Considering that I have been bunkered down at home, unable to go to a bookstore and look for another title to fill my time with, I have been spelunking through my shelves to find anything to read. I am one of those who collects books without planning to read them in the following year. I want to read them, but I pretty much am packing for a rainy day, when I will one day want to read a 1950s melodrama or explore the legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt in great detail. They’re all sitting on my shelf, waiting for that day because I have that kind of appetite. It can be impulsive, or I plan to read thematically a series of books.
That is how I landed on reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.” I had been gifted a copy around Christmas because we were planning to see a musical adaptation in 2020 at The Carpenter Center (well, you know what happened). Following being impressed with a National Theatre Live production, I became eager to give it a look. Would there be something substantial hidden within the pages of the classic pirate adventure story? Speaking as I loved the works of H.G. Wells, I wanted to see what how this novella was written and changed the cultural understanding of an archetype.
Before I go further, I want to admit that this isn’t an indictment on “Treasure Island” or its quality as a story. This is also not an attack on the person who gifted me this book. Literature in any form is desirable and at the end of the day, a legible book is better than no book. I read every last word in my copy but, as you can start to guess, the packaging was infuriating.
I immediately went to the Amazon page to discover that I wasn’t alone in the complaints department. This was listed as "Treasure Island (AmazonClassics Edition),” and the lack of proper spacing was enough to start my concern. Adding in that it’s listed under Kindle Edition also raised some eyebrows, though it comes with a Paperback section listing prices from $2.51 to $6.85. The rating is 4.5 out of 5 stars. So, what does the comments section have?
This version is another bad reprint. Fonts appear to be ok, but there is no paragraph formatting, and chapters don’t even start on a new page. It feels more like reading a research report, and less of an enjoyable book. (Lissa1980, 2 stars)This is abridged, I'd rather read the original, with translations like joules verne not reading the original is fine, but I'd like to know which translation, because some of them are notoriously bad. (xenoterracide, 1 star)
There were more comments about bad vendors, but these comments, in particular, opened my eyes to the fact that I was not alone in my feeling.
Before I get into my reasoning, I want to say that this feels like a book clearly designed for a Kindle release. If that was the case, this is easier to forgive. I am aware that reading a novel on a tablet is far different from holding a physical copy in your hand. Even then, researching the presentation of the product on Amazon gives little evidence that the Paperback will be any different from any other purchase that you get through the website. From what I can tell, this is just a copy-paste job that lacks any deep effort.
And you know why this matters? It’s because it creates an unpleasant experience for the reader. While the substance itself is enjoyable (though I wasn’t aware of any abridging, in large part because it was never stated), I had trouble at times getting past the formatting, which was clearly crammed into the very limits of the pages. It’s unpleasant to look at, and I am serious when I say that it made me think lesser of Stevenson’s work.
I say this because I am a self-published author, having released “Apples & Chainsaws” and “Esoteric Shapes” from the confines of my laptop. I am aware of the hours it takes to format a single page, let alone a whole book, and how satisfied I am to open a copy and see how the formatting is pleasing to the eyes.
What I see when I open “Treasure Island” is a hack job, done in 30 minutes, without care to accentuate what made Stevenson’s work so significant to the literary canon. Wait, I don’t even need to OPEN this book. It’s already suspect when you look at its exterior. The cover is satisfactory, but everything else is a nightmare. If we had no idea what “Treasure Island” is, you’d be screwed. There is no blurb on the back cover, nor is there a title print on the spine.
If this was your entry point into “Treasure Island,” I’d ask you: what is this story? At most you’d think it was a pirate story with a Jack Sparrow-esque figure admiring his treasure. But put this on a shelf and you’re screwed. Its blue spine is impersonal, unable to be identified alongside your other hits. Even if you just print the title in 14 pt. font in Times New Roman, it’s better than having nothing. You need that identification because most of us will come to the book on a shelf, whether in a bookstore or a library. We need to be drawn to your work, and its pathetic lack of identity should tip you off immediately.
I say this because of my time writing “Apples & Chainsaws.” I had everything inside laid out so intricately that I failed to plan ahead with my exterior. If I could, I would go through and redesign it because my current spine lacks a visually pleasing look, and the color scheme is a bit disorienting. I stare at the spine in my room and see what I could do better, knowing that this will be most people’s introduction to the book.
Also, the book is about more than the story. Please, put in some thought into how you design these pages. The cover page is adequate, though in general, you want to list it the first page numerically in this case, go to your Header/Footer, and in the Design section label it Different First Page. I don’t have enough time to go into formatting page numbers and giving your headers style, but please consider this. At your basic core, you want a design to make the page stylish, pleasing. Also, don’t have these fonts overlap with your text, as it will just confuse the reader. Try and change the size, color, or even style. It’s that simple.
Also, please look into having a publishing page. Even if you don’t have the most prestigious book in the game, it will make you look professional. I encourage you to have other confidence-boosting elements like forewords, tables of contents, or even pull quotes from others. These will help give the reader a sense of confidence. With that said, they’re not as necessary as a publishing page, which gives your work an authenticity to its existence.
For “Treasure Island,” it’s another red flag (and we’re only on Page 2). The details not only are just splattered onto the page, but they’re done in a way that confirms my biggest fears of this publication. Having the ISBN and copyright is fine, but consider how it looks. For starters, there is no word on WHO is publishing this since I doubt that Stevenson is still alive. Also, the fact that Copyright is improperly labeled (also lacking a usual © ) isn’t even amateurish, but lazy.
The accompanying text is acceptable in a Kindle edition but has no place here. Along with lacking alignment, it outward says that “No part of this may be reproduced” before going on to say “Please delete and support the author by purchasing the eBook from one of its many distributors.” Even when it tries to cover its tracks by being official, it fails at anything but irony. Not only do we not know who the publisher is, but there is suggestion that we throw out this book entirely and buy the eBook. It’s especially confusing when you realize that this person is clearly getting rich off of Stevenson’s book without clear rights to do so.
The next issue is a simple one but try and space yourself out so that it doesn’t look like a rush job. From the publication page, you should try and fit your foreword, blurbs, or table of contents here. If not that, then PLEASE provide some blank space for the aesthetic. You need to start on an odd page (so points for getting that right), but try to make it feel professional. Considering that you should have some space between the title page and here, you should remind audiences of what the book is, creating an opening that establishes what you’re reading. If not that, then just put two white pages so that it isn’t cramped.
Everything from here is not necessarily wrong, but is offensive to the eye. As a writer, this is where I threw most of my attention after writing the substance in the book. I am not as turned off by the chapter breaks as some Amazon reviewers, but I do agree with their sentiment on the grounds that you’re selling the written word, and it’s as much about how it’s laid out as what it says. Remember, I am distracted from Stevenson’s words just by how they’re presented.
There are some things that could help to make the book more pleasing to the eye. In the case of “PART ONE – The Old Buccaneer,” it can be transitioned into its own stylized page, establishing a shift from one area of the story to another. This makes things especially clear in the narrative, though is unnecessary if that takes up too much space.
Similarly, the subheading “1. The Old Sea-dog at the Admiral Benbow” could be better designed in relation to the rest of the text. Having it separated from the text by just a line makes it lack significance, even if it’s accentuated by boldness. Maybe go a step further and center it, as to make one understand how significant this differentiation is. While the publisher has a line to separate the former subheading from the next, the subheading’s relation to the next section is still cramped. Maybe start a new page in order to better accentuate the significance of this shift while also spacing it from the next line.
Then there’s the body itself. Again, this is not essential, but if you want the reader to enjoy your writing at all, consider paragraph indents. A simple .5” indentation makes all the difference from making a page look like it is one long body of text I understand that some stories, like Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” benefit from this style, but I doubt that Stevenson’s work is improved by this.
It’s actually infuriating and made worse by the fact that what style this has is inconsistent. Subheadings begin with capitalized words, which would work if there was a consistent flow. However, where one section opens with “SQUIRE TRELAWNEY,” every other section only uses the first word, such as “PARTLY.” This is a good idea, but it clearly has been altered from whatever the Kindle edition has, whether the word was enhanced in size or bolded in a way that grabs the eye. Here it blends in with everything so poorly that it’s pointless and easily hard to notice the extra effort.
Also, and this can’t be specified enough, DON’T FORMAT PARAGRAPHS TO THE EDGE OF THE PAGE. Along with the bottom page alignment being entirely off, the choice to run these into the gutters is problematic, as it means that the reader has to practically tear the book in half to get to the first word on the next line. Just because Amazon will let you doesn’t mean you should. Having that space isn’t just a style choice. Having that space allows you to read a full paragraph without any strain, making the experience lack as many obstacles as possible.
Finally, whatever you do, please be consistent with your formatting. “Treasure Island” may seem like it’s one consistent style, but then you get to areas like “PART TWO – The Sea-cook” where the section is punctuated confusingly. While it works for the narrative, it’s more a confusing mess for the text, especially as both the paragraph indentation is shifted as well as lacking justified margins. There may be a reason for it, but without giving it some establishment within the narrative, whether by centering or spacing for significance, it just looks like an eyesore. Similarly, try and have consistent spacing of paragraphs so that it doesn’t throw the reader off.
I bring this all up because you should know that self-publishing a book is about more than what you say. It’s about the presentation. When the most effort put into “Treasure Island” is its cover (even though the picture doesn't fill the entire frame), you know that there are problems ahoy. So much of my time reading the book was trying to overcome the structural issues of the story. While it would pass on Kindle, it fails as a Paperback because nothing about it feels conventional. It lacks the awareness of why this book should exist and thus makes me feel like I’m wasting my time.
Stevenson doesn’t deserve this treatment. The fact that it doesn’t even properly cite anything of note leaves the reader to guess when the story was written and why it’s even worth reading. We don’t even get a blurb about what this book is about. So much is wasted on this, and it hurts me because of those endless nights where I toyed with formatting, trying to fix one thing while upsetting another. To see that the pages don’t align and that the publisher can’t even spell Copy right correctly upsets me.
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| I forgot to mention this travesty |
I spent a good month just making sure that “Esoteric Shapes” looked good. Coming out on the other side, there are still small things that disappoint me, but it’s not from lack of trying. I did research to get the book that’s in your hands. I wish that I can say the same for this version of “Treasure Island,” which also was apparently abridged. There are no details to suggest this.
A writer’s job is to communicate ideas. If this publisher can’t even give the courtesy of presenting said ideas in a way that makes the reader want to spend time with the text, why should we care? There is no effort put into the style and the consistency in style is offensive. It makes me annoyed with how many people likely are going to buy it not knowing any better (it doesn’t have the same picture from the Amazon page).
So what if it’s cheap? Most authors would kill to write a book as timeless as “Treasure Island,” so to see Amazon selling a copy like this is heartbreaking. I’m not so mad that it isn’t the best-designed book that it can be, but that it doesn’t even have the basic courtesy to respect its reader is the biggest problem. I say all of this in the hopes that you notice when a book respects you. I also say it as a way to keep you from making these mistakes because this right here is a bad book. Just because it’s classic Stevenson doesn’t mean it’s perfect. You have to invest in good packaging because that’s the sign that even if you don’t like the story, the publisher had enough compassion for those willing to give their book the time of day.
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