NetGalley Addicts Support Group discussion

Is anyone else running into ARCs that have missing letter combos? It always seems to be "ff, th, fi" The arc I am currently reading has this issue and it's at least the 4th or 5th that I have read this year with the same issue. It's super frustrating. I can't seem to get an answer anywhere. I tried the FB NetGalley groups, but they won't even approve my post asking about this, so I am trying here!

I did have one ARC recently (The Midwife by Tricia Cresswell) where all the "fl"s and "fr"s were missing. It was tough to read at first and affected both the pace and the flow. Luckily, I soon figured out the pattern and just went ahead fitting in the fr/fl as required. The plot was good enough so I managed to complete it. I send a note on this to the publisher while submitting my review through Netgalley.

If it is a major problem and I simply can't read the galley, I send an email to support@netgalley.com. I always get a response from them when I mention any file-related issues. You could try doing the same. Just mention the book's name. If all the ARCs where you found this issue were by the same publisher, maybe you could make a mention of that too.

I had a similar problem but discovered they had revised the galley sometime after I downloaded it. I also had one book that was not the book I was supposed to get...it was switched as well.

I'm going with the thought they do it so nobody wants to buy it, and maybe they can track if you do. I don't know. I try not to let it bother me. I'm just happy I got the ARC.

One I just read had the book title, author's name, or page number in the middle of the text.

these versions aren't proof-read/edited versions often and many times are an OCR version that is converted uploaded which means certain letter combos don't turn out well - not uncommon - fustrating but not uncommon

Yes, just read 22 Seconds by James Patterson Great book, but all the ff and ffi's were all missing - Very annoying. Another thing that annoys me is when books finish early. This one stopped at 77% and I just felt cheated.

If you love a book enough you''ll look out other books by the same author. you don't need a recap of a book you've already read arggghhhh.

I did out this information in the publisher notes, but whether they read it or not, I have no idea.

Val wrote: "Yes, just read 22 Seconds by James Patterson Great book, but all the ff and ffi's were all missing - Very annoying. Another thing that annoys me is when books finish early. This one stopped at 77% ..."

If I get a book and I can't read the ending, then I can't give it an honest review! Sometimes the best books end awfully. I would never knowingly request an incomplete book! And a surprise like that would go against the publisher/author/book.

I too, as probably almost every NetGalley reviewer, have experienced terribly formatted ARCs. In addition to ff, ffl, and some other letter combinations just missing, other common issue is sections of text using ragged-right justification. My issue here is that I use my Kindle to read all my eBooks. I read in landscape mode where the screen is two pages side-by-side. Most ragged-right wrap beyond the right margin so every other line is a few words. The last issue is when in full-justification text there are line breaks and even have a blank line between the continuation of the sentence. I found a trick that works sometimes. I use the search function on the kindle reader extensively. In one ARC I received, the first 17 chapter of 20+ were not indexed. I logged into NetGalley and downloaded it again. This one had a complete index. I have not had an opportunity try this for formatting issues. Since I download ARCs that I want to read as soon as they become available, I have ARCs with Nov '22 publications dates. I read by publication date so there usually a month or more before I read an ARCs so there is time for revised ARCs to become available. I would recommend giving this trick a try.

As for calling out the publisher in the comments section after posting your review, I would be careful. My personal feeling is the only reason, of which I can think, to send ARCs in a condition that I cannot believe that the publisher would accept as a transcript is to make the reading difficult so that the ARC will not be shared. I let the publisher know that. I was no longer approved by that publisher. It has been a few years, and I am now being approved. Whomever I offended must have moved one. So be careful.

I now specifically thank publishers that provide readable ARCs than other publishers. If I received an ARC exhibiting one or more of the above issues, depending on the severity and history of receiving ARCs from them with this issue, I mention nothing to just pointing out how these issues disrupt the flow of my reading so there are times that my thoughts are not fully engaged with the ARC. I still thank them for approving my request.

There is one other issue I have come across, that the publisher may not realize. Some novels use drop caps at the start of each chapter. The drop caps transcribe into gobbledygook in creating the eARC, I just informed the publish of this fact and ask them to be careful in the future.

My 2¢ on this issue.