I've been trying to encourage the great global public to download my work rather than pay for what is probably, in their eyes, grossly overpriced. I have only added one pound as my creator's revenue for any book sold, which means I'll have to sell an impossible number to make anything like a modest living.
But is the download of lengthy novels a realistic option for the reading public? Not if you've only got a desktop computer, that's for sure. Reading a few pages is okay, but chapter after chapter sitting in an office chair with backache and eyestrain? I think not.
Maybe a laptop offers more of a chance. I can read reams on my laptop and in relative comfort, but it's still not like holding even a modest paperback in my sticky fingers. Whoever invented the book was a genius!!
So am I wasting my time trying to encourage the download as an option for the reading public? Probably. Until, that is, someone puts a practical electronic book at a cheap price on the market. The technology for such a thing is already old and I'd bet there are already quite a few different models somewhere on the market, but cheap? Available? I know I'm behind the times but I've not been made aware of one. I've googled the words electronic book and after a brief look I found a Sony reader and not much else.
It should be little more than a screen and NOT designed to double as a games machine, fax machine, email consol or anything like that. It should be a simple reader that had as its main design function the comfort of the reader and his eyes. It must surely be really, really simple for a technology ncompany to produce in thousands. Maybe a firm like Amstrad? It must then be properly marketed, not tied to one format but capable of reading many.
Then maybe publicising downloads of longer texts might be a productive thing to do. What do you think? And does anyone know something I don't?
Peter
I agree - I can read comfortbaly on a laptop and this is how I proof read the work for other authors (suing the MS Word tracking features). Readin on d esktop is just to blooming uncomfortable.
I personally feel that electronic download is a 'bonus' at this stage and the focus should still be around hard copy. I think that despite the availability of readers out there we are still some way off the paper book being replaced.
… maybe when you can get a 8x5 single page device that also plays music, provides for a phone as well as calendar and schduler and all for around £50 things will chnage. Until then I think we will continue to see the destruction of our forests!
taffybach
I rather suspect that you're right. Shame, but there you have it. But when your ideal device comes along it may need to introduce a format more secure than pdf which can be passed around the world willy nilly. I like the Microsoft Reader system, though it needs a dedicated machine to be introduced before it meets my specs. I'd have thought that an 8 x 5 LCD screen with a minimum of electronic gadgetry supporting it (does it really have to play music or be a phone?) and uses existing memory sticks must be on the mind of some literate entrepreneur. If you want all the other features what's wrong with carrying your phone around with you?
Peter
Its already there but just needs a common solution.
I publish my ebook versio through Mobipocket (check out http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/BookDetails.asp?BookID=33135)
You need the Mobipocket reader for this and it is linked to the PIN number of your handheld OR the PIN of the PC reader app (its free but you have to register to get the PIN).
This prevents the book being read unles there is a matching PIN.
I think that each purchase is valid for two pins - one for a mobile option and one for desktop.
Taff
Similar to the Microsoft Reader's protection, by the sound of it. I've downloaded and installed it and only glanced at it, and will look more closely when I've got the time. My first reaction, though, is I prefer the appearance on-screen of Microsoft Reader. But this is a downloaded multi-platform reader, isn't it? I was thinking more along the lines of an idiot-proof hand-held book-sized device that an older person with no previous knowledge of recent technology could easily get along with because to all intents and purposes it is a book without paper. The user wouldn't even need a computer to use it because besides accepting USB memory sticks that could be "charged" with a book by the computer it could accept single-title sticks from bookshops and libraries - they needn't be expensive and would certainly have a lesser environmental impact than paper books. The above is off the top of my head and may be laughable, but I'm trying to picture an easy user-friendly interface between my words and the eyes of potential readers.
Peter
I've spent a bit of time examining the mobipocket program and it's quite impressive despite initial impressions. If a cheap hand-held compatible machine that anyone's granny could get her head around could be invented with the mobipocket software installed and NOTHING THAT COULD GO WRONG then it might be a coimmercial viability. Or something like that.
Peter
I agree, I quite liked it too.
btw; the only reason I went with Mobipocket is that they are linked to Amazon (not sure if they are owned or part owned by them but if you ask Amazon for an ebook provider these are the boys they send you to).
I'm currently trying to get Fictionwise to take The Spider Gem into their catalogue too as they are fast becoming one of the biggest ebook providers.
Taff
I'm really going to research the ebook thing. I tried to a couple of years ago and all it did was confuse me. Maybe its settled down with definite front-runners by now. Trouble is, I spent 20-odd years writing and I've got a small library of books that I'm determined to get hard copies of via the good offices of Lulu, and I spend a disgusting amount of my time plodding through them, revising them and then uploading them. Added to that I've got 3 part-finished novels and goodness-knows what fragments on old discs. There is not enough time in a life for everything I try to do, and each days has its limitations as weariness creeps over me. But ebooks must become a priority.
Peter
(account deleted)Downloads are probably good for some people, and not so good for others (such as those with only a desktop computer) but can't the reader print out the book so they can read it on paper, or is that disallowed because of copyright?
They could certainly print them off, but I wonder if the effort would be worth it? As far as my stuff is involved, the shortest adult book is in the region of 300 pages, and that would use up quite a lot of ink at the price they charge for the stuff. Personally, I'd like to see a dedicated, simple, foolproof, clear book-sized device onto which files can be loaded. Something that's not much more than a 5 x 7 LCD screen and a chip. At the moment Lulu does pdf files and I'd like to see them change to something less prone to indiscriminate copying and distribution. The files used by the above-mentioned Mobipocket or Microsoft Reader files would seem to fit the bill.
Peter
