The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

I've recently run into a lot old, free books that are being republished by a variety of companies on Amazon. From what I can tell, they're not doing anything worthwhile & it's been a real pain in the neck as they break series, screw up default descriptions, & otherwise mess with the books. Anyone else notice it?

For instance, I've been listening to the Librivox "Short Science Fiction Collection vol. 00x" collections of short stories. When I listened to the first a couple of months ago, it was part of a series with the Librivox edition & description as the primary. It worked that way for 2 & 3, but suddenly there was no Librivox edition for the 4th & the series was gone.

I had to contact GR support to get the series recreated 2 weeks ago. They did so & I spent a few minutes putting them all back in the series as well as in proper order. I just listened to the 5th & found the series gone again. Again, there wasn't a Librivox edition, so I had to add one & I've contacted support again to add the series. Hopefully they'll get it locked down this time.

I just listened to Sentiment, Inc. & had to add the Librivox edition. There was no Gutenberg.org edition either even though that's what was there originally. A lot of scammers have editions. One was charging $3.99 for the Kindle edition.

I hate to see them doing this, both for the hassle & because it detracts from some great organizations.

Jim wrote: "I had to contact GR support to get the series recreated 2 weeks ago."

I didn't know there was such a thing as Goodreads support! Mostly the site is edited by those of us who choose to become "librarians" here.

"I've contacted support again to add the series."

According to this post on the librarians group, you are not allowed to make a "series" based on collections of unrelated works:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

So, probably some librarian is deleting those when they find them. You can make a "list" instead.

From what I read about the series in the Librarians group, it is a support issue & they recommend contacting support about it. I did when it first happened & the series was recreated. So, I think they agree with me. I don't belong to the Librarians group any more, though. I quit it 5 or 6 years ago because there's just too much going on. I'm not a very active librarian. I just try to clean up messes when I find them.

These are not unrelated, but a series of short story collections produced by Librivox. The scammers are using the TOC to build lists & hijack them with PD copies of stories that they are reselling on Amazon for profit. Since the originals are audio books published by a discrete entity, they shouldn't affect the originals. I have a feeling it's just the automated Amazon update that is doing it incorrectly.

Jim wrote: "These are not unrelated, but a series of short story collections produced by Librivox. ..."

Things like Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 001 Short Science Fiction Collection 003 etc., don't meet the definition of series used on goodreads, and some librarian (not me) will probably delete the series if you create them. It seems that one is allowed to enter each individual collection as a "book". But to make a "series", the stories would have to involve the same characters, or be set in the same "universe", not just be a group of random stories thrown together by some publisher.

https://www.goodreads.com/help/show/2...

I don't make (or enforce) the rules, but those are what the rules seem to be.

"I just try to clean up messes when I find them...."

Me, too. I limit my library activities to adding books when necessary, fixing obvious spelling errors in books I've shelved, and grouping multiple editions together. If I start to try to correct anything else I fear I could become obsessive and try to fix every error on the entire internet.

"The scammers are using the TOC to build lists & hijack them with PD copies of stories that they are reselling on Amazon for profit."

I guess you are talking about kindle collections like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Science-Fictio...


Since the stories are in the public domain, I guess they have the right to do that. They probably don't have the right to use the name "Librivox" and maybe it isn't nice to choose stories based on those tables of contents, but it doesn't seem exactly like a scam. Somebody is taking the time and effort to collect the printed stories together and offer them for sale in Kindle format. Some people might find it worth $1 to buy that rather than download the stories individually.

Ed, I'm not an expert on it. They were a series & GR tech support made them one again, so I'd guess they should be a series. Things like "Best American Science and Nature Writing Series" are a series.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/5256...
I'll mention your concerns, though. That might be one reason the series is getting broken.

It's also not right that the original Librivox books are getting deleted when these new editions are coming along. I have to put them back when I review the book. I looked up the first half dozen when it first happened & the Librivox editions with their descriptions were there. #5 was missing the other day, though. The description was screwed up too. Any way you look at it, it's a mess.

While it is legal to repackage PC copies for profit, it's not legal to use the Librivox CD cover as the book cover which they are also doing. I think one is republishing Sentiment, Inc. for $4.99. That's definitely over the top.

Jim wrote: "Ed, I'm not an expert on it.... Things like "Best American Science and Nature Writing Series" are a series..."

I'm no expert on this either. I think it is useful to have "Best American Science and Nature Writing Series" as a series, and likewise the librivox collections.

I suspect different librarians here disagree with each other and undo each other's changes. Which is another reason I don't get very involved in making edits. I don't want to argue with random people on the internet.

In thinking about the supposed official series rule, I recalled "Art Masters" which is a set of graphic novels about individual artists like Dalí and Munch. At one point these were included in a "series" here, but I see that series has now been deleted. (Sad emoji.) I would find it useful if the series still existed.

I agree on the series. I was tickled when we got that feature & use it often.

I also agree with librarians fighting & not wanting to get involved. Besides not being a very good librarian, the arguments are often beyond me. I can be as picky as anyone on certain subjects, but they get plain goofy splitting hairs all too often.

I had no idea it could be so complicated, but I never really wanted to be a librarian. Not long after I joined, I emailed support about problem with some books & they just made me a librarian & told me to fix it myself. No training or anything, either. A rather scary way of doing business. I think they got pickier a few years later. Still seems to be more of a wild west show than a true process, though.

Ed, I heard back from GR support & you're right, it's no longer considered a series. I think part of the reason is that the original Librivox description changed. They used to list one guy who is now deceased as the editor, but now the description says the collections were created by 'reader choice' & there is no editor. Oy! It gets confusing when volunteer run services start changing things around.