[The Kindle Kid]

Is it normal for wordstoruntogetherlikethis? I am reading my first Kindle Book and every once in a while there are a string of words that run together with no spaces. Obviously this is just a formatting issue, but is this something I should expect to see in every book or is this book the exception to the rule?

 

[V]

Sadly, yes. It's the underlying file that someone didn't proof and it's all too common from some sources. Most, however, are pretty good about it.

 

[luvmy4brats]

I don't run into it very often, but it does happen.

 

[Andra]

I've seen that also.  But I see hyphenated words in the middle of a paragraph more frequently
It's annoying, but you kind of get used to it after a while and read past it.
Hopefully as e-books catch on more, the proofreading and formatting will improve.

 

[Vegas_Asian]

I've only had this once, but it was small. "fi" would not show up on the screen. instead there was the . in its place. ex: finger-> .nger

 

[LauraB]

If you bought the book from Amazon you can email them with the order number, and tell them it has format issues and request a refund.

 

[cheshirenc]

The first book I read on my kindle was like that.  I blamed the editor because it also had spelling and other symbol errors.  It was an author I wasn't familiar with but read it b/c it was a freebie.

 

[The Kindle Kid]

Thanks everyone. Well it is a small price to pay.

Red1, that is good info. I just may do that, thanks!

 

[Ann in Arlington]

Even if you don't feel it's bad enough that you want a refund you should probably alert Amazon anyway.  I have the impression they want to know about things like this so they can fix them. . .

Ann

 

[The Kindle Kid]

Good point Ann. I just emailed Amazon.

 

[Leslie]

Just a comment...

If you go to the book page at Amazon and scroll all the way to the bottom, there is a box for "Feedback" which gives you four choices. Several folks have suggested using that to send comments to Amazon about poorly formatted Kindle books...by doing so, your comment is linked directly to the book for their follow-up.

L

 

[The Kindle Kid]

Ahhhh thanks Leslie. I looked for something like that, but missed it somehow. I do see it now though.

 

[LauraB]

Leslie, that is a great idea. Then if it isn't "bad" enough someone wants a refund it can still be reported for fixing by publisher. 

 

[Leslie]

Leslie, that is a great idea. Then if it isn't "bad" enough someone wants a refund it can still be reported for fixing by publisher.

Exactly. The book I am reading now, The Final Salute, falls into this category. It has some funky formatting errors (September 11 is always written September II, what's up with that?) which I'd like report, but I am not going to ask for my money back.

L

 

[Jeff]

Justification errors (too many spaces or no spaces between words) seem to crop up more often when you use the largest two font sizes. I suspect that this is a failing of the method the Kindle software uses to interpret full text justification, not of the original manuscript. There are also flaws in the DTP software that creates the Kindle file and perhaps in the distribution stream that could be responsible.

Proof reading a book every time it is revised to look for conversion errors is not only impractical it’s impossible. Amazon’s current method of distribution does not permit replacement of a title with a revision.

 

[LauraB]

I don't understand the tech issues involved.  But I have used ereaders since the early 1990's.  The Rocketbook, the RCA 1100 (I believe it was called), I've had 2 Sony models and Kindle 1 and now Kindle 2, and as much as I love my kindles, kindle books have more format errors than all the others I've read combined over about 16 years. I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I'm not.  I only buy books from Amazon from big publishers, Penguin, Bataan, ect.  I do not buy anything simply converted from PD,  (I edit for PG so I know how to get those myself), and I  still come across 20% of the Kindle books I buy that have format issues.  By this I mean characters instead of letter, type over type, wordsrunningtogetherlikethisforpagesonend.  I bought one book for my Sony, published by Penguin, formated perfect for Sony, bought the same one, same publisher, on Kindle and it had format issues that made it literally unreadable.  I don't understand the tech issues, but I do know that if I buy a Kindle book, I check it immediately for format issues, as they don't always show on the sample, and then I can return it if I need to.  I don't feel the need on my Sony, I am confident and just buy the book to read later.  I've had a couple with odd word spacing on Sony, and some typos, but nothing "really unreadable".

 

[The Kindle Kid]

I just got a reply from Amazon that they would like me to call them "so that we can work with you directly to troubleshoot your issue.  Also, when calling, please have your Kindle fully charged and connected to the charger when you call."

I am not sure when I will have time to do that, but I will report back here once i have done it and let you know what they said.

 

[LauraB]

I have had them do that, they went through and documented all the locations I read problems in text to them on and they contacted the publishers and fixed them.  Ifelt like I had done good for future readers 

 

[The Kindle Kid]

That is awesome red1! On behalf of the other readers you have helped, thank you 

 

[Jeff]

If you can talk them into allowing us to download revised copies, you'd be doing a great service to both readers and publishers.