Fantasy Maps and Ebook Issues.

Map from Power and Majesty

I think we can blame Tolkien and his rather anal approach to creating secondary worlds for this one.  It's obligatory for a Fantasy novel to contain maps, nice hand drawn ones if possible, not something that's been sketched out on an auto-cad. I think it adds to the suspense of disbelief the authenticity of the secondary world that's been created.  


Which brings me to one of the drawbacks I have discovered with eBooks (and I am talking about epub versions).  I recently bought Tansy Raynor Roberts Power and Majesty which contains three nice hand drawn maps by her mother Jilli Roberts.  Unfortunately they don't scale up the eReader,so much of the detail is hard to pickout.


Thankfully larger versions can be found on the Creature Court Website.  I wonder then with eBooks on the rise we might see the disappearance of these particular artifacts.

Your thoughts? Do you like maps in your Fantasy books? Are they necessary?






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Xmas Goodies from Twelfth Planet Press

It's amazing where social  networking can lead you.  


About a month ago I started following Marianne de Pierres on twitter.  This lead me to discover other Australian authors, like Tansy Rayner Roberts, Dirk Flinthart and the nifty crew at Twelfth Planet Press.


Twelfth Planet Press
I like what TPP is doing releasing a small  number of quality fiction titles per year, a mix of full length novels, novellas, and novelletes and very recently it seems they have started focusing on releasing e-titles through Smashwords which brings me to...

Chrismas Goodies
Angel Rising which I picked up as part of their 12 days to xmas specials.  I was able to buy the novella by Dirk Flinthart for $10 and get the eBook version in the format I wanted for free.


Alisa,  head elf at TPP, will be releasing a new  special each day as we countdown toward the 25th of December.


You should be able to get the Angel Rising deal until 6m West Australian Time tonight, when I presume the next special will be released.

Excellent eBook titles from Twelfth Planet Press
Angel Rising
Siren Beat
Horn
New Ceres Nights

eBook Goodies - Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine

The Australian eBook market is still not what many consumers would consider acceptable.  We'll always have something to complain about, no doubt, but let's face it, for some of us we still have to resort to paper to get the content we want.


The scarcity for eBook content in the niches I want it in has encouraged  me to look further afield  and to discover writers and products I may not have if eBook purchasing had been easier.  


My recent review of Tansy Roberts' Siren Beat is one example the other is Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine

Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine

is a "Lighthearted science fiction and fantasy magazine, published bi-monthly in print."  It's up to its 48th issue and has so far been an entertaining and diverse read.  

How did I discover it?
I believe it was through Twitter while adding people to my Bookbloggers twitter list.  If it hadn't been for social networing I doubt I would have discovered this source of excellent entertaining short fiction.  It just doesn't have in store distribution in rural South Australia (mores the pity).


Hang on, you said eBook Goodies.
Thankfully they as well as a printed magazine they offer a DRM free pdf from their website at $4.95.  It appears that they have only recently started doing this.  But based on the quality of Issue 48 I will go back and pick up those magazines available in pdf form and perhaps their "Best of" series as well.  


Being DRM free means I can( and you can too) convert it to any format using such software as Calibre.  I hope this translates to a wider readership for them. I have it in both PDF and Epub formats for reading on my Sony Prs 505 and .mobi for reading on my laptop.


Benefits of Short Fiction in eBook format
I recently came across this discussion at Reactions to Reading.  I agree with a lot of what Bernadette says.  I have enjoyed being able to dip in and out of ASIM when I haven't had the time or inclination to read longer works.  


I also like the portability and the space saving that the eBook format affords me.  I don't generally read magazines cover to cover in one sitting and I dip in and out of them over a period of months.  Indeed I don't actually buy magazines any more.  Lugging them about in paper form means they usually become pulp in the bottom of my back pack.  With the eBook  it's there, its bookmarked and I am more likely to read and return to it at a later stage.


What other short fiction have you found available in eBook formats? Do you have in magazine's that are in eBook format or you would like to see available? Feel free to add suggestions in the comments.

Lost Book Sales

Picture this
You've just bought your shiny new Sony Reader or unpacked your Amazon Kindle and logged on to try and purchase books in your favourite genre.

Or.

You've been eagerly awaiting the latest in your favoured author's series but its retailing at the same price as the hardback.  What can you do? Rant on your blog, march (figuratively) to the author's email contact page, or the publishers website and give them a 'considered' piece of your mind?

Victim of their own success
The growth of eBooks seems to have come by surprise.  Geo restricted titles of your favourite authors seem to be the result of wheels turning slowly in the publishing world rather than any nefarious intent on behalf of the 'industry'.

And price well that's still a contentious issue.  Some authors can get away with outsourcing, editing, artwork and marketing themselves selling e-books at $2.99, while Publishers claim that eBooks just add extra work to the production workflow and hence the cost saving of doing away with paper is negligible.

Pricing and availability will work themselves out in the long run.  Those that offer cheap quality books in multiple formats I think will win out.  It won''t be simply a case of being a good author.  You have to be able to produce quality content and make it available to the consumers who want it and be heard over the increasing din of  competent writers.

Lost Book Sales
In the mean time you can help authors and publishers see where they might be missing out on sales, or where the might have priced their product too high(according to consumer sentiment) by filing a report at Lost Book Sales

Here's their rational from their About page:

Every day an author and a publisher lose out on a sale of book.  This is a site for readers to tell the world about the lost sale whether it is because of price, territorial restrictions or general availability. There are a whole host of reasons a particular book is not distributed all over the world. Sometimes agents advise their authors to sell only domestic rights which usually means US or UK get the goods. Sometimes publishers aren’t exploiting those rights.

When an author writes a book, intellectual property rights are created that run with the book. Think of those rights as a bouquet of flowers. When authors enter into contracts with publishers, generally, they sell just a few flowers to the publishers. Those flowers give the publisher the right to use that Book in various ways but only in North America. But these contracts can vary a great deal. Foreign rights sales can end up making as much money for the author as the original advance.

What I have been told by some authors is that they don’t want to impair their marketability for those foreign markets by allowing an english language digital edition to be sold in that region. Other authors say that their foreign edition rights haven’t been purchased by any publisher and they don’t want to give them up for no additional money

[read more]

So  here you have the opportunity to vent your spleen in a constructive way.  Here's hoping that publishers and authors find it helpful.

H/T to Marg at The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader 

An Australian eLending experience

One of my primary reasons for getting an e-book reader was for reading the wealth of classics available at the Gutenberg project.  Then at same stage in the future I hoped that libraries in my state would cotton on to the idea that ebooks and eLending were  here and I would be able to borrow ebooks from the library.

No more waiting
No, South Australia still hasn't got round to sorting out eLending, although I hear it's on the horizon.  As some twitter followers and fellow bloggers will know, I was able to join as a member of an interstate library and access their ebook catalogue.

What,Where Who?
I was able to join online as a member of the Yarra Plenty Regional Library who in partnership with the Brisbane City Library provide a download collection.  Now I filled out my contact details truthfully, stating my correct home address in South Australia, so I presume that at this stage they are happy to have me as an extra statistic member.

How does it work?
Very similar to signing up to purchase books through any online book retailer.  You have a user ID and a password.  You browse the online catalogue and add books, if they are available, to your account.  If the libraries copies are all booked out, you can go on a waiting list and you will get an automated email that will let you know when the book is back in.  You have 3 days to accept and download the book. Otherwise I presume it defaults to the next person on the waiting list.

When you are ready to download your books you go to the checkout and begin the download process.  You download an .acsm file which can be opened by Adobe Digital Editions(ADE).  When you access it in ADE it displays the number of days left before the file becomes unreadable.  I haven't yet reached the expiry limit on the first book I borrowed, so I am not sure whether I will have to delete the file form my reader/computer or whether it will remove itself, I presume the former.

How about your reader?
I have successfully transfered three titles from ADE to my Sony Prs505.  The sony displays a little timer symbol counting down the days for any borrowed books.

Does it work for kindle?
Libraries in Australia appear to only offer ebook downloads in epub or pdf format.  I haven't tried converting one of the files using Calibre, I assume it has some form of DRM on it though.

Audio books
Before I forget you can also access audio books through the same process.  I haven't tried it yet due to the rather large downloads, but for those of you with partners who like listening to audio books(Amanda), it might be worth joining up.


E-book adventures is my weekly series post outlining my exploration of the e-book format. See other posts here and join in the discussion.

Blio - Raising the stakes in e-reading apps

Over six months ago I signed up to a mailing list for a company that was going to release an e-reading application that promised to kick the competition out of the park.


Time wore on and the memory of the promised software faded away, I assumed that it had gone the way of a thousand other pieces of vapourware.

Enter Blio
Blio is an e-reading application available for windows pc's.  Though there are apps in the works for the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. At the moment there's only a North American release - meaning that the rest of the world can download the application and read free e-books, but will have to wait if you want to purchase new books.

The Features

• Blio displays books in full color, with fonts, pictures, and layout as the publisher intended.
  
• Blio lets you sync up to 5 devices so your books can go wherever you go.
  
• Blio’s BookVault lets you access all of your content, and download it to your device from anywhere you have an internet connection.
  
• ReadLogic mode intelligently zooms to the next logical text block to simplify reading even on the smallest devices.
  
• Multiple reading views, including: text only mode, single page, dual page, tiled pages, or 3D “book view” for realistic page turning.
  
• Create a personalized list of reference websites for one-touch look-up of highlighted phrases.
  
• Look up phrases or topics in the included browser, without ever leaving the context of your book
  
• Have Blio read the selected book to you, highlighting each words as it does.
  
• Insert text, image, or hyperlink notes directly into your content. These are saved, and can be exported to create lists or study materials.
  
• Full support for audio and video embedded within interactive books
  
• Supports touch interaction for touch-enabled devices

What I like
The interface is smooth, easily superior to  Kindle for PC, and Adobe Digital editions.  The note taking functions that incorporate, image and links, search thesauruses from within in the app, makes me think that this could become the got to app for reading and reviewing on the laptop.  The automatic text to speech function was interesting (it kept mispronouncing wind ), not sure if I like being read to by Stephen Hawking.


Reservations
Well aside from being locked out of purchasing and preferring to read e-ink, not many.  I did find it odd that there didn't appear to be a function for searching within books. 


Edit:  Nathan at the eBook Reader has picked up some other drawbacks that are worth considering.


Conclusion
Has potential, perhaps as an app for the Ipad and used in an educational setting.  It will be interesting to see if there will be publishers who will take advantage of some of its more advanced multimedia features.


E-book adventures is my weekly series post outlining my exploration of the e-book format. See other posts here and join in the discussion.

E-book bonanza... or maybe not.

I may have mentioned that I recently received a Sony ereader, a PRS 505 to be specific.  It looks exactly like the one in the picture.  It has been welded to me arm for the last four days(no not really but close).

I will go on about the e-reader in another post.

Sell me e-books!
Though I got the reader to access the multitude of free books via the various Gutenberg sites, I did plan to take advantage of the cheaper e-book in the future. So with that in mind I decided to check out the Australian e-book suppliers Borders and Angus & Robertson.  These two booksellers have teamed up with Kobo, with it's readers and a dedicated backend for the sale of ebooks.  Borders is also selling the new sony readers (the PRS 650 and 350).

My plan was to download a free e-book to test the ease with which a purchase could be achieved.  This began a journey that was reminiscent of the labours of Hercules.

2 hours later
I spent two hours downloading software, adding ebooks to my account which didn't appear in my elibrary( the holding space for your e-books) or if they did, could not be downloaded. I scanned forums and help files that weren't that helpful. I sent two email requests outlining the software, reader and books I was looking at.  I received 2 automated emails with a promise of the matter being dealt with in at the most 2 days time.

No second chances
I am a former customer service trainer for an online multinational. First impressions in a competitive market are everything.  Customers expect that if you are selling something that they should be able to buy it, and get it instantly(as per the Instant Download advertising on the website).  When you are trying to get booklovers to use a new technology you need to make the implementation smooth and idiot proof.

The situation occurring at Borders and A&R appears to have been going on for the last 2 months( if you check the queries at the Borders forums) with some customers not receiving books they have paid for up to 2 weeks later(Mobile Read forums).

Book Depository to the rescue
Disgruntled after wasting my time on books I could have download from the Gutenberg Project in two clicks I decided to check out the Book Depository.  I recently purchased The Case of the Pope in paperback from them ($9 and 9 days to get to me - from the UK) so I was a happy return customer.

So I checked out their ebooks, the website was so intuitive that I ended up buying the Killing Floor by Lee Childs, paying via paypal, and having my file downloaded in 2 clicks.

What are they thinking?
I would be very concerned if I was in charge of this new Australian e-book venture.  Most people wouldn't have waited 10 seconds let alone spent 2 hours fiddling around.  Do the big booksellers think they can stuff this up, that they can live off customer loyalty, off their brand?  I think there is room here for small technically literate book selling companies to step in and provide fast, simple, service.

I will be shopping at Book Depository for my next e-book, I won't be returning to Borders or A&R unless its in my interest to do so.

Have you had similar experiences?  Have you got any favourite small publishers or book sellers who are providing top notch service on e-books?


Edit: Sometime this afternoon I was able to see the books I had selected my elibrary at Borders.  I can't download them however as they say they are Desktop only - presumably meaning that its only available to read through the Kobo desktop app(this despite being advertised as epub).  I also commenced a search for free ebooks under the mobile/epub category but each of the titles that came up did not include epub.  

Kindle for PC–reading E-books without the reader

In last weeks e-book adventures post I gave my readers a quick overview of Adobe Digital Editions this week it's going to be the Kindle for PC software.

Like Adobe Digital Editions(ADE), Kindle for PC is free and allows the user to read e-books without shelling out for the expensive e-reader.

Kindle for PC


Kindle for PC is software that allows you to read Kindle and .mobi file formats on your computer.  Amazon have also released the software for the Mac and other devices.

You can read free books from places such as the Gutenberg Project or indeed purchase e-books off Amazon and synchronise them with a Kindle if you decided to buy one later on.

The Interface.


Kindle for PC is similar to ADE in that it has two main viewing modes; Library and Reading.


Reading Mode
Where Kindle for PC might lag in the library mode below it has some additional functionality compared to Adobe Digital Editions in the reading mode.

Kinde for PC allows the reader to

• Increase the width of the page, increasing words per line and allowing the reader to adjust the width to their preference
• Adjust the text size (though it doesn't split text into two page, or three column like ADE)
• Adjust both text and page colour , white with black text, sepia with brown text, black with white text
• Adjust the brightness

Like ADE it has a search mode (recently introduced) and allows for bookmarking, highlighting and note taking (see picture above).

Library Mode




The library screen for Kindle for PC is actually quite a bit simpler than Adobe Digital Editions.  For a start there's only one view, that which you see above.  Sure you can change the order in which the books are presented through the sort function, but there is no option to create your own bookshelves.

I have been using the software for some time now am not 100 percent sure how the archiving function works. From what I understand, you can remove the book from your device (pc in this case) and store it with amazon until you need it.  I haven't needed to do this yet.

Amazon lists in future improvements, the inclusion of a library management function in the software.

Which do I prefer?


I can't say that there is much between the two.  At this stage I haven't got enough e-books to manage to require rigorous use of the library function.  Both Kindle for PC and Adobe Digital Editions have enough functionality in the reading mode to allow me to configure them for my reading comfort.

In the end I use both depending on what text I can get from which provider, and what format it comes in.




E-book adventures is my weekly series post outlining my exploration of the e-book format. See other posts here and join in the discussion.

Adobe Digital Editions–reading E-books without the reader

I mentioned in my last e-book adventures post that I would be discussing e-book reading software, free software that enables you to get a taste of the e-book experience without shelling out cash for the myriad devices on the market.

Adobe Digital Editions

As I mentioned Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) is free software available from the Adobe site here.  It’s built using Adobe Flash and can be used for managing and reading E-books, as well as other digital formats(though I have only used it to view pdf’s and epub files).  Apparently you will need this software registered(free and simple to do) if you intend to purchase any epub formatted books that are DRM(digital rights management) enabled and transfer them to your Nook or Sony e-reader.

However if you are just keen to read some free books in the epub format available from the various free e-book sites like Gutenberg, you needn’t worry about that.

The Interface

The ADE interface can be accessed from two views – one reading the other a library view.  I would describe it as a solid functional application.  It has slightly less customization available to it than Kindle for PC, but nothing that would rank it as significantly worse in terms of function.

The Reading View


Here’s a short video tour I constructed on the reading pane.



The Library View





The Library view is  used to organise your books, you can view your collection in thumbnail format(see above), though as your collection grows I suspect the list format will become more practical.



You have bookshelves, some of which are automated and others which the user can define.  To place books on own bookshelves its a simple drag and drop operation.

If there was one difference between ADE and Kindle for PC it was that ADE sometimes required you to add books via windows explorer- those that you obtain from Gutenberg or that you create yourself.  Kindle for PC, if my memory serves me correctly synchronizes any kindle/mobi files upon startup.

Questions about Adobe Digital Editions

Is there anything else that you would have liked covered.  Do you use ADE? How do you find it ?  Are you tempted to try reading via ADE?

E-book adventures is my weekly series post outlining my exploration of the e-book format. See other posts here and join in the discussion.

Do I really need an E-reader?

First a little history
I remember hearing about Project Gutenberg well over a decade ago.  I am shocked to discover it is actually the worlds oldest digital library¹, having been started four years before I was born.
It houses upwards of 32,000 public domain items and is volunteer run offering text files for most of its works, as well as an increasing number of other digital formats.
Sadly I had not used it for my own reading until relatively recently.

The game changed
For me and I imagine others, the birth of the e-reader and formats that displayed digital text similar to that which people were used to in a paper version, marked a change in the use of this marvellous resource ² and reading in general. 


I don’t know many who have the patience to scroll through Animal Farm in .txt, word or pdf  format let alone War and Peace.  While the content may have been free it certainly wasn’t as accessible as the paper version.  There’s little difference between a book you can’t find/buy/ borrow and one that makes reading nigh impossible i.e. they don't get read

Enter the E-reader and associated software
It’s now possible to read free e-book classics or purchase new titles and you don’t necessarily need an e-book reader to do it. While Amazon and Barnes & Noble (to name just two) have their specific e-readers anyone with a computer can enjoy reading an e-book.
 
Amazon provides Kindle for PC( and a number of other devices),  ADOBE have Adobe Digital Editions and if you're are a little adventurous you can check out Calibre( which is a whole lot more than just e-book reading software). These interfaces enable you to take advantage of various e-book formats.  While each piece of software has its quirks they generally allow you to:

• manage an e-book library,
• track your position in multiple books,
• make notation against the text 
• search the text

Testing the waters without losing a kidney


With a basic Kindle now retailing at $US 139, price might be a moot point for some.  For the financially challenged though, having the ability to try before you buy is a must.

Now while reading on a computer screen is not quite the same as reading from the new e-ink enabled readers.  It gets you close enough to the functions of an e-reader to help you decide if reading digital formats is really you.

I am currently reading through my second e-book using Amazon’s Kindle for PC.  Personally I was skeptical that I could maintain the patience to read off a computer screen for a long period of time.  I have found it to be relatively easy though to adapt to reading using this software and have found its notes function invaluable when taking notes for a review.

In my next post in this series I'll take a closer look at e-reading software mentioned above.

1 According to this wikipedia article
2 I have looked but can find no stats on the usage of Gutenberg files to map to the release of e-readers

E-book adventures is my weekly series post outlining my exploration of the e-book format.  See other posts here and join in the discussion.

Taking the plunge–Going digital with e-books

The Adventure Begins

This post  marks the beginning of a series on my adventurers in digital reading.  Now of course anyone who has been using the internet has been engaging in reading digital formats(html, pdf ), but what I am talking about is of course the new (perhaps not so new) rage with e-books and specially designed e-book readers.

Spoiled for choice

It’s such a first world problem, having to decide which gadget to buy to read your digitally formatted classic. You can see in the Amazon  links to the left, three of the more popular readers, there are many more, each with slightly different functionality, features and draw backs. I hope to lead you through some of fluff to pin down what’s really necessary in an e-reader or indeed if you even need one(gasp!) .

 E-book Adventurers

I am an adventurer not an expert.  Opinions develop and our tastes and needs change. I hope to revisit many of the topics covered, when I find new information or change my mind.  There will be some travellers  well schooled in the art of e-book adventuring, just as there will be greenhorns.  So feel free if you have travelled further along the path or perhaps taken a different, more circuitous route, to give me and the other readers here the benefit of your wisdom.

Where to next?
Being somewhat financially challenged when lured by the siren calls of the Kindle I under took to ascertain whether or not there was some way of trying before I bought when it came to this e-reader malarkey.  I wasn’t sure if I could tear myself away from old faithful( oh the sweet smell of aged, dust covered paper) when it came to reading.

In my next post in the series I will offer some suggestions on ways you might do the same. Tentatively test the waters that is.

In the mean time, I’d like your thoughts.  Do you have a reader?  Do you want one? What’s your experience with your reader of choice? And for Australian readers do you feel you have less choice?