Why is there no quality in the books anymore?

I’m a book lover, trying to have my hands on quality books mostly about graphic design. Recently, I ordered a book on Layout designs from Amazon. The book arrived in a perfect condition. The packaging didn’t let it get the damage during the transport. I was happy until I read the pages. The images - if you see them closely, they look like they are printed from a low quality printer from home. They are not clear, gradient is not smooth, you can see minute dots which make the image. Generally we see images to have a kind of glossy-ness, but this one is not. All the images look in low PDI. I don’t know how to explain this, but I think there is something fishy going on at Amazon. Also, the cover page is not cut at the right alignment (the grid image is slightly chopped off from the edge).




Buy books from a reputable publisher – ideally independent bookshops. I believe knock-off books can be found on Amazon these, despite their official policy. There are always shonky vendors out there.

The publishers I work with take great pains to get the best images and have the budget to allow me to get the best out of them. That said, I’ve noticed over the last few years the quality of some images from. Reputable agencies has gone down hill, so much so that, I have rejected some and requested the picture researcher to source them from elsewhere. Quality controli not as tight as it used to be in some image libraries.

1 Like

I wouldn’t say there are no quality books. As @sprout mentioned, the big publishers and many smaller independent publishers produce many high-quality books — both hardcovers and trade paperbacks.

Amazon sells these books alongside thousands of self-published, print-on-demand books, which often aren’t as well-written or well-made. Telling the difference on Amazon can be difficult because one can’t pick them up to examine the quality of the printing and the binding. Amazon, of course, owns the largest print-on-demand company — KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).

The Layout Essentials book in your photo is a Rockport book. Rockport is a company that specializes in publishing reference books for designers. I own several Rockport books, and they’ve all been good, reasonably well-made books. The photos you posted, however, look like rather poor-quality digital printing. I’d suggest leaving a review on Amazon saying you’re disappointed with the quality.

1 Like