Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ebooks

Best distribution method for a guide

Anonymous — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:40:05 -0800

I'm writing a guide to sell to what I think is a pretty small target audience, probably consisting of maybe 25,000 people total with the percentage of potential buyers being very tiny. (Let us not ask why I'm writing for such a niche audience. Let us say that it is primarily because I want to share the information, but I also want to earn something for my work.) I am writing it so that each major section is self-contained and should be able to be sold separately, with the possibility of buying the full guide at a discount compared to buying each section individually. How can I best distribute this electronically? Basically, I want to put out this guide (or set of sections that make up the guide) online. I don't have any interest in publishing hard copies. I also want to use a pseudonym.

Due to those conditions, I was initially thinking about selling PDFs directly from a website, but the piracy aspect has me concerned. It's a small audience to begin with and all it would take is a few people sharing the PDFs to significantly lower any possible income I may gain from this project.

I've started looking at Kindle and iBook formats, but I know those take 30% from any sales in most cases and I'm unsure about the use of pseudonyms being okay. The ebook format would likely be better for a full version of the guide, but I feel that would remove the choice to just purchase one module of the guide that people would find useful. For example, say someone just wants to buy Section 3. They won't purchase the full guide and if there's no Section 3 only option, they likely won't buy anything. Relatedly, I feel getting separate PDFs for each section to store as they like is less weird than downloading separate Kindle/iBooks, but maybe that's just me.

Lastly, I'd really like for the guide to arrive/be able to be downloaded immediately after payment has cleared. I don't want them to wait long for the goods to arrive.

So, awesome people of the legendary green, what do you think would be the best idea for me here? (In case it has any bearing on anything, I'm in Canada.)

Anonymous email: theholyfog (at) gmail (dot) com

Recommend me an app to organise my PDFs.

FuckingAwesome — Wed, 01 May 2013 07:48:37 -0800

I'm a PhD student and a typical day involves downloading and reading through lots of journal articles and eBooks. I store these locally on a MacBook. I am looking for something akin to the native Finder app, but which offers separate columns for "Author", "Title", "Year" and so on, as well as tags (very important). I have dabbled with Papers2 and Endnote, and a couple of "Finder"alternatives, but these either (A) duplicate the PDF files and save them elsewhere, or (B) don't offer the author/title/year etc. columns. Is there anything that will do what I'm looking for?

Can You Help Me Find Korean Edition Ebooks?

Chasuk — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:04:24 -0800

I live in Korea, but I'm finding it difficult to obtain Korean edition ebooks through Yes24, Aladdin, Kyobo, or even Google Play, because I have a US credit card. Does anyone know of other, hassle-free sources? Thanks in advance.

Kindle for the iPad - something's been bugging me for years...

mscottveach — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:06:18 -0800

Why hasn't Amazon implemented "collections" or "folders" in the kindle for the ipad application? Let's assume that it isn't a matter of "just haven't gotten around to it" -- there is a ton of evidence (which I won't go into) that this is not the case -- it seems to be a choice on Amazon's part.

I assume it must have something to do with how they compete with Apple but for the life of me I can't figure out what would motivate this decision. Does anyone have any insight?

(Oh, unless you can really prove that this is the answer, let's assume that it has nothing to do with a technical barrier. )

audio ebook for car ride

latkes — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:11:58 -0800

What audio ebook should I download for this long car ride with my bookish 10 year old, me, and my literate adult friend? I'm looking for something pretty long, not necessarily for kids, and engaging.
For more on my daughter's taste, see this previous askme. She's pretty open though. We've been reading A Tale of Two Cities out loud and it's going well, so classics and other ostensibly adult fiction welcome.

Personally I most enjoy very well written fiction with complex characters and realistic scenarios. But I can get down with some fun comic fantasy or a well made mystery or whatever too. Good writing is key though.

Bonus if it's likely to be available from my local library downloads (most reliable for classics and recent popular fiction).

Auto-scrolling ebooks

pete_22 — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 01:36:03 -0800

What's my best option for reading ebooks in an auto-scrolling format? By "auto-scrolling" I mean one of these two things:

1. the text scrolls continuously up the screen, with no pagination at all; or

2. there's a line or "screen" or something that moves down each page, and when it reaches the bottom it automatically advances to the next page and starts at the top, without pausing.

I would like to have both options available, ideally. In either case, the basic controls would be speed up / slow down / pause, and the speed would adjust automatically to accommodate graphics, short lines and blank space. (Meaning it might be tied to word count per second and not just vertical distance per second.)

My Kindle Paperwhite doesn't do this and I don't think any device with that kind of e-paper screen is even capable of it, because it seems to refresh the whole screen at once like an Etch-a-Sketch. (Right?) So I'm going to buy either an iPad Mini or a Nexus 7. Which one should I get, and which iOS or Android apps can do what I want?

Kindle Owner's Lending Library - Any gems?

schrodycat — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 15:21:48 -0800

Kindle owners: Amongst all the bodice-rippers and self-published junk, have you found any gems within the Kindle Owner's Lending Library? The KOLL is difficult to search and browse in (perhaps intentionally so), and is mostly filled with self-help and romance titles - really the only two genres I won't read. What actual good books have you found within its digital shelves?

Since I couldn t find anyone who could help us, I decided

six-or-six-thirty — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:06:21 -0800

I need to have access to all 16,679 of @Horse_ebooks' tweets. Twitter and most other archives will only give me 3,200. As you can imagine this is a dire need. It would be REALLY nice if the tweets were also in a simple, downloadable or searchable format; I ultimately need to be able to search by keyword.

There are a lot of services that will show the entirety of your OWN tweets but obviously that won't help. Is all of this gold seriously lost to history?

Help me Ask MeFi you're my only hope.

How can I start a digital publishing company?

swizzle_stik — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:33:47 -0800

Does anyone have an insights into the digital publishing industry? With the number of self-published eBooks out there, I think there might be a market for a digital publishing company that handles editing, distribution and publicity. I look at awesome companies like the Pragmatic Bookshelf and No Starch Press and wonder if there's room in the market.

There seems to be very little information out there on running a publishing company, and even less so on one that doesn't do physical media. What problems might I face? Is there an MVP for this type of thing? Perhaps I need to self publish my own work and build a process around that?

Seeking to read non-linear books.

tnygard — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:19:30 -0800

I would like to read some non-linear books. Could you recommend titles and authors to me? I know about James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, in which the last sentence and first sentences are both fragments. You read the book in a loop, such that after finishing the last page you continue on page 1. Has anyone else done this type of thing? Has anyone written books, especially for adults, that use narrative webs, like the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series? Are any of these types of books available as e-books? It seems to me that e-books would be well-suited to non-linear writing. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Ebooks - deleted or altered after purchase

Termite — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 23:39:43 -0800

This is a well-known story: in 2009, Amazon erased unauthorized editions of Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindle readers. Are there similar cases, where ebooks have been deleted - or their text altered - after purchase? I vaguely remember reading a couple of such stories, but I have trouble finding them.

Cross-platform (Android and iOS/iPad) annotation of ebooks

lillygog — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 07:08:28 -0800

Do you have a workflow for cross-platform annotation (Android and iOS/iPad) of ebooks? Is there a particular note-taking app that will work with DRMed ebooks AND sync my notes across tablets? In an ideal world, I'd highlight/take notes/annotate the ebook on my iPad and have those notes magically show up when I open the same ebook on the Android tablet. Is this easy to do, or hard?

I need a history book!

kbanas — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 18:45:22 -0800

I need help with a book suggestion! All my particulars found within, within, within.. Started off with Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and With the Old Breed and Helmet for my Pillow and then had my fill of World War 2 for a little while. However, I was enticed to move backward, and so read The Guns of August about World War 1. And then I was compelled by history to go back even farther, so I could understand root causes and also because it was very interesting, so then I read The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune about the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Well, now I've finished with that.

Shit.

So, I'd like to read a good history book (in similar vein to above) about the French revolution in 1848. Or, maybe, the history from the initial French Revolution in 1789 - 1799 through the two subsequent revolutions in 1830 and 1848.

It's getting harder to find books and know what's going to be over my head as I move backward. Any advice appreciated!

I've read the other AskMe on the topic, and answers weren't entirely inspiring. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution doesn't appear to be available for Kindle (OH BOO HOO) and Mark Steel's Vive La Revolution makes me afraid. Is it good? I mean, really?

Can We Move Kindle Content to a New Account?

Irontom — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:16:33 -0800

My wife would like to de-register her Kindle from my account and move it to her own Amazon account that she has sole control of. Is it possible for us to move some (but not all) of the digital content to her new account? We have two Kindles on one Amazon account. We have a bunch of content mixed up between us. We would like to move all of her stuff to the new account with the Kindle, but leave all of my stuff behind. Can this be done?

Why are Amazon eBooks suddenly so expensive, and will the prices go down again?

kitcat — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 14:01:50 -0800

Alright. Why has the price of ebooks in the Kindle store (suddenly?) risen so dramatically? Will this trend reverse? A book I wanted to download from Amazon and read on my Kindle app has risen from $12 to $18 over the course of a week. Angry, I started looking for some alternate reads and I can see that all the ones I want seem to be between $14 and $20! Not very long ago, I remember that Kindle books were generally $9.99. What's going on? Are the prices going to stay high like this?

Self-publishing e-books

Bookhouse — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:17:21 -0800

I am considering self-publishing an e-book. What are some resources for creating the most professional version of an e-book? I'm talking about design, layout, distribution, etc. I'm looking for both tips and links to the best books/websites on the matter. I'm fortunate enough to have some money to spend, if that affects your answer.

Ok, it's possible I am just grasping at straws to find an excuse to own an iPad.

pupstocks — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 18:37:49 -0800

I'm trying to figure out if a iPad is what I'm looking for to help me reduce my physical books, particularly cookbooks and printed (from the internet) recipes. I want to know first whether iPad is the way to go for my specific needs (details within) and then, if an iPad is what I want, which generation iPad & apps would help me do what I want. Or maybe there is a better solution? I'm an avid cook with a large cookbook and cooking magazine collection that grows every year. I also bookmark and/or print recipes from blogs etc. My typical procedure when trying a new recipe is to print the recipe or make a photocopy of the cookbook page. I then make copious notes on the page during and after cooking the recipe. I halve (at least) most recipes, so I always write that information on the page as well.

What I would like to do with an iPad (or whatever) is have my pulled-from-the-internet or page from a book (this could be an ebook from which I PDFed the relevant page) and then be able to make handwritten notes on it with a stylus AND, preferably, attach typed notes as well (like... maybe with a post-it type of thing?) and possibly also attach photos. It would be awesome if it could coordinate with my main computer (a MacBook Pro) in some way, too! For example, if I want to type notes, I'd love to be able to do that easily from my computer and have it zap on over to the iPad. In case it's relevant, I also have an iPhone. I'm an iPerson, apparently. And if the data could be stored in such a way that losing the iPad wouldn't result in me losing all my data, that would be ideal.

I have a Kindle already, and I absolutely love it ... but only for reading novels and the like that don't use images. (My Kindle is a model from a couple of years ago with a keyboard.) I continue to buy physical cookbooks despite my desire to save space in my home and trees primarily because I enjoy seeing the beautiful photography and find it instructive. My goal with the iPad would be to reduce future purchases of physical books and to reduce the amount of paper and toner I'm using by printing physical copies of recipes all the time.

So to reiterate, my questions are:

1. Is an iPad what I want for this? If so, what apps do I need? Or do I want something else entirely (Kindle Fire??)?

2. If I want an iPad, would I be happy enough with an older model? Anything else I need to consider here? If having an original version iPad would be slow/irritating in some way, I'll just wait until I can afford the latest.

I don't really want applications specific to recipes because I think I would like to use this same method for things like art/craft instruction books, textbooks, etc. I usually have a lot of studying going on, typically on a wide variety of topics!

Thanks guys!!

Apple's eBook Agency Agreement in Plain English

philosophistry — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:16:51 -0800

Trouble understanding Apple's eBook Agency Agreement for the iBookstore I've been Googling my hair out, and all search results seem to collide with articles about iBooks Author, which I'm not using. I've signed up to sell books on the iBookstore, and have tried to understand the agreement, but I still have some fundamental questions unanswered.

Can I use KDP Select? - According to the agreement, all new eBook releases have to come out at the same time on the iBookstore as other sites. If so, can I even use KDP Select for some of my releases, which require exclusivity?

Can I offer an eBook for free? - If my iBooks price has to be the lowest available eBook price, can I give away a PDF copy of my eBook on my website?

Is there a plain-english translation for the agreement? - I create iPhone apps, and it was really easy to find tech websites that parsed the App Store agreement and told you what the bottom line was with the finer points of Apple's legalese. Is there something like this for the iBookstore?

Am I even allowed to talk about this agreement? - One bit of legalese said I couldn't talk about the agreement, or maybe it meant I couldn't copy and paste it anywhere. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to contact them directly about these questions, nor can I find a forum to hash these things out, so Ask MeFi, you're my only hope.

I'm almost tempted to realize that the bigger picture conclusion is I shouldn't be dealing with Apple on this in the first place.

How do I start an ebook publisher?

mekanic — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:36:39 -0800

I'd like to start an ebook publisher. Do I need to incorporate? Is there some other official...designation...I should be seeking? I'm gathering the response will be: Ask a lawyer. But I thought I'd see if anyone on here has any info they can share. Thanks.

So THIS is that nasty DRM thing they talk about...

badgermushroomSNAKE — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:44:33 -0800

So, I have an ebook in the epub format. I want to read it on a device that is not the one I downloaded it to. Calibre informs me that this book is locked by DRM. I still want to read it on this device, and I don't want to buy the book twice - how do I make it so? I bought an .epub book, with real money, legally and everything! Go me!

Now, a few weeks later, I've read it on my Nook Color, and I want access to it on another computer (not the one I bought the book from, and not one that I can easily hook my Nook up to to transfer the file). I was able to re-download the file from bn.com to this secondary computer, but Calibre informs me that the file is DRM-protected and I'm shit out of luck if I want to actually read it, because it's too indignant about the concept of DRM to handle such files.

I'm not willing to pay for this book twice. I usually stay away from DRMed media files, but when I bought this one I did it on an impulse and it didn't even occur to me to check whether it was DRMed.

Am I really out of luck? Is there truly no way for me - logged into my Barnes & Noble account, mind you - to tell B&N "no, really, this is me, the person who paid you for the book. Please let me read it here!"? If I manage to hook my Nook up to this computer, will I be able to copy that version of the file over and read it, or am I really just not going to be able to do one single thing with this .epub file other than read it on my Nook, and my Nook only?

Tl;dr question versions:
From this (secondary) compuyter: Is there a way for me to read this DRMed file, that I bought *%^*$ legally, on this machine? Right now, today?
From my primary computer or Nook Color: Is there a way to un-DRM the file from there, so I can then read it on the secondary computer?

Nook vs. Kindle? Please help me choose.

D Wiz — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:22:23 -0800

I am looking to purchase an e-ink reader... Been looking at the Kindle and Nook and I am having trouble deciding. One of my top priorities is that books I purchase not be lost in 3, 5 or 10 years down the road. Which device is most likely to be be future proof? I also have specific uses that I want it to work for such as being able to load PDFs of academic articles/books and access to the library (see extended explanation for more uses). Thanks for your help! Heya!

I am looking to purchase an e-ink reader... Been looking at the Kindle and Nook and I am having trouble deciding. Here are a couple of things about my expected use and some questions:

* One of my top priorities is that books I purchase not be lost in 3, 5 or 10 years down the road. Which device has the best support for this and will be easy to export to a common format?
* I do not expect to purchase a lot of books. I will be using the library as well as free books that I can find on the internet so I want something that makes this easy.
* I have a lot of PDFs of academic journal articles and books. Which device will these be easiest to read on (and if possible, take notes on)?
* I own an Android phone as well as have an iPad from work. It is not necessary to sync with these but obviously a perk that Kindle seems to have over Nook.
* I use Read It Later/Instapaper a lot and I would like to be able to quickly take articles I find online and send them to the e-reader for later reading. I noticed this for Kindle but don't know how well it works or whether the Nook has something similar. Are there ways to do this on the nook?
* I travel internationally. I know the 3G version of one of the Kindles would allow free web browsing internationally. Is this still the case?
* I'm not against rooting a device. I have heard the Nook can be rooted but not sure if this buys me anything. Will this make any of the above easier/better?

Thanks so much for your help!

Does anybody have any experiences using Ebooks for graduate level study? In particular Kindle books or books from Coursemart? Making citations?

Che boludo! — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:37:42 -0800

I'm going to be taking a few graduate courses online while traveling abroad. I need three textbooks. All three are available for the Kindle through Amazon. Only two are available through Coursemart. I bought a tablet with the hopes I could use it for the texts and avoid carrying three more books with me when traveling. I see two potential problems, that being said my question ultimately has two parts: 1. Can I get away with citing a Kindle book as a source? I know some books now have page numbers, but I suspect these may not. APA would be the appropriate style. If I can cite from a Kindle formatted book, how would I do so?

2. Coursemart offers the page numbers and same formatting as the hard copies, but of course you can't keep the books after the 6 month license. I may want to reference these down the road. Is there anyway to keep Coursemart texts indefinitely? Strip DRM or convert to another format.

Let me know your thoughts people. Thanks.

How Do I Promote an eBook Without an Advertising Budget?

scaryblackdeath — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:05:13 -0800

My urban fantasy ebook on Amazon has done well enough to make me really happy, but I'd love to promote it more. Thing is, a pen name was absolutely necessary and I don't have money to do actual advertising. Options? My novel has sold pretty well by self-pub standards and so far I've had nothing but positive feedback. I don't have illusions about making millions or anything, but I'd certainly like to promote it more. I don't really have money (let alone software skills) to buy adspace or anything like that. I'd love any advice from the hive mind.

Details:

*I honestly don't actually read urban fantasy. I'm a gamer nerd, but urban fantasy has never been a literary draw for me. Consequently, I don't know the ins and outs of the fan base.

*This was originally on Literotica, where it kicked a whole lot of ass last year. I took it down and cleaned out most of the excessive throbbing flesh and smutty choreography, but sex is still a significant theme. I really don't want this book to come up at work for a number of reasons (it deals with sex, religious icons, etc). Consequently, it's under a pen name. This seems to limit my promotional options.

*I've tapped the original Literotica audience, of course (no pun intended). I've gotten friends to post links to it on Facebook and such. It's on the MeFi Mall.

*I haven't sent it to GoodReads or any review sites like that...anyone have any advice there?

*The book is also up on SmashWords for e-readers other than Kindle.

The 5,000 Foot Bookshelf - Curated lists and collections of important texts

nanojath — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:06:50 -0800

When I finally take the plunge on an eBook reader I want an epic collection of public domain classic and/or important and/or utilitarian books to live on it. I'm looking for a particular sort of resource for this quest. I'm not looking for specific suggestions of individual works. Indeed the problem is that the available range specific suggestions on what's important in the text field is so vast. I'm looking for resources that provide some packaging along with some context.

The Harvard Classics is an example of what I'm looking for. The qualities that make it desirable to me are:

1. It was curated with a specific intent to present a unified collection of essential works.
2. It provides context (in the case of the Classics, through the readers guides and lectures in the last two volumes) on the collection, individually and as a whole.

Bonus points (but not required) if it is online, provides links to the (free, legal) eBooks in question, and if the above-mentioned "context" is itself something that can be freely and legally downloaded and included with the works.

However I'd prefer more resources that point to complete original works rather than excerpting and anthologizing as the Harvard Classics does.

Extra bonus points for resources that point to collections that go further out there than those great works of classical literature that would be recognized as such by Professor Stodgypants of Cambridge as of the late 19th century - broader cultural base, non-western, counterculture/diverse etc. all very good. I'm also very interested in curated lists/collections of less purely literary works - specifically on history, politics, and (something I've little luck with so far) pragmatic, utilitarian reference works (though I recognize there is more of a problem with the material being outdated there).

It need not be online - i.e. it could be contained in a conventional book I'll have to go to the library for - if it fits the other bills.

Give Me Your Recs For the Best Free eBooks!

masquesoporfavor — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 15:40:52 -0800

Recommend some free e-books for Kindle? Merry Christmas, MeFites (or happy holidays--whatever you prefer!)!

I received a Kindle for Christmas and I'm super stoked about it. I usually just go to the library and judge books by their cover, so I'm stumped on how to proceed with filling up my Kindle. I know there's a vast selection of free e-books, and I'd like to get as many of those as possible before I delve into the world of (gasp!) paying for my reading material.

I'm not much for classics like Dracula or A Tale of Two Cities, but I do love J.D. Salinger. I've enjoyed lots of Stephen King (though far from all), Tess Gerritsen and Karin Slaughter. I like some chick lit, a lot of YA (both from my time; like The Giver and When No One Was Looking, and from nowadays like The Hunger Games), and accessible sci-fi (Hitchhiker's Guide, most Vonnegut, and pretty much anything dystopian). I don't dig Fantasy (anything with a map of made-up places is probably not for me) and am not a huge fan of non-fiction. Memoirs are fun, but the history of the iPod is out. Douglas Coupland, Garth Stein, and Barbara Kingsolver are faves.

Basically I want things that are compelling, but an easy bath-time or bedtime read. I love to read but I also like to rush through books in one or two sittings. I am sorry for the lack of authors--I don't ever write down the books I get from the libary which probably would have helped! But hey--if you recommend something and I end up not liking it, there's no money lost. I love living in the future!

Thanks y'all!