.com/list
      - morelisp 7y ago
        Unless there's something I'm missing, Argyll is a small press. Smashwords is more like a vanity press, which is what you describe. There's a huge difference between those two kinds of publishers, even if both give authors more responsibility than a traditional publisher. "Self-publishing" is really orthogonal to both of those, though today most people would probably describe any vanity press as effectively self-published.
      - fock 7y ago
        now, if the author would use pandoc he'd get that for free and noone had to do the menial work.
        wiredfool 7y ago
        I’ve bought several of the authors published and self published ebooks, and they’re all generally done to a professional standard. I know that she uses freelance copy editors for the self published stuff. In this case, (further down the thread) it was a dialect thing, so the whole problem was a false positive from an over zealous automated system on Christmas Eve, in prime panic ebook gifting time.
        fock 7y ago
        well, it was not about the case, but about the thriving service sector in GPs-link, where people are offering the service of formatting word-files for e-book export. Considering that self-publishing is probably in the 20$-wage-range, the authors could easily learn pandoc+git (or just use MS Word the right way), save that money for subsequent books AND (which is the most important thing) should have a workflow in place, where they actually can check for previous version/can edit the published version easily.
        catalogia 7y ago
        God forbid somebody with non-technical interests wants to write a book without first learning a bunch of nerd shit. The majority of authors today don't know that software named pandoc exists, let alone what it does, let alone what it might do for them.
mintplant 7y ago
She could be traveling for the holidays and away from her usual setup. Someone in the replies mentions having this happen to them while in rural Newfoundland for a funeral, equipped with only a cellphone and a spotty connection. Either way, I bet many programmers would run into trouble if asked to drop everything and immediately spin back up a production-ready environment for a project they haven't touched in a year.
- Baeocystin 7y ago
  A full book manuscript is tiny, and requires zero spinup whatsoever, unless you count opening a PDF or DOCX file as such. I have a copy of everything I've written over the past thirty years available immediately, and it would fit on a $4 thumb drive. If my career depended on it, I would be quite certain to have it with me at all times.
  - pmiller2 7y ago
    And what if you _didn’t know_ your “career depended on it?” What then?
    - Baeocystin 7y ago
      If a professional author doesn't think it might be important to keep copies of their work readily available, then I don't know what to tell them other than good luck.
      - pmiller2 7y ago
        Does “readily available” equate to “on your person at all times?” I’m sure the greats all did so before flash drives of sufficient capacity were available, right? Should a professional accountant keep copies of all the tax returns they prepared, on a flash drive that’s with them at all times, in case a client gets audited? Should I keep a copy of every line of code I ever wrote? Where does this professional responsibility end for you?

morelisp 7y ago

> That the author in question can't be bothered to keep a current copy of their manuscript ... Why should the author, rather than the publisher, be expected to produce a public-upload-ready file on demand? (If the deadlines other authors are reporting in the thread are accurate, I wouldn't even reasonably expect a full-time major publisher to hit them - and during the last week of the year?!)

wizzwizz4 7y ago
In this case, the author is the publisher. (Well, technically Amazon is the publisher, but in Amazon's lexicon it's self-published.)
- morelisp 7y ago
  The author might be managing the Amazon account, and I don't see the specific book mentioned so I can't check if Amazon says it's Red Wombat or something else, but she mentions getting the file back from Argyll (https://argyllproductions.com/ https://argyllproductions.com/) at one point. I'm pretty sure they are the actual publisher in the sense of preparing the final file, regardless of what Amazon thinks.
  - Baeocystin 7y ago
    Argyll, Smashwords, and their ilk are self-publishing platforms. Think fanfic and the like. The author is ultimately responsible for everything. The publishers offer services in the $10-$50 range for style-setting an entire book, and you get what you pay for. Example: https://www.smashwords.com/list https://www.smashwords.com/list
    - morelisp 7y ago
      Unless there's something I'm missing, Argyll is a small press. Smashwords is more like a vanity press, which is what you describe. There's a huge difference between those two kinds of publishers, even if both give authors more responsibility than a traditional publisher. "Self-publishing" is really orthogonal to both of those, though today most people would probably describe any vanity press as effectively self-published.
    - fock 7y ago
      now, if the author would use pandoc he'd get that for free and noone had to do the menial work.
      - wiredfool 7y ago
        I’ve bought several of the authors published and self published ebooks, and they’re all generally done to a professional standard. I know that she uses freelance copy editors for the self published stuff. In this case, (further down the thread) it was a dialect thing, so the whole problem was a false positive from an over zealous automated system on Christmas Eve, in prime panic ebook gifting time.
        fock 7y ago
        well, it was not about the case, but about the thriving service sector in GPs-link, where people are offering the service of formatting word-files for e-book export. Considering that self-publishing is probably in the 20$-wage-range, the authors could easily learn pandoc+git (or just use MS Word the right way), save that money for subsequent books AND (which is the most important thing) should have a workflow in place, where they actually can check for previous version/can edit the published version easily.
      - catalogia 7y ago
        God forbid somebody with non-technical interests wants to write a book without first learning a bunch of nerd shit. The majority of authors today don't know that software named pandoc exists, let alone what it does, let alone what it might do for them.

mintplant 7y ago

She could be traveling for the holidays and away from her usual setup. Someone in the replies mentions having this happen to them while in rural Newfoundland for a funeral, equipped with only a cellphone and a spotty connection. Either way, I bet many programmers would run into trouble if asked to drop everything and immediately spin back up a production-ready environment for a project they haven't touched in a year.

Baeocystin 7y ago
A full book manuscript is tiny, and requires zero spinup whatsoever, unless you count opening a PDF or DOCX file as such. I have a copy of everything I've written over the past thirty years available immediately, and it would fit on a $4 thumb drive. If my career depended on it, I would be quite certain to have it with me at all times.
- pmiller2 7y ago
  And what if you _didn’t know_ your “career depended on it?” What then?
  - Baeocystin 7y ago
    If a professional author doesn't think it might be important to keep copies of their work readily available, then I don't know what to tell them other than good luck.
    - pmiller2 7y ago
      Does “readily available” equate to “on your person at all times?” I’m sure the greats all did so before flash drives of sufficient capacity were available, right? Should a professional accountant keep copies of all the tax returns they prepared, on a flash drive that’s with them at all times, in case a client gets audited? Should I keep a copy of every line of code I ever wrote? Where does this professional responsibility end for you?