A short read on cheap e-books

I purchased an e-book: Short story collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald. I do not know who published this, if it was thrown together by a third party or if the rightful people received the payment (ninety-nine cents minus fees). I could have looked into this matter more before purchasing, but the lure of reading Fitzgerald that night over took me — a forgivable sin.

The e-book was not what I was looking for originally. I had Hemingway in mind, but only as a jumping off point. Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Bradbury, Salinger, Steinbeck,Gertrude Stein; any of these writers would work. I want physical books, but for now the cheaper e-book counterparts will have to do. After all, it is the writing I am after.

I found this short story collection of Fitzgerald’s works. I was surprised at the number of negative reviews. I scrolled down to check out a few.

The comments started out well. Praise for his style and imagination. At least one or two of the early comments expressed gratitude for having such a collection or how they were able to re-read his stories after so many years. Then came the one and two star reviews.

Not all of the negative reviews are unfounded. This particular e-book collection did not contain as many of his works as a previous print book this represented as well sporting as a new book cover. I don’t like that myself because the story I was after was not included, still ninety-nine cents for nineteen short stories written by Fitzgerald? I’ll take that.

Apparently others do not agree with me. For them, or at least a few who rated the book with a disappointing one or two stars, felt the need to complain about the apparent typos this version contained. (I found no typo's myself)

While I can understand wanting a quality product, I would like to ask them: What did they expect when a quality product is given away dirt cheep?

I believe the person who threw this book together did not have the best interests of the reader in mind. It was a cash grab, a fool on the Amazon search engine and the readers who expected more for less.

~meditations~