Edit book after Published

[Lemurion]

I have done significant changes once. I rewrote a book that I'd previously published with about 20% more story content and published it as a revised edition with a new cover.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by HarryT

At least Amazon tell you there's a new version available.

I really do want to stress, though, how wrong it is to treat your initial purchasers as your "beta readers". A book shouldn't be published until it's been properly and fully proof-read, and not by its author!

When I see a notice at Amazon that a book has had editorial revisions, I pass it by--it tells me the author was careless in the first place, and I don't forgive that.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I have done significant changes once. I rewrote a book that I'd previously published with about 20% more story content and published it as a revised edition with a new cover.

Revised is a different kettle of fish.
Those I don't mind.

[gmw]

On the subject of whether book content should change etc. ...

Well, it's never a good look to have to put up an update - it gives all the wrong impressions. BUT, based on experience and observation, stuff happens. (A family friendly version of the more popular phrasing.) We all have to learn, and sometimes we learn the hard way.

Given the mistakes I've made over the years I try (not always successfully) not to jump to conclusions regarding other people's mistakes. The Internet has not only made it super easy to share all sorts of things, it has also made it easy to make our mistakes in front of a global audience. ... But I find that it's best not to think about that too much.

[toddhicks209]

If you self published your book, you should easily be able to edit it from your member dashboard.

[Cinisajoy]

I personally have no problems with revised editions. Have you seen my Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Farmer collection? Reminds me, I need to see if the original is in public domain and available as an ebook. I don't mind if authors add new things and publish it as a revision or second edition.
What I do mind is when "authors" go in and change things but keep it as the same book.
Example changing "A white horse fell in the mud in summer" to "a brown horse ran across the snow in winter". Totally new meanings.
Or they go in and correct all the homonym errors. Or spelling or grammar. On those three, I can almost guarantee if someone tried to read the first version, they are not going to bother with the updated version.

[JSWolf]

I've compared a number of updated eBooks to some previous version and sometimes the corrections are very minor and sometimes many more errors are corrected. Most of the time, it's just spelling corrections. Sometimes its also changing the formatting. But this happens more than you think with eBooks from the big 5.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've compared a number of updated eBooks to some previous version and sometimes the corrections are very minor and sometimes many more errors are corrected. Most of the time, it's just spelling corrections. Sometimes its also changing the formatting. But this happens more than you think with eBooks from the big 5.

Could they be correcting OCR errors especially on older books?
Oh yes, I do get the updated versions of the big 5.
By many do you mean say 50 or 100 over 300 pages or do you mean 10 to 20 errors per page.
Not counting the obvious ones that repeat over and over like the/die. (I have seen that one numerous times in scanned books.)

[gmw]

It could just be errors in the original book. I have plenty of tradpub books here with errors. (Not the sort of volume of errors you see in some many Indie books, but enough to make me feel a bit better about the errors I know still exist in my published books.)

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by gmw

It could just be errors in the original book. I have plenty of tradpub books here with errors. (Not the sort of volume of errors you see in some many Indie books, but enough to make me feel a bit better about the errors I know still exist in my published books.)

I think nearly all books have an error or two. Or a few more. That happens. I have bought new cookbooks that had an extra page in the front with a hand written note that said the lemon pie recipe on page 267 should have 1 cup of lemon juice.
The meatloaf recipe on page 125 should have a 1/2 cup of onion not 2 cups.

I don't mind those being corrected because they are going from one format to another. On physical copies, I figure the second printing is probably cleaner than the first.

The thing is in both cases I described I know up front that I am not getting a first edition.
Whereas, if some indie author goes in and corrects his ebook (only format or maybe does POD), I have no idea if I am getting the same book that Susan read or if the author has changed things.

On changed books I expect to see either second or later printing, revised, or in a new to the book format.
Just something to let me know.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

[...]On changed books I expect to see either second or later printing, revised, or in a new to the book format.
Just something to let me know.

I totally agree. I pretty much always check the notices/copyright page on books that I pick up, to look through the publication history, not sure why. So for my books I made sure to include the sorts of details I look for in others.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Could they be correcting OCR errors especially on older books?
Oh yes, I do get the updated versions of the big 5.
By many do you mean say 50 or 100 over 300 pages or do you mean 10 to 20 errors per page.
Not counting the obvious ones that repeat over and over like the/die. (I have seen that one numerous times in scanned books.)

I've seen some older books where there were many errors because they were not proofed after the OCR. <i>Hyperion</i> by Dan Simmons is a good example of that. It's since been cleaned up, but it was a mess to start with.

As for the number of errors per page, I cannot say. I don't keep track. I just know they exist. What I have done as I've been reading, I've corrected the errors and if there are enough of the found errors in the part I've not yet read, I'll fix and replace with the fixed version for less errors. But it's a hassle. The problem is that we don't get told what's new in a new edition so we don't know if it's worth updating or not. I've seen new versions that just have added adverts (with graphics) for the author's other books and the text is not changed. Also, we don't always get notified when there is a new version.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've seen some older books where there were many errors because they were not proofed after the OCR. <i>Hyperion</i> by Dan Simmons is a good example of that. It's since been cleaned up, but it was a mess to start with.

As for the number of errors per page, I cannot say. I don't keep track. I just know they exist. What I have done as I've been reading, I've corrected the errors and if there are enough of the found errors in the part I've not yet read, I'll fix and replace with the fixed version for less errors. But it's a hassle. The problem is that we don't get told what's new in a new edition so we don't know if it's worth updating or not. I've seen new versions that just have added adverts (with graphics) for the author's other books and the text is not changed. Also, we don't always get notified when there is a new version.

Oh yes, we are on the same page. Thanks for clarifying.