I'm new to the site & have a question about "On Writing"

[cheryl1da]

Hello. My name is Cheryl and I am a newbie. I recently acquired a Nook edition of Stephen's book "On Writing." By the dates given in the book, he had updated it in 2009. He specifically notes this when suggesting possible reads at the back of the book. I originally purchased the first edition in hardcover years ago. In that work SK explicitly detailed the almost fatal accident he had in 1999(?). The book spent a good deal of time, using his voice, discussing how bad the injuries were, that the driver left him there to die, and his long recovery. In the ebook NONE of this material appears. There is no mention of the accident at all! What happened? This is really confusing. It is especially unsettling since I accidently gave the original hardcover away during a move. I would really appreciate knowing if it's possible to secure a first edition and/or why the material is left out of the ebook. I welcome anyone's reply.

 

[Dana Jean]

And this is why I'm not a big e book lover. Lots of books don't have that additional information! Hopefully Moderator will be able to explain this more.

Welcome.

 

[kingricefan]

Hello. My name is Cheryl and I am a newbie. I recently acquired a Nook edition of Stephen's book "On Writing." By the dates given in the book, he had updated it in 2009. He specifically notes this when suggesting possible reads at the back of the book. I originally purchased the first edition in hardcover years ago. In that work SK explicitly detailed the almost fatal accident he had in 1999(?). The book spent a good deal of time, using his voice, discussing how bad the injuries were, that the driver left him there to die, and his long recovery. In the ebook NONE of this material appears. There is no mention of the accident at all! What happened? This is really confusing. It is especially unsettling since I accidently gave the original hardcover away during a move. I would really appreciate knowing if it's possible to secure a first edition and/or why the material is left out of the ebook. I welcome anyone's reply.

Copies are usually available on the secondary marketplace such as used bookstores. I have no idea why this very important part of Steve's life would be left out of the updated book. Strange. Lord, I can already hear the conspiracy theorists at work.......

 

[CriticAndProud]

Welcome !!!!

Copies are usually available on the secondary marketplace such as used bookstores. I have no idea why this very important part of Steve's life would be left out of the updated book. Strange. Lord, I can already hear the conspiracy theorists at work.......

It was the Illuminati.

 

[GNTLGNT]

...Hey Cheryl, glad to have you join us in the Coven of King...I have had the same thing happen with e-versions of books that I have read in print...transfers and typos are horrid, still-that doesn't explain such a large gap....as stated, maybe Ms. Mod can shed some light in this rather murky corner...

 

[Bryan James]

Seems a bit retardulous to me.

I'd guess that when rights are sold down the line, the distilling sometimes leaves much to be desired because one person in charge makes a bad decision...

 

[Lily Sawyer]

That IS weird. And not in a good wyrd kind of way.

Why would an important part of a non-fiction piece of writing be omitted?
That editor should be forced to eat the actual paper pages he/she scrapped.

 

[Moderator]

Hello. My name is Cheryl and I am a newbie. I recently acquired a Nook edition of Stephen's book "On Writing." By the dates given in the book, he had updated it in 2009. He specifically notes this when suggesting possible reads at the back of the book. I originally purchased the first edition in hardcover years ago. In that work SK explicitly detailed the almost fatal accident he had in 1999(?). The book spent a good deal of time, using his voice, discussing how bad the injuries were, that the driver left him there to die, and his long recovery. In the ebook NONE of this material appears. There is no mention of the accident at all! What happened? This is really confusing. It is especially unsettling since I accidently gave the original hardcover away during a move. I would really appreciate knowing if it's possible to secure a first edition and/or why the material is left out of the ebook. I welcome anyone's reply.

Sorry, no idea why so will have to check that out and to find out if it's possible you got a copy that is mistakenly missing that portion of the book.

 

[king family fan]

Welcome!

 

[Spideyman]

Welcome. Hope you find a solution to the issue.

 

[Neesy]

Hello. My name is Cheryl and I am a newbie. I recently acquired a Nook edition of Stephen's book "On Writing." By the dates given in the book, he had updated it in 2009. He specifically notes this when suggesting possible reads at the back of the book. I originally purchased the first edition in hardcover years ago. In that work SK explicitly detailed the almost fatal accident he had in 1999(?). The book spent a good deal of time, using his voice, discussing how bad the injuries were, that the driver left him there to die, and his long recovery. In the ebook NONE of this material appears. There is no mention of the accident at all! What happened? This is really confusing. It is especially unsettling since I accidently gave the original hardcover away during a move. I would really appreciate knowing if it's possible to secure a first edition and/or why the material is left out of the ebook. I welcome anyone's reply.

See if you can pick up another second hand copy of "On Writing" at a used book store. I found his story about the accident to be quite interesting.

Welcome to the SKMB by the way!

 

[cheryl1da]

In combing through the ebook VERY slowly I did find a chapter about the accident. HOWEVER, having read the original hardcover, the placement of this important event was not where it appeared in the original work. It was also edited down quite a bit. There are a bunch of just plain old fashioned mistakes in this ebook edition. For example, he states that he is "now writing" the How to Write section in 1997 (which he did) while he is supposedly (according to this book) now 53. Since he was born in 1947 there is definitely a 3-year misstatement. I have been able to garner another hardcover of the original edition and about 70 pages are missing from the ebook. I complained to Barnes and Noble where I had purchased the ebook for my Nook. Two of the sales associates stated that this type of "ebook translation" is not all that uncommon and, yes, it is very frustrating for both the reader, as well as for B&N. When people look at a book IN B&N and then decide to buy it in ebook form they DO expect to get the exact same product. When that doesn't happen, if it is made known to B&N, their policy is to offer a refund on what is normally a final-sale item (ebooks are generally not returnable). I have become a more thorough review reader, looking out for one-star ratings. I have discovered in doing so that several potential purchases of ebooks would have been disasters. I guess, for me at least, lesson learned.

Thanks for all the support you gave me as a newbie. It was greatly appreciated. I just bought the ebook of SK's short story collection, Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales. The reader indicates it contains 410 pages. I hope it will not be marred by problems. I really enjoy using my Nook. Once again, thanks.

 

[Haunted]

My sister has a Nook and mentioned to me the other day that she was going to download Natchez Burning by Iles which is enormous. She was afraid it would come across as abridged because of the size. This has happened to her before.

I have a Galaxy Tab and have been reading a series of books depicting the world taken over by those who refuse to stay dead. Love the characters and the stories keep moving but the typos and editing is appalling, now I'm wondering is it because of the medium.