Whats all this then?

[Jim]

Ive just been pointed to this by the good folks at amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1155445457/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0RJV9HXD0CV3N7WF6HVQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

anyone know anything about it?
amazons page is less than helpful

there appears to be a few similar books , must be a series

[Malcolm]

The alleged, and seemingly nameless, author(s) have a similar cover style on a book about Spurs  

[Sir Robert Peel]

"On Demand Books LLC (ODB) uses proprietary software and a patented, fully integrated high speed machine to print, bind and trim  a library quality paperback book at point of sale on demand in minutes at low cost from digital  files. The Espresso Book Machine replaces the centralized supply chain for the distribution of books – essentially unchanged since Gutenberg – with radically decentralized direct-to-consumer distribution.

ODB was founded in 2003 by Jason Epstein, Chairman, and Dane Neller, Chief Executive Officer, and is based in New York City."


There are 972 similarly formatted 'music biographies' by LLC

[jude]

I'd better do some investigating....

[Chris]

"On Demand Books LLC (ODB) uses proprietary software and a patented, fully integrated high speed machine to print, bind and trim  a library quality paperback book at point of sale on demand in minutes at low cost from digital  files. The Espresso Book Machine replaces the centralized supply chain for the distribution of books – essentially unchanged since Gutenberg – with radically decentralized direct-to-consumer distribution.

Bit like Lulu then....

[Jim]

"On Demand Books LLC (ODB) uses proprietary software and a patented, fully integrated high speed machine to print, bind and trim  a library quality paperback book at point of sale on demand in minutes at low cost from digital  files. The Espresso Book Machine replaces the centralized supply chain for the distribution of books – essentially unchanged since Gutenberg – with radically decentralized direct-to-consumer distribution.

Bit like Lulu then....

ah!
but do they make you wanna shout
like lulu do

[Big Dave]

"On Demand Books LLC (ODB) uses proprietary software and a patented, fully integrated high speed machine to print, bind and trim  a library quality paperback book at point of sale on demand in minutes at low cost from digital  files. The Espresso Book Machine replaces the centralized supply chain for the distribution of books – essentially unchanged since Gutenberg – with radically decentralized direct-to-consumer distribution.

Bit like Lulu then....

ah!
but do they make you wanna shout
like lulu do

Lulu makes me wanna shout! (oopps, probably wrong sort of shouting!!!!!!  )

[Philip W]

I've noticed this before. There are hundreds of these things - all with the same covers, none with authors. My hunch is that someone is bundling up and printing out Wikipedia entries and passing them off as "books", but I'd like to be proved wrong.
 

[jaypeter (Peter)]

What about this one? At last that great English Folk singer John Wesley Harding gets the recognition he so richly deserves!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Folk-Singers-Stevens-Thompson/dp/1155528905/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_5

[richardkendell]

What about this one? At last that great English Folk singer John Wesley Harding gets the recognition he so richly deserves!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Folk-Singers-Stevens-Thompson/dp/1155528905/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_5

Don't forget that equally well known folkie James Blunt!

[folk fan jimmy]

I've noticed this before. There are hundreds of these things - all with the same covers, none with authors. My hunch is that someone is bundling up and printing out Wikipedia entries and passing them off as "books", but I'd like to be proved wrong.
 

http://www.singaporechessnews.com/Book_Scam.html suggests you're exactly right.

What's the catch? Here it is: they are simply collections of Wikipedia entries disguised as a "book".

[Jim]

right, ill save me money then

[Philip W]

http://www.singaporechessnews.com/Book_Scam.html suggests you're exactly right.

Well spotted, Jimmy. My God, that's a clever money-making scheme. Wish I'd thought of it. From the company's FAQs:

Wikipedia is supposed to be free. How can you sell a book of Wikipedia content?
We don't charge for Wikipedia. You can access that for free. We only charge for editing, indexing, typesetting, designing, printing, binding and shipping of books for those people who prefer to read printed articles.

The book has no author. Who wrote it?
All content cam from Wikipedia. Please check the book's Publication page, Introduction and the end of each chapter for further details. For example, you can click the hyperlink at the end of any chapter and then click the history tab to see a list of each chapter's contributors.
http://booksllc.net/faqs.cfm

The joke there is that if you're in a position to "click the history tab", then you're in a position to access the content for free online.

As a Wiki contributor myself, I'm depressed to find that bozos like this lot are apparently licensed to make money out of other people's (unpaid) work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Mirrors_and_forks/Abc#Books.2C_LLC

[Chris]

Licensed? By who?

[Andy]

The laugh is that it's them licensing the content via creative commons.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

[Chris]

So that's their claim of 'editing' out the window then - the licence says you change the text...

[jude]

It amazes me when when people say 'oh I don't look at Wikipedia it's all wrong' when they can put it right themselves..


Particularly artists who complain that the info is inaccurate..... it's very easy to correct..

[Chris]

So that's their claim of 'editing' out the window then - the licence says you change the text...

Sorry, typo - you can't change the text, according to the licence.

[Shane (Skirky)]

It amazes me when when people say 'oh I don't look at Wikipedia it's all wrong' when they can put it right themselves..
Particularly artists who complain that the info is inaccurate..... it's very easy to correct..

Have you read this... http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/mar/23/popandrock2 ...on this very subject?
There's easy, and there's 'easy'.  

[Brendan]

It amazes me when when people say 'oh I don't look at Wikipedia it's all wrong' when they can put it right themselves..
Particularly artists who complain that the info is inaccurate..... it's very easy to correct..

Have you read this... http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/mar/23/popandrock2 ...on this very subject?
There's easy, and there's 'easy'.  

Good article from the ever wonderous Mike Scott, it got me to thinking, what deams someone worthy of being included on wikipaedia?