Correcting eBook errors is a touchy business: Some readers aren't happy--even after you fix the mistake!

There's a new "edition" every time someone buys a copy.

As you may or may not know, eBooks sales now out-strip hardcover sales--now by a wide margin.  Of course, for some, eBooks just don't cut it: people say they miss the "feel" of paper editions, having a visible library, being able to share and so on.  On the other hand, there are definite advantages to eBooks, one being the ability to correct mistakes in a book--such as typos or grammar--all without have to stop the presses to print a new edition.  That's because, in effect, there's a new edition every time anyone buys a "copy"; think of it as press-runs of one, thousands of time a day!

And with that ability of having a new press-run on demand comes the advantage of correcting any mistakes that plagued all the previous "editions."   And do eBooks come in for their share of criticism for being mistake-laden!  Indeed, there are discussion groups all over the web bemoaning the prevalence of mistakes in eBooks.  Believe me, there are many readers who become indignant when they find a misspelling in their reading material--which one can find even in this venue, keithmurrayONBIZ--indeed, with some regularity! [I'm actually a pretty good speller, the problem is...the same can't be said for my typing fingers or on-screen proof-reading eyes!]

After the correction gets made, what then?

So what happens when an eBook typo or mistake is pointed out to the publisher by readers?  The changes are typically made immediately, with all new sales incorporating the revised, up-dated, corrected version--the improved "edition."  That's because all the modification involves is just a digital file!  

So far so good.  But what about the eBook copy of the person who called attention to the mistake in the first place?  It used to be that ePublishers would automatically re-supply the buyer-editor with a new copy--thinking that that was the only right thing to do--to "make-good" on the mistake, to sort of re-pay the lay-editor for their trouble in improving the product.  But no more.  

Making enemies even when you do the right thing.

Instead, while Amazon could easily--and used to--provide an up-dated copy of the eBook, they now wait for the customer to request such a transaction.  This is because they found that their readers may have had notations and comments in the earlier--albeit flawed--edition; all of that was wiped away by an automatic replacement copy!  You might have guessed that even if readers found typos annoying--they found losing their own genius in the "margins" even more irritating!  

Which all goes to show that one good deed doesn't always call for repayment--nor is one necessarily appreciated when reciprocated by another!  ePublishers are accused of being sloppy in producing eEditions--that they skimp on the proofing.  Arm-chair editors, on the other hand, can act pretty high and mighty when they think their services are expected.  When the two get together to create a more perfect "book"...well, that's real trouble of a different kind--trouble that can happen by the day.  No, by the minute!
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