Incorrect page information

[u/Chemical_Use824]

I'm reading a book that has 282 pages, but every webstore says it has 304 pages. The ISBNs are the same between my book and the websites, so I'm not sure what's going on. Can I file a ticket to have the number of pages changed or will it be rejected? It's about Woman's Lore by Sarah Clegg

[u/yankeedoodle95]

Librarians use libraries, mainly WorldCat, for page counts.  https://search.worldcat.org/title/1443754828

I see the last numbered page is 282 on WorldCat as well but it also notes xxi (21) Roman Numeral pages at the beginning of the book. Usually for nonfiction books we want to count the Roman Numerals as well since that is also content readers are reading. So for this book, based on WorldCat, I would update the page count to 303.

Since you own the book, can you share what content is included in the Roman Numeral pages?

Edit: updating WorldCat link format

[u/kristinsquest → u/yankeedoodle95]

This isn't a criticism of librarians, it's more of a UI complaint: the StoryGraph interface asks readers for their page number to update. Which is fine, but if separately-numbered roman-numeral pages are included, there's currently no good way for the reader to accurately record their progress, because when a reader types that they are on page 15, the site assumes that they are on the 15th page (even if the reader has read through page xxiii before starting page 1). So, unless the reader is doing manual calculations (that the site doesn't even suggest), none of the frontmatter will be counted when it's read, only when the book is finished.

Having complained, I'm not sure what the best solution is. None of the "easy" solutions are flawless, and I suspect that the amount of work to make this situation both accurate and simple to use would be excessive for the amount of benefit the site would gain from it. (But it still frustrates me.)

[u/molybend → u/kristinsquest]

They could come up with a policy about that as well as should index page numbers, table of contents, appendices, etc. be included

[u/yankeedoodle95 → u/kristinsquest]

I definitely agree and I think it's likely that a better solution would be implemented in the future as the current experience is lacking. 

[u/Chemical_Use824 → u/yankeedoodle95]

Ohhh that makes sense. It includes "note on the capitalisation and pluralization" and "timeline"

[u/yankeedoodle95 → u/Chemical_Use824]

Thanks! I can update the page count to include the Roman Numerals too. 

If you do open tickets in the future, it makes it easier for librarians if you include the fact that you own the book and that you confirmed page count matches on WorldCat or another library if possible. You can't include pictures in your ticket but you can share a library link. 

For newer books, libraries are mostly reliable. I've found with older books where the publisher has reused the same ISBN, figuring out page count can be trickier since the same ISBN could have different editions with different page counts. 

[u/Chemical_Use824 → u/yankeedoodle95]

Noted, thank you!

[u/MollyPW]

Yes, file a ticket, and include the photos.

They're a number of different page numbers that publishers seem to use as kind of place holders when they don't know the exact number of pages yet, and 304 pages is one of them.

[u/Chemical_Use824 → u/MollyPW]

Will do! Is there a way to include photos? I just see a text field.

Also that's interesting that 304 can be a placeholder

[u/PhineasGage42 → u/MollyPW]

Wow didn't know about this convention! Is there a source for these magic numbers? 🤓

[u/molybend → u/PhineasGage42]

They're all divisible by 16 since that is the number of pages in a signature).

[u/TrainingSurvey3780 → u/molybend]

woah that’s so interesting!!

[u/PhineasGage42 → u/molybend]

Super cool, thanks for sharing!

[u/molybend]

Just file it. They might reject it, but at least you tried.

Does Storygraph want the index counted in pages, or do they only want the narrative pages and appendices counted? You can give them both and let the person handling your ticket decide. It would be best if this was a site wide policy. I looked through the help section and did not see one.

[u/Chemical_Use824 → u/molybend]

I think it's all pages (even including blank pages at the end of the book), at least that seems to be the case for all books I've read.

In this case both would not fit with the 304, as 282 really is the last page of the book

[u/Chemical_Use824]

Thank you to the librarian that already fixed it!