I ordered the book "Echo Burning" by Lee Child. When I received the book, I noticed it seemed very thin. The cover of the book states it is a "reader's digest select edition". My book has 223 pages. When I did a search on this book, I noticed that the hardcover copy has 354 pages and the paperback copy has 571 pages. Eventhough I willingly ordered this version of the book, I feel I got shortchanged (not by the sender). I feel I didn't get the 'full' edition of this book. How is my copy any different than an ARC, which are not allowed to be swapped?

I have had no experience with these Reader's Digest editions. I will just make sure in the future that I  am more diligent and do not order this type of book.

How are these even okay to be swapped, again since it seems to be a 'condensed' version? Maybe I am missing something.

Thanks

Reader's Digest condensed books have been in publication for years; I remember reading them when I was a kid back in the 60s.  They are legitimate books, just like abridged audio books.  An ARC is an advanced reader copy that may or may not be how the final book appears once it goes to general print.  Not the same thing at all.  Stinks that you got stuck with an abridged version; hopefully you'll be able to get the full version soon.

You have learned the hard way that when it comes to requesting books, you need to research the various editions and make sure you are requesting the book you wanted. I learned the hard way when I received a long anticipated book only to discover that it was large print, which I found very hard to read, and I had indeed requested the large print edition unknowingly.

I would think in your case when you look at the book details it most likely has Readers Digest as the publisher. You might want to submit an "Edit Book Data" to make sure that the book details note that it is an abridged edition so no one else mistakenly orders it as you did.

I posted this book without an ISBN. I entered the title, author, number of pages, publisher, and dimensions of the book. The book was requested today and I noticed that it was listed with a short ISBN (6 digits). Does PBS 'assign' a random ISBN to books? When the requestor receives the book, could he mark RWAP since the ISBN doesn't match (since my book didn't even have an ISBN). I am a little confused.

Thanks

yes PBS assigns a short 6 digit number to the book if someone posts it without an ISBN.  Hopefully the requester understands what he ordered. That he wanted the abridged readers digest. I would see no reason for him to RWAP because you followed the rules on posting a book without an ISBN and wrote everything in correctly.

Does PBS 'assign' a random ISBN to books?

Yes, when books do not have an ISBN, but are posted to the system, then PBS assigns a "short" ISBN to the book. It's generated by PBS.

When the requestor receives the book, could he mark RWAP since the ISBN doesn't match (since my book didn't even have an ISBN).

No. Normally people would notice if they are ordering a "short" ISBN book, but if they don't notice it for some reason, they can RWAP all they want, but you would be under no obligation to refund the credit.

And it is very common to find assorted abridged versions of classic books. Often there are 6-12 versions of a classic offered in paperback so if you need a specific one for a class or bookclub you need to be careful when ordering.

I don't know how we can avoid accidently ordering the "short" version of a book unless you regularly check the details on amazon.